You don’t really equate Portugal with massive waves, but big wave rider Garrett McNamara knew a sick wave when he saw one. So, he pulled a Bodhi and rode it. Now the video’s making the rounds, the general consensus is that the wave is 90 feet high and…if that’s true, you’re lookin’ at the biggest wave ever surfed. And I thought surfing Tofino was hard! McNamara, you might recall, surfed a wave caused by a falling glacier in Alaska a while back. Suffice to say, he’s got balls big enough to fit in a dump truck.
This is kinda like Andy Warhol re-painting the Sistine Chapel. Some things are perfect as they are. And therefore, let them age gracefully.
Rumors have swirled for years about a Point Break sequel, and the casting had already been done, shortly before the financial crisis of 2008. Back then, the sequel was going to be called Point Break: Indo, the premiss being that a gang of Ex-President wannabes, called the Bush Administration, was tearing up the South Pacific. And Patrick Swayze, aka Bodhi, was to have a cameo.
For the few of us who are unfamiliar with the original, Point Break is a 1991 adventure movie, about surfers that robbed banks, starring Keanu Reeves and, of course, the late, great Patrick Swayze as Bodhi – a mystical guru who surfed, skydived, robbed banks and would do anything for a kick of adrenaline.
And a side note. Point Break is my favorite movie of all time. I named this blog after the central character. Even now, 20 years later, Point Break never fails to entertain and enlighten, with action, philosophy and a beautiful portrayal of fate.
Point Break changed my life.
In other words, Point Break is a classic. Without Patrick Swayze, it’s nothing. You wouldn’t re-paint the Mona Lisa. Warner Bros, please, PLEASE leave this amazing movie alone.
Most people either fly across the English Channel or do the chunnel in a high-speed Eurostar train. This is a video of two Britons, Wayne “Worsil” and Tom “Tiny Tops” who, like many Brits to each year, flew the distance from England to France. What’s different about these guys? They braved some seriously choppy waves and kite surfed the English Channel, for charity, and became the first to achieve that incredible feat.
Richard Branson is planning to do the same, on his 60th birthday. Cojones, Richard. Very cool.
By the way, this is officially post #100 at The Bodhi Tree – a blog dedicated to adventure travel, and living life with the just some of the adrenaline that coarsed through Bodhi in Point Break. I should stop livin in the 90′s I know…
Even if you’re not a surfer, you gotta see this. Zoltan Torkos, aside from having a seriously cool name, now has the distinction of performing the first ever triple kick-flip. Or at least the first one caught on film. This is just nuts. He took home 10K for that little move. Bodhi, AKA Patrick Swayze, is looking down on this with some serious surf zen approval.
Dean Potter, slack-lining his way into the record books.
Any video with Dean Potter, high altitudes and no safety harness is gonna be good and this one doesn’t disappoint. Dean Potter is the American daredevil I blogged about a year ago, and he has a curious habit of climbing mountains without safety equipment, and either jumping off it, or slacklining it (tight-rope walking without equipment) and then BASE jumping his way down.
This video includes footage from his world-record BASE Jump in 2009, with a wing-suit.
I am really at a loss here whether Potter, or Felix Baumgartner is the baddest of the bad. I take comfort though in knowing that there are guys like this with more testosterone than any reasonable guy should have. Guess I’m not the only one who took Point Break way too seriously. Bodhi would be proud.
Long before Patrick Swayze made it cool to jump out of a perfectly good airplane with a bag o’ cash strapped to your chest, another extreme skydiver made the leap. For those of you not familiar with the story, Dan Cooper, aka D.B. Cooper, hijacked a 727 in November of 1971 and demanded $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. After receiving his demands he ordered the crew to fly the jet from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Reno. He then opened the loading dock on the plane and JUMPED into the cold November night somewhere over Washington State near the Oregon border. He was subsequently not seen again and his fate remains unknown. He’s actually developed into something of a folk hero over the years – several communities in Washington State hold “D.B. Cooper Nights” at neighbourhood taverns, and many a pint has been been shared over the strange man – who captured the imagination of a nation and who ultimately never hurt anyone – in the hope that maybe he made it somewhere warm and tropical and he’s been living the good life ever since. Is this likely? Probably not. I certainly don’t condone hijacking airplanes, but you gotta admit, a man who jumps from a commercial jet over some of the most inhospitable terrain on Earth, long before the advent of GPS and modern-day survival suits, has cojones. This post is for D.B. Cooper, a true bad boy.
