Category Archives: The Stuff Sack: Blogroll

The Stuff Sack: News from the wilds of the Internet

Coast Guard surfer rescue
Surfing Alaska’s Kodiak Islands has its risks, and cold water isn’t really their most dangerous. In the case of Eagle River resident Scott Jones, it was Old Man Wind and his pesky sidekick, Riptide. Jones was surfing with some buddies (a pretty select group when you consider the winter conditions of their home break), when a rip, described as a “raging river,” pulled him from the lineup, around a point and deposited him on a rocky shore hemmed in by the full-moon fueled high tide. He found himself some shelter in a seawall cave and waited for the orange & white calvary, which was alerted to his frothy predicament by his friends.
Shout out to www.alaskadispatch.com

Climbers for a cause
Two rock climbers from Michigan are raising money for research into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder through their website, www.climbing4ptsd.org. Their first effort under the mission is Mexico’s Time Wave Zero, a 23-pitch sport route in the Sierra Madre.
via WZZN 13

Forbes does … gear reviews?
Look, I suppose it’s cool that outdoor gear has made it to the pages of Forbes and their New York City rooftop campout to test a lot of the promo gear they received is pretty innovative, but I couldn’t help but chuckle at what author Jon Burner considers “essential gear.” He does know his audience, however, given what he chose to review at length: GPS devices and solar smartphone chargers.
Have a read.

The Stuff Sack: News from the wilds of the Internet

Start biking, fatty
In case you’re not aware, riding bikes is good for us. But here are some numbers and a super sweet info-graphic for you anyway, doubter.
via http://www.fastcoexist.com/ 

Wakana Ueda, an eleven-year-old girl from Japan, finished the Honolulu Marathon. Oh, and she’s blind. Last or not, she wins.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/

Talks are continuing about the possibility of turning Mount St. Helens into a National Park to stimulate visitation to the legendary volcano. Tourists arrived in droves in the years after she blew her top but today, the numbers are down to around 250,000 per year and facilities are in decline. So what does this say about what interests us Americans?
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/ 

The Stuff Sack: other news from the wilds of the Internet



McNamara drops into 45-footer on WaveJet prototype
Just how high-tech is surfing going to go? Certainly big wave riders need all the protection they can get and things like friends on jet skis and avalanche rescue inspired airbags are terrific tools for getting out of deep, dark wavy places. However, I’m afraid there will come a time when someone dies as a result of a mechanical failure, not at the hands of mother ocean.

Surfing and Zoomba
Surfing has finally made into the aerobics studio via the RipSurfer X, a treadmill like machine that combines the best in stupid fitness marketing with inflatable balls and a real board to stimulate the muscles used when, you know, actually taking part in the sport. Its patent is pending and it costs close to $800. Here’s a more affordable alternative.