“Dear Lord: Thank you for bringing me to Timmy’s house and not to Michael Vick’s — AMEN!”
Category: Sports
Surf Slo-Mo Inside a 12′ Tube
Sports Gene Found?
A difference in just one amino acid in a protein might explain why some people learn new motor skills faster and reach higher levels of performance.
The protein, called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), is a key driver of synaptic plasticity, the ability of the connections between brain cells to change in strength. This plasticity is an important factor in learning, explains neurologist Janine Reis, who led the study at the National Institutes of Health. According to Reis, this finding offers the first evidence that slight variations in BDNF’s structure affect learning ability.
Other groups have found that the BDNF version that Reis linked with poorer acquisition of skills is associated with reduced function of the hippocampus, a brain region involved in motor learning.
via Athletic Ability May Lie in a Single Gene: Scientific American.
Big Waves, Tough Beach
As surfing has become increasingly popular, some say fear of violent reprisal ensures order and safety at congested and perilous surf spots like Pipeline.
“It’s a dangerous environment, and without a self-governing control pattern it would just be chaos out there,” Rarick said.
At Pipeline, large, punishing waves break over a shallow-water reef. With a small takeoff zone comes a small window of time to make critical decisions and dozens of surfers vying for the same waves. Pipeline is considered one of the world’s most dangerous surf spots.
via On North Shore of Oahu, Enforcing Respect for Locals and the Waves – NYTimes.com.
Would You Surf These Spots?
Remember the surfing scene from Apocalypse Now? Robert Duvall storming a heavily fortified beach while blasting “Ride of the Valkyries” so his men could catch a wave? Francis Ford Coppola was arguing that war is crazy. The given was that surfing is crazy. And Coppola was right. Surfers will go anywhere for a decent wave.
via Sweet Ride: Surfing in Liberia – TIME. Continue reading “Would You Surf These Spots?”
Surfing the World’s Longest Surfboard
RIO DE JANEIRO: A Brazilian surfer broke his own record after riding a wave on an extra-long 30-foot (9.16-metre) surfboard for over ten seconds.
In 2006, Rico de Souza broke the Guinness World Record by riding a wave on a 25.6-foot board (8.05-m).From his prior experience, Souza developed the new 100-kilo (220-pound) surfboard with the adjustments he had missed before.
Souza said that surfing the lengthy board was a challenging, but thrilling experience.Souza also organized another record in September this year, when 88 people surfed the same wave for over ten seconds up four from 2007. VIDEO
Surfers take on Australia’s Heaviest Wave
The Australian – Photo galleries and slideshows – Surfers take on Australia’s heaviest wave
While pictures obsess with wave height, surfers appreciate the thickness of a wave. When you wipe-out, you’ll appreciate the difference. Hence the fascination with the thick tubes at Teahupoo. Click on the link above to see 43 pictures of this deepwater break off of Australia. Also an article on it. 
Thanks to Randy Marks for Pix.
Land With Just One Wing
thanx Jeff Ullian
Totally Insane Skateboard Downhill
[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.690638&w=425&h=350&fv=clip_id%3D1654340%26server%3Dvimeo.com%26autoplay%3D0%26fullscreen%3D1%26md5%3D0%26show_portrait%3D0%26show_title%3D0%26show_byline%3D0%26context%3D%26context_id%3D%26force_embed%3D0%26multimoog%3D%26color%3D00ADEF]
It is worth the wait to go through the credits and foreplay to ride along with these 2 daredevils screaming down a California mountain on skateboards for 10 minutes, just wearing powder blue suits and a helmet.
more about “Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD on…“, posted with vodpod
