No Limits

The Hawaiians are credited with being the fathers of surfing, and are known to have practiced the sport as early as the 15th century AD. The Hawaiian name for surfing “He’enalu” – can be translated as wave sliding. During its early history, surfing was taken as a sacred practice and only those with a high social status could take part; in other words – Hawaiian kings and queens were surfers. Ironically, today, surfing is seen by the general population as a sport for those who have dropped out of society, the very opposite to how it began.

As a people living on a cluster of small islands in a very big sea, the Hawaiians were not surprisingly fascinated by the ocean, and attached great meaning to its moods and forms. In a similar way to which the Inuit are said to have many names for snow, the Hawaiians also have hundreds of words to describe the various forms of the ever changing sea.

Just as modern day surf bums insist on surfing as a lifestyle rather than just a sport and thus devote great portions of time and money to the pursuit of the waves, Hawaiians also found unfathomable bounds with the practise, as the writings of Kepelino Keauokalani, a 19th Century Hawaiian Scholar, shows in his observations of the local Hawaiian surfers:

“All thought of work is at the end, only that of sport is left. The wife may go hungry, the children, the whole family, but the head of the house does not care. He is all for sport, that is his food. All day there is nothing but surfing. Many go out surfing as early as four in the morning: men, women, children.”

Surfing is an amazing adventure sport. This is not the sport for everybody, but for the people who can handle the thick waves of the beach. The surfboard can be of any size â?? from less than three feet surfboards to 11 ft surfboards are available today. However, the size of the surfboard is no match to the skill and technique of the surfers. To stay afloat over the tides is the one important thing of surfing. Being able to catch the right tide (or wave), engaging at the right moment, staying at the right position and staying cleared of barriers like reefs or floating materials, etc are all desirable surfing skills.

It is not just about riding a wave, but also executing various manoeuvres. A good surfer is made only when he or she is able to catch the difficult waves, staying clear of dangers and performing tricks before finishing the ride. Not being hit by the wave. Tube riding is the dream of all surfers. It is about riding inside the wave, without the wave touching you down. It is quite amusing to see the wave curling over you and you are moving ahead of the wave, without letting the wave strike you down. It is the most difficult thing to achieve in surfing.

Turning and carving, cutback, off the lip, floater, etc are some skills surfers will be achieving pretty quickly. These skills are not learned from the land. You can learn these only after you get in the water, riding the waves. You can also get surfing lessons from experienced surfers, who will give you one-on-one lessons.

Mountain climbing is said to be an extreme sport, as it is full of hazards and risks. Ever wondered how it would feel climbing the tallest mountain in the world and dealing with biting-cold with very less oxygen? If you enjoy such thrills mountain climbing is just for you. You can take up this sport as a hobby or an adventurous challenge. However, before you ‘set foot’ into this sport, you ought to know that mountaineering or mountain climbing has a fair share of accidents you can avoid by taking certain precautions.

Mountain climbing isn’t meant for every other person, especially when you are dealing with the most dangerous and highest mountains. If you are a mountain climber, professional or amateur, you ought to have a certain level of fitness and athletic ability. Having a poor health and low physical ability, can be twice as much dangerous, to go mountaineering knowing there are many risks involved.

For instance, if a climber slips and gets stuck in a crevice, he may not be able to get out, if he is overweight. Conversely, a physically fit climber would easily get out of the crevice.

However, good fitness is only one factor that can be helpful in avoiding a mountain climbing accident. Another important way of avoiding any accident is to explore the area, before attempting to climb the mountain. Amateur mountain climbers should always avoid attempting the highest peaks without first gaining experience climbing smaller and much more easier mountains. Every climber should be well prepared for facing the risks and dangers involved in climbing tougher mountains.

The clothes you wear for mountain climbing should be protective enough. Don’t buy something very fashionable to compromise with your safety. The latest trends in winter clothing sure might seem irresistible, but they may not provide adequate protection when starting to climb the icy slopes.

Getting started on rock climbing might be a complicated task, with a list of the things that have to be used. It is easy to learn just to enjoy this adventurous sport. However to make it easier, joining an indoor gym is the best way to learn about rock climbing. It is better to have a professional rock-climbing trainer teach you the skills and methods so that you can take it outdoors and climb the rock face you have a desire to climb.

The things that are required when beginning with a rock climb are very basic and it first begins with the fitness of the climber, i.e. so long as they can fit in the harness they can top-rope. Rock climbing can be learned faster if the person is in great shape. It is a combo of balance and co-ordination and rock climbing is quite helpful in motivating people to stick to the fitness and weight lifting program. The training that is received in rock climbing is needed to be personalized, the certification are not give but the environment in which rock climbing is carried out is quite risky and the equipment is as well. So have an experienced hand in training you can be a bonus and the best part is that the safety rules in rock climbing are so easy that they can be picked up quickly. The instruction in an indoor gym is mostly free.

The equipment to climb is not needed to be purchased if the climbing is done at a local gym. The climbing shoes, harnesses, the belay devices and the locking carabiners are provide free of charge. If you are considering rock climbing as a regular sport, then purchasing a good pair of climbing shoes, harnesses and a belay device with the locking carabiner can cost anywhere between $150 to $300. It all depends on the brand, quality and style of equipment that has been selected.

One of the terms you may run into early on while getting involved in the adrenaline pumping sport of paintball is “paintball marker.” So what is a paintball marker? To put it really simply, it’s the paintball guns. Many players refer to them as “markers” because the paint balls the guns shoots “marks” the target. A paintball marker might also be called a paintball gun or just a paint gun. After the safety mask, which is always the most important piece of equipment, the paintball marker is the next most important since there can not be a game without it.

The first paintball game was played in 1981 in Henniker, New Hampshire. Nine players took part, and the sport of paintball was born. The earliest models of paintball markers were uniform (after all, this was just the beginning of the sport). Now there are literally hundreds of choices between various makes and models of paintball markers. Some are very cheap, some are extremely expensive. No one could have imagined the huge variety in choices.

One of the first decisions you’ll want to make when using paintball markers is to decide what type of action you want from your paintball marker. By action, this refers to the way that an individual paintball marker fires. There are three types of actions that cover most of the cheaper and basic lines of paintball markers: pump action, semi-automatic blow back, and hybrid blow back. Each type of action makes a paintball gun work very differently, so think about how quickly you want your marker to shoot and how much work you want to do to make it fire. Obviously the pump action is the slowest, while the other methods offer better rates of fire.

BASE jumping is not a sport for the faint of heart. Athletes who practice this extreme sport climb to the top of tall buildings, canyons, or other structures; jump off; enjoy a period of free falling; then open a parachute and coast to the ground.

The acronym BASE stands for building, antennae, span, and earth; which make up a comprehensive list of what kinds of fixed objects BASE jumpers plummet from. Span is a term that includes all sorts of bridges, or any other structures that span over a valley or chasm. Earth means anything from cliffs to mountains to canyons.

BASE jumping is very dangerous for a variety of reasons, but the most common causes of injury and death have to do with failure to maintain a clear area around the athlete during the jump and/or the landing. If the wind is against them or if they make a mistake during the launch of their jump, athletes sometimes collide with the object that they have jumped from. Because BASE jumping areas are usually not designated for this guerilla-style sport, the makeshift landing targets that jumpers aim for are rarely large enough to allow for a safe jump. As a result many BASE enthusiasts meet with serious and sometimes fatal injuries because they haven’t been able to steer themselves to the landing area in time.

Many people compare BASE jumping to bungee jumping without a bungee cord, but it is actually much closer to skydiving without an airplane. Jumpers practice many of the same techniques that divers use to maintain stability and altitude awareness while they are in the air. Before becoming a BASE jumper, an athlete must complete a full course of skydiver training. Once they have their full skydiving certification, the next step for anyone interested in BASE is to find a mentor in the jumping community who can teach them how to take on these ambitious freefalls. Only experienced divers can even contemplate a BASE jump because this kind of unguided and somewhat unpredictable activity requires razor sharp awareness of altitude, along with stellar free fall technique.