Water Activities

How Does Tolerance Influence Olympic Swimming Results?

Olympic swimming is notorious for awarding ties. However, for the first time in history, in the 2016 Rio Olympics, three Olympians were awarded silver medals.  Pools were not designed to the millimeter tolerances required to measure thousandths of a second. As a result, Olympic swimming is timed only in hundredths of a second. This method […]

How Does Tolerance Influence Olympic Swimming Results? Read More »

During WW2, Ernest Hemingway used his fishing boat named after his ex-wife (Pilar) to hunt German U-boats in the Caribbean armed only with Thomson machine guns and hand grenades. He was given unlimited gasoline by the US government.

Pilar (boat) Location of the dry docked actual boat (At the Hemingway Museum, Havana, Cuba) Ernest Hemingway owned a 38-foot (12 m) fishing boat named Pilar. It was acquired in April 1934 from Wheeler Shipbuilding in Brooklyn, New York, for $7,495. “Pilar” was a nickname for Hemingway’s second wife, Pauline, and also the name of

During WW2, Ernest Hemingway used his fishing boat named after his ex-wife (Pilar) to hunt German U-boats in the Caribbean armed only with Thomson machine guns and hand grenades. He was given unlimited gasoline by the US government. Read More »

Every year, a regatta is held in Alice Springs. Due to the lack of water in Central Australia, contestants have to carry bottomless “boats” trough a dried-out river. When the river did carry water in 1993, the regatta became “the only regatta ever cancelled because of wet weather”.

Henley-on-Todd Regatta Competition at 51st Henley-on-Todd Regatta in August 2012 The Henley-on-Todd Regatta (also called the Todd River Race) is a “boat” race held annually in the typically dry sandy bed of the Todd River in Alice Springs, Australia. It began – and continues – cautiously as a joke at the expense of the original

Every year, a regatta is held in Alice Springs. Due to the lack of water in Central Australia, contestants have to carry bottomless “boats” trough a dried-out river. When the river did carry water in 1993, the regatta became “the only regatta ever cancelled because of wet weather”. Read More »

Meet Anthony Ervin, a swimmer who won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics, retired at 22, begun abusing drugs, at one moment being hardly able to raise from a sofa for days on end. In 2011 he got back into swimming, and at the 2016 Olympics became the oldest swimmer to win a gold medal.

Gold Medalist Anthony Ervin Makes His Olympic Comeback After Drug Problems and Attempted Suicide At 35, former gold medalist Anthony Ervin is making a comeback Many of Anthony Ervin‘s competitors were just learning to read and write the last time he won a gold medal, at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, before he abruptly retired

Meet Anthony Ervin, a swimmer who won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics, retired at 22, begun abusing drugs, at one moment being hardly able to raise from a sofa for days on end. In 2011 he got back into swimming, and at the 2016 Olympics became the oldest swimmer to win a gold medal. Read More »

A man spent 60 hours underwater, in total darkness, after his vessel capsized and sunk to the bottom of the sea. He was discovered alive by divers sent to recover dead bodies.

Nigerian survives two days at sea, in underwater air pocket Jed Chamberlain, from DCN Global diving company, described how Harrison Okene (pictured) was rescued A Nigerian man has survived for two-and-a-half days trapped 30m (98ft) deep in freezing seawater. Harrison Okene, 29, was on board the tug boat Jascon-4 when it capsized in heavy swells.

A man spent 60 hours underwater, in total darkness, after his vessel capsized and sunk to the bottom of the sea. He was discovered alive by divers sent to recover dead bodies. Read More »