Posts Tagged ‘Adventure’

What You Ought To Know About The Sport Of Skydiving And Its Various Requirements

July 13th, 2010

The skydiving or parachuting exercise is now very popular and people seem to enjoy it because of its competitiveness not just as a recreation but also for its practical qualities. It is usually performed by breaking one’s free-fall using a parachute.

Those in the military are trained to sky dive for many reasons. The ordinary man however would choose to sky dive just for the thrill and pleasure of it.

The highly popular sport of sky diving has resulted in the spawning of numerous sky diving schools which now creates doubt in people’s minds about their credibility, especially the very recent ones.

It should be noted that sky diving can be terribly dangerous if not done properly so it is paramount that one chooses a reliable and legally registered skydiving school. Apart from this, one should also take time to compare their services, mode of operation and charges before embarking on a sky diving course.

It would be useful to verify the certifications offered by the national and international sky diving school associations as well as moving a step further to check the credentials of the staff and the programs they run. Your safe bet would be to go over the equipment and devices they have even before you can decide to enroll.

Prior to going out to start jumping, the sky diving schools will teach you the practical skills necessary for skydiving. The make use of some vertical wind tunnels to give you enough practice with free falls. They also use skydiving simulators during the practical parachute control lessons.

The various types of courses that are offered by the sky diving schools can range from the very basic ones to the highly advanced. The schools also try to use different teaching techniques to make the individual learners get to know how to skydive.

Tandem skydiving involves the method of tying the student using a harness to the instructor or tandem master who now controls the jump starting from the exit, freefall until the landing stage. It is a method that is really liked by the beginner skydivers as it makes them feel the entire skydiving exercise.

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Book Review: Arctic Drift, by Clive Cussler

February 28th, 2010

As always, Clive Cussler’s latest novel stays right on top of current geopolitical events. Arctic Drift, set in 2011, centers on global warming and the financial crisis.

The crook in Arctic Drift is a Canadian energy empire billionaire by the name of Mitchell Goyette who is publicly admired for his green technology businesses, while concealing his heavy involvement in natural gas and oil.

South of the Canadian border, the United States faces a financial crisis of unequaled of proportions, a crisis intensified by the looming boycott of the U.S. by the international community if the country does not cut its greenhouse gas emissions from coal burning and automobiles.

The sitting American president, who in 2011 is neither Democratic nor Republican but an independent, hopes to use Canadian natural gas to replace coal for producing electricity and even for powering cars converted to run on natural gas.

But of course, this desperate play by the U.S. gets exploited by Goyette to the fullest. Publicly, he’s a hero to the environmentalists because of his role in developing wind power and finding solutions to carbon dioxide sequestration. Out of the public eye and unknown to all but a few, Goyette has major holdings in the Melville gas field of the Canadian Arctic, as well as the Athabasca oil sands of Alberta.

The unconscionable Goyette strikes a deal with the American government to sell nearly limitless supplies of Melville natural gas at market value, which would help the U.S. avert the escalating energy crisis, a financial meltdown, and an international trade boycott. But when Goyette is able to secretly work out a better deal with China, he does not hesitate to break his agreement with the U.S. and leave the southern neighbor high and dry.

(In reality, it seems a little farfetched that the American government would not have had an iron-clad, legally binding, written contract in place for a deal of this magnitude and importance. But it makes for a good story.)

But Goyette’s double-dealing with China and the U.S. pales in comparison to some of his other crimes, which include political assassination, intentional dumping of toxic waste that kills humans and wildlife, theft, vandalizing, bribery of high ranking officials, and worst of all, nearly instigating a war between Canada and the U.S.

What Goyette does not count on, of course, is Dirk Pitt, the hero of 20 Clive Cussler books, including this latest installment. In the end, good prevails over evil.

The co-authorship between father and son Cussler in Arctic Drift appears seamless. Their penmanship cannot be separated. Whatever parts of the book were written by the younger Cussler, he did a magnificent job of adopting his father’s inimitable style. (Intentional oxymoron!)

Arctic Drift is a thrilling read in classic Clive Cussler style. You will not be disappointed. It may not be the edge-of-your-seat non-stop action from cover-to-cover as in some of the older Cussler works, but it’s still an exciting, intriguing and brilliantly written story that keeps your attention and makes you want to keep reading. The thugs are as smart as they are sinister, and the heroes as pure as Arctic ice.

Britt Hellman lives in North Carolina with her spouse and three children. She operates her own copywriting business from home. Clive Cussler has been one of her favorite writers since reading his Trojan Odyssey in 2003 and she writes reviews like this one on Arctic Drift, by Clive and Dirk Cussler, for the fun of sharing that excitement.


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Book Review: Spartan Gold

February 28th, 2010

Spartan Gold signifies the launch of a fifth book series by perpetual New York Times bestselling author Clive Cussler, this time in partnership with up and coming young author Grant Blackwood.

The new series is referred to as “Fargo Adventures,” based on its action heroes, a married couple named Sam and Remi Fargo.

Independently wealthy, the Fargos have devoted their lives to their obsessive passion for archeological treasure hunting, and they do not shy away from any obstacles to find what they are looking for.

The Fargo Adventures feature a new set of characters and a new approach in the form of archeological treasure hunting. (New in terms of being the main focus.) But as with any Cussler-novel, we can still expect a lot of the action to take place in and around water, as well as plenty of exotic cars, foods and drinks.

In Spartan Gold, Sam and Remi Fargo pursue a trail of clues left on the labels of twelve wine bottles from the lost wine cellar of Napoleon Bonaparte, written in a code they must first decipher.

Naturally, their quest to unravel this mystery does not go unimpeded. Relentlessly on their heels are the hired ruffians of Bondaruk, a former Soviet freedom fighter from an ethnic minority group, who has since turned into a ruthless mafia billionaire.

At the end of the trail await two ancient Greek statues of pure gold, which were looted from Greece by Persian conqueror Xerxes the Great. Bondaruk has discovered through genealogy research that he is a direct descendant of Xerxes, and believes the treasure is his rightful inheritance, never mind that is was stolen from Greece.

The wine-bottle trail leads Sam and Remi, as well as their adversaries, from a sunken German submarine in the Great Pocomoke Swamp, Maryland, to the Bahamas, through much or Europe, from Germany, France and Italy to Croatia and Ukraine: not necessarily in that order.

To sum it up, Spartan Gold is the first in an exciting new series by the master of marine action novels, Clive Cussler, complete with the distinct hallmarks that we have come to love and expect from this beloved author. In other words, Spartan Gold is another guaranteed New York Times bestseller.

Britt Hellman lives in North Carolina with her spouse and three sons, operating her own copywriting business from home. Clive Cussler has been long time favorite author. Visit her dedicated Cussler site to order the Spartan Gold novel or read her review of the latest Dirk Pitt novel, Arctic Drift.


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The Wrecker by Clive Cussler

February 27th, 2010

The second book in a new Western series by Clive Cussler, “one of the greatest adventure novelists of our time” (imdb), The Wrecker represents the continuation of Cussler’s entry into the classic American genre of Wild West fiction. Who knows, maybe it will turn into his most popular series yet.

A detective by the name of Isaac Bell represents the main character in The Wrecker. Bell is as athletic and fearless as James Bond and as intellectually brilliant as Sherlock Holmes.

As an independently wealthy heir to a Boston banking family, Isaac Bell pursues his detective investigations with a fury born out of an obsession and passion for justice rather than the need to make a living.

Isaac Bell gets hired by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company to find and stop a saboteur known as “The Wrecker,” who has targeted Southern Pacific construction sites throughout the West. If the sabotage continues in the midst of pressing deadlines to finish work on a major new track, it could cost Southern Pacific its good standing with its lenders, and rapidly lead to bankruptcy.

Unbeknownst to all until the very end of the book, The Wrecker is a regular member of the inner circles of Southern Pacific Railroad president Osgood Hennessy, even courting the railroad baron’s “unspeakably beautiful” daughter Lillian. He’s a formidable adversary, perhaps as brilliant as Isaac Bell himself.

The Wrecker’s agenda turns out to be the hostile takeover of not only the Southern Pacific Railroad but as a side effect gaining complete control of the entire United States railroad system, at a time in history when the wealthiest men in America were railroad barons such as Vanderbilt, Harriman and others.

As a story taking place in the early 1900’s, this book also offers a perfect opportunity for avid car enthusiast Clive Cussler to present some classic automobiles from the era when the experimental variety of styles was the greatest because few standards had yet been established.

The Wrecker features the 1907 Model 35 Thomas Flyer, winner of the 1908 New York to Paris race, as well as a Packard Grey Wolf, a Bugatti Type 41 Royale, and Isaac Bell’s own Locomobile.

Best-selling author Clive Cussler nurtures a personal passion for the sea, and has previously created three successful action novel series that all revolve in and around water. However, residing in Colorado, just about as far from the sea as you can get, Cussler also appears to love the mountains and the rugged terrain of the American West.

The Wrecker gives a glimpse into this other side of Cussler, his love of the mountains and the still-not-entirely-tamed American West, a contagious passion that is likely to rub off on a whole new generation of Wild West enthusiasts and reinvigorate many old ones. The new Isaac Bell series may well be Clive Cussler’s best work yet.

Mrs. Hellman lives in North Carolina with her spouse and three children, where she works as a professional copywriter. She writes book review as a hobby. Visit her site to order The Wrecker by Clive Cussler, or the most recent Dirk Pitt adventure, Clive Cussler’s Arctic Drift.


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