Watersports blog

Yang Wenjun, an Olympic canoeing champion, proved that he’s the best in the sport by clinching three titles at the qualifiers event of the 11th Chinese National Games Canoe and Kayak on Friday, June 26.

Yang dominated the men’s individual 500 meters event by clocking in one minute, 50.95 seconds to edge out Fujian’s Huang Shaokun and Beijing’s Mao Xiaojie who clocked one minute, 52.14 seconds and one minute, 53.74 seconds respectively.

Later in the day, the Olympian and his partner Zhang Zhiwu won the men’s doubles 500 meters event by clocking in one minute, 39.43 seconds. In second place were Guangdong’s Huang Maoxing and Li Qiang. Settling for third were Shandong’s Zhao Jian and Xia Zhigang. His third title was the men’s individual 1,000 meters event which took place last Thursday.

Despite all of these accolades, the Chinese Olympian said that this is just a beginning since the main show happens in October where the National Games officially begin. The canoeing event was attended by more than 400 athletes comprising 22 teams across China. Fifteen teams from each event will battle for glory at the 11th National Games in China later this year.

Popular swimwear designer Monica Wise got in the prestigious “Mercedes-Benz Presents” designers list following her great achievements in the field of fashion, specifically on designer swimwear that flatter a woman’s curves via sexy silhouettes.

Wise is the owner of swimwear line L*Space and she will unveil her 2010 collection at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim event in Miami, Florida this coming July 17, Friday at The Raleigh Hotel. The new swimwear line will be in competition with Speedo, Billabong and Panache.

The creator and owner of the fashion line is now in the league of in demand designers such as Yigal Azrouel, Red Carter, Badgley Mischka and Monique Lhuillier who also made it to the prestigious list. The Mercedes-Benz program recognizes designers that have flair for innovative and quality design.

In a press release, Wise revealed that aside from the swimwear line, she will also present a collection that was borne out of a lucrative partnership with humanitarian fashion brand OmniPeace. Part of the proceeds from the sales of the collection will go to a good cause.

The talented designer said that she’s honored to be part of the designer list, adding that being an active supporter of the philanthropic activities of OmniPeace only made it even more thrilling.

Thirty-seven year old Carl Spencer created shockwaves among deep sea diving enthusiasts when he died while filming Brittanic, a sister ship of the Titanic that sank in 1916 at the Aegean Sea.

According to reports, Spencer suffered an illness called “the bends” which means that nitrogen forms bubbles in the diver’s blood supply when surfacing too quickly. This happened when he released his emergency buoy.

The father of two headed the expedition with teams coming from the National Geograhic. The group went around the sunken ship located at the Greek island of Kia.

Dr. Panayiotis Bouras, a spokesperson for this big project, said that a military helicopter immediately arrived to transport Spencer’s body to a naval hospital in Athens for medical assistance. However, the deap sea diving expert no longer regained consciousness and declared dead.

Spencer’s colleagues in the field started paying tribute to the skillful diver who has been on the Brittanic for the past eight times. The esteemed diver has also explored other sunken ships such as the RMS Carpathia, the same boat that rescued more than 700 survivors of the Titanic in 1912. The said boat was sunk in 1918 by a German U-boat.

An all-female British team reportedly set a national sailing record for Ireland and Britain after completing a 2,500 nautical mile challenge around the said countries.

The sailors, composed of Dee Caffari (36), Sam Davies (34), Alex Sizer (34) and Miranda Merron (39), were aboard a 60-feet yacht named Aviva. They achieved the feat in 6 days, 11 hours, 30 minutes and 53 seconds to break the longstanding record of seven days and four hours. The latter record was made five years ago.

The team, led by Sizer as the boat captain, made it to the finish line at the Isle of Wright.

Caffari already made a distinction for herself as the first woman to have sailed solo and nonstop around the world. This time, she’s set a group record which further strengthens her popularity in the world of sailing.

The team spent more than seven days waiting for the best time to start their sailing adventure. The group took an anti-clockwise route since the weather report suggested at that time that it would aid the yacht in navigating faster.

It is known for most sailing fanatics that the coastline in Britain can be demanding due to the challenging weather.

A Chinese duo managed to rise above the rest despite the seemingly crucial differences they had.

Lin Yue and Cao Yuan stunned everyone when they won the ten-meter platform diving event at the ongoing National Diving Championships held in Saangxi, China. Eighteen-year old Yue is four years older than Yuan and even taller. Age and height differences are usually the major factors to consider for synchronized divers.

However, the two disproved this as they managed to dive in unison and eventually win the gold.

Other gold medal winners include Wu Mingxia, a world champion, who dominated the three-meter platform diving event. She beat fellow world champion He Zi.

Both Yuan and Yue dominated the event from the start despite the aforementioned differences. Yue’s former partner Huo Liang who was paired with Ying Hong took the second place honors in the event.

In an interview with the local media, Yue said that Yuan went along with him surprisingly well which made them the best team among the rest.

In the women’s event, Mingxia had not problems attaining more than 3 point advantage from her rivals to clinch the title. The rest of the events will take place during the weekend.

The Estonian Windsurfing Championships, one of the major Pro Kids and Freestyle qualification events for the World Championships, was held recently in the western town of Topu with competitors from all over the world participating. When all was said and done, it was local player Christofer Kalk who clinched the title in front of the home crowd.

Kolk is an accomplished windsurfer, having won the under-17 event in last year’s world championships. The Estonian capitalized on the good weather, his high tech swimwear and great wind as he showed everyone his tricks and other moves to impress the judges.

The young Estonian virtually ruled in the earlier rounds to establish a big score margin against closest competitors. In the latter rounds, there were sudden surges from Tony Mottus and Robert Koppel to make things more interesting. Kalk, at one point, placed third in one of the stages. However, the wide lead in the first two rounds prevailed at the eighteen year old was officially adjusted as the Estonian Windsurfing Championships winner.

The World Championships is reportedly scheduled to take place later this year. The challenge is now on for Kalk to perform well in this event considering his impressive performance at the Estonian event.

The interest in white water rafting has increased due to the adventure and adrenaline rush one experiences. This can be attributed to the increase of tourists visiting the Kullu valley in Himachal Pradesh, India to experience rafting and other exciting adventure sports offered in the area.

The Indian state boasts of fantastic view of nature since it is in the western part of the Himalayas. Rivers and glaciers abound in the area which provides limitless possibilities of action-packed adventures.

The tourists have expressed satisfaction in their first visit that they immediately plan for their return in the near future. Local tourists are also expressing interest in visiting the state.

According to reports, there are about seventy adventure sporting clubs in the area which can accommodate the influx of tourists both within the country and abroad. The river rafting facilities are considered world-class which guarantees the safety of the tourists.

Better technology and newer facilities revived the tourism economy in the area. Hotels are reporting fully-booked accommodations. A few decades ago, river rafting was banned in the area because of accidents. This was shared by Himalayan Adventure and Trekking Expedition Center Director Amar Chand.

A study conducted by David Ball of the Middlesex University revealed that between the years 1988 and 1992, water sports topped the list of most dangerous sports among adults in United Kingdom, with more than 40 percent of the reported fatalities caused by drowning.

It’s an unexpected twist of perception since most people would consider extreme sports such as hang-gliding, parachuting and others to be more dangerous. However, the study only stressed the importance for people to be extra careful doing water-related activities.

Based on the data, about 315 incidents out of 708 reported fatalities came from water sports such as swimming. Motor sports came in second with 65 fatalities while horse riding completed that top three with 62. Air and mountain climbing-related sports accounted to 51 deaths.

The reason behind the larger percentage of deaths from water sports is the fact that people spend more time on water rather than other events.

Based on the study, about 163 individuals die in sports-related accidents per year. These figures were based on the years specified on the study. There’s no indication yet if there’s a significant increase on fatalities from the years 1993 to 2009.

A famous tourist spot in a coastal region in Queensland, Australia could possibly no longer offer water skiing activities if the state government approves a ban on the said sport.

According to reports, a proposal by the Maritime Safety to reduce the speed limit of speed boats to 20 knots from the usual 40 knots means that water skiing may no longer be staged along the Maroochy River, a popular destination for skiers.

Rachel Nolan, the transport minister, defended their proposal saying that there’s now an increasing activity on the Maroochy River due to increasing number of tourists. She said that this prompted them to have the regulations revised to adjust with the influx.

Nolan urges the public to participate actively on the proposed recommendations made by the department. She added that the proposed restrictions are within the Eudlo Creek.

Despite the seemingly reasonable proposal, the Maroochy River Water Ski Association members voiced out their protest on the plan, saying that the pastime enjoyed by skiers at Eudlo Creek for more than half a century is going to be scrapped.

The plan is up for deliberation in the next few weeks.

Sixteen year old Michelle Cabassol of Montgomery, Texas and Kristian Ipsen of Clayton, California bagged two national titles each at the Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championships held last weekend in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Cabassol took the ten-meter and synchronized ten-meter platform diving titles while Ipsen clinched the three-meter and synchronized three-meter events.

The Californian was a clear favorite in the two events considering that he’s a 13-time junior national champion. Last year, he placed second on both of the events but this time, he’s not settling for second best once more.

Ipsen’s partner in the synchronized event was Troy Dumais, a three-time Olympian. The win earned the duo an entry at the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix which will still take place in Fort Lauderdale on May 7 to 9.

As for Cabassol, the victory was overwhelming on her end, considering that she’s now amassed three senior national championships. She achieved her personal best at the women’s platform diving event with 378.60 points. In the synchronized event, she teamed up with Kaylea Arnett, also a 16-year old diving phenom from Texas. The pair earned 286.68 points which were enough to win the title.