Equipment Outfitters

No matter how large your boat, finding enough storage will be a constant challenge and you’ll soon find you have more items than space to store them in. This gives rise to one of the first rules of boating: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” After using an item stow it in its proper place. A corollary rule states “less is more” aboard a boat. Stick to essentials and you’ll reduce fuel-guzzling weight. Read the rest of this entry »

Caravanning and Camping Barbecue Units

Portable barbecue are becoming more popular among travellers as the designs become more sophisticated and the products lighter and more efficient. Kettle barbecue are a good example as they are lightweight and long lasting. They come in a wide range of manageable sizes and can be used to make a wide variety of foods. With the lid on, the air flow can be finely tuned and they are mercifully easy to clean. More important, they contain heat well and are considered a perfectly safe place to make a fire when there are non-permanent places available. Their ideal fuel is compressed charcoal brikettes, which are light and conveniently packaged. Read the rest of this entry »

The living area of the motorhome tends to be built around the front end of the vehicle — the engine needs to be accessible from various angles for servicing, and one of these may be from inside the cab. Access to the cab is made easier by the fact that there is already a side entrance, and in these cases access to the driver’s seat will be via the living area. Some cabs do not depart much from their industrial origins and access here is gained via an ordinary door on each side. Depending on the country of origin, many imported motorhomes have the steering wheel and door on the ‘wrong’ side for South African roads. While this is not illegal, it does mean that the driver will have to make allowances for restricted vision. If you don’t like the idea, rather buy a locally made vehicle. Read the rest of this entry »

Flysheets, groundsheets and A-poles

Although a weight of 4.5 kilos was given in the equipment checklist, some specialist tents weigh as little as half or even a third of that amount. This can be achieved nowadays by making them out of polyurethane- or silicone-proofed nylon, and generally standards of manufacture are very high. But the backpacker or cyclist should think twice before buying a tent without a tough, sewn-in groundsheet. A large protective flysheet which extends right down to the ground is also worth the effort of the extra couple of pounds. As well as making the tent less transparent, warmer and more rain and windproof, a flysheet with a front or side extension provides an undercover space in which to stow your gear or shelter your cooking apparatus during any bad weather. Read the rest of this entry »

Use of the Motorcycle Throttle

Smooth motorcycle operation of the throttle goes hand in hand with smooth motorcycle clutch control and machine appreciation. Harsh motorcycle acceleration can cause motorcycle wheelspin or wheelies; great for posers and fly boys, but bad for professional and caring motorcyclists, and bad for the general image of motorcycling.

Excessive use of the motorcycle throttle, when not absolutely necessary, is also very expensive. The cost of motorcycle fuel is always rising, so the less you open the throttle the better for your pocket. Read the rest of this entry »

The drive belts on an inboard or sterndrive engine provide power to the alternator and to the engine’s water pump. Both are necessary for the engine to operate. A drive belt may break if it wears, dries and cracks or is not replaced regularly. Constant use in the engine compartment dries out the rubber and causes tiny cracks. You can, however, “jury-rig” a temporary drive belt to get home, if you motor slowly. Read the rest of this entry »

Thick, strong sticking plaster with powerful adhesive qualities should accompany you everywhere, but make sure you have some form of gauze to stop it sticking to the wound itself. Always carry a pair of sharp scissors or knife to cut it with, as it is almost impossible to tear. The stickiest plaster does not usually allow much air to penetrate, so you may also wish to carry a different variety that does. Read the rest of this entry »

Mountainboarding is a newcomer to the world of extreme sports, although I can track its lineage to a few other more “established” extreme sports like snowboarding and mountain biking.

Essentially, the mountain board creators developed a hybrid skateboard/snowboard that allows aspects of each sport to be used on terrain where neither can be practiced. Which isn’t to say that skateboarders have not tried using fat tires on their skateboards so that they can ride on loose sand and gravel—they have. Read the rest of this entry »

Charging down a hill at warp speed on a bike is a rush that most of us have enjoyed at some time. As bikes developed they headed down the path of tradition, and for a while, all a bike buyer could find was a road-racing-style bike or a cruiser. Road bikes were fine for speed and offered a broad range of gears. But road bikes offered little comfort and didn’t take very well to rough surfaces. Cruisers were very comfortable, but heavy and not geared very well. All that changed in the early Eighties when a Japanese bike company by the name of Specialized purchased a unique bike made in Marin County, California, and took it home for a closer look.

The mountain bike can trace its roots back to when a small and unknown group of riders in Marin County, California first began riding stripped down and beefed up Schwinns on mountain roads just prior to WWII. One can only assume that the natural propensity of extreme oriented riders continued to pursue downhill riding until a few notable pioneers of the modern mountain bike began simultaneously experimenting and redefining the equipment they were riding. According to one of those pioneers, Gary Fischer, the early Schwinn “Ballooner” Cruiser bikes everyone was riding were so heavy that they were pushed, not ridden, uphill. Fischer is reported to have been the first to equip a Ballooner with multiple gears, an act that made it easier to pedal uphill, but also added 25 lbs (11.35 kg) to their weight. Read the rest of this entry »

Swimming into the deepest reaches of the ocean is a feat that many divers have experienced to a degree. Some may go below 200 feet (60m), others deeper. All would be lost without the air they bring with them. There is a special breed of diver who can go deeper than most, without air tanks. These freedivers have pushed the limits of unassisted breathing dives to below 400 feet.

Tofreedive to depths of even 50 feet (15m) is an unsettling prospect for all but the strongest swimmers. To dive much deeper requires holding a breath for minutes. In fact, the world’s best freedivers hold their breath for periods that rival many marine mammals. Read the rest of this entry »

Reports of surfing were first described to the civilized world by Lieutenant James King ofthe British Royal Navy in 1779. He remarked that he’d seen Hawaiians surfing massive “boomers” at Kealakekua Bay. In typical fashion of the self righteous explorers of the period, he described surfing as “most perilous and extraordinary, altogether astonishing and scarcely to be credited.”

Surfing, of course, continued despite the lieutenant’s comments and eventually over 150 years later, under the leadership of legendary Duke Kahanamoku, grew to become the international force in watersports it is today. Duke was the first recognized star of the surfing community. He was so famous that Hollywood stars flocked to Hawaii to meet and be photographed with him. Read the rest of this entry »

Nearly everyone has seen images of surfers riding effortlessly down the face of a big wave, or even inside the tunnel created as the wave breaks. There is a quality to the sound a wave makes that can’t be duplicated, and a state of elevated consciousness that results from being in that wave. Many have daydreamed of being that surfer, yet most don’t understand that surfing is less about the ride than it is about life itself.

Ask any surfer to explain what it feels like to surf and they will tell you to try it for yourself, since as one surfer eloquently stated, “trying to explain surfing to a non- surfer is like trying to explain sex to a virgin.” There is something mystical about the entire process of surfing, something that can only be experienced. Read the rest of this entry »

Shock

Shock is present, even if not apparent, in all major and most minor accident situations.

Apart from any injury, the victim has suffered a blow to the nervous system, which can lead to a temporary functional failure of some parts. Shock, together with the injuries, can lead to death. Shock is very serious and is usually present, so always treat for shock, even if the victim seems, or declares himself to be quite all right.

The victim may be pale, grey and sweating, or shivering with an irregular pulse, perhaps hysterical. Make him lie down and rest. Treat the injuries as best you can, cleaning up any blood, acting confidently. Your confidence will do a great deal to help reassure the casualty, and reassurance is what he needs to fight the shock. Clear away all spectators unless they can help. If you can cheer the casualty a little and reassure him by your words and actions that all will soon be well, you have helped him considerably. Here again, a knowledge of first aid will give you the confidence he badly needs. Read the rest of this entry »

Breathing stopped

If a casualty stops breathing for any period longer than a very few minutes, he may die, or if alive still suffer irreversible brain damage. If a casualty is not breathing it is vital that mouth-to-mouth or mouth-tonose resuscitation commences AT ONCE, and is continued until breathing re-starts. Be prepared for this to take some time. With any casualty check for chest movement, or a sensation of breathing at mouth and nostrils. A mirror may help here, as any breath will fog the glass. If there is no breath, commence resuscitation at once.

The action for mouth-to-mouth is as follows:

1. Lay the casualty on his back and tilt the head back to open the airways.
2. Check mouth for obstructions and remove them.
3. Pinch the nostrils together and place your mouth over that of the casualty to make a seal. Read the rest of this entry »

Avalanche precaution

The best precaution is to use your common sense, observe avalanche warnings, and never travel on closed routes. They have been closed to keep you out of danger, and even if you take the risk and get away with it, your tracks may tempt others into danger and they may not be so lucky.

Most avalanches occur at known spots, and when avalanche conditions exist, a warning is issued, ski pistes are closed and the emergency services stand by. Providing the skier does what he is told, and stays out of danger, little harm can come to him. Read the rest of this entry »

Shell clothing

A full set of ’shell’ clothing, giving protection against wind and water, is essential in winter. People maintain that with the waterproof protection of shell clothing, you can wear down garments and thus keep them dry, and in theory to a certain extent you can. However, I have tried this out in prolonged bad weather, and in practice you still get wet, if not from rain, then from condensation. Condensation is the real enemy of the winter camper.

Porous materials like GORE-TEX may well provide part of the answer to the condensation problem, for they permit body heat to evaporate and yet prevent rain droplets from beating through. Read the rest of this entry »

The mayflies are without doubt the most abundant mayfly in our stillwaters and in someareas provide consistent action for several months of the angling season. They often provoke highly selective feeding, and the spinner falls of these minute mayflies offer the angler a unique opportunity to go one-on-one with large trout using small imitations and light tippets.

As a neophyte fly-fisher I was fascinated by *fish fly- fishing magazine articles on the emergence of Caenis mayflies on stillwaters, and the name ‘Anglers‘ Curse’ left me in no doubt as to what they did to anglers in the United Kingdom. However, as I became acquainted with Tricorythidae mayflies and learnt more about their life cycle and the angling techniques used when fishing appropriate patterns, I came to enjoy the challenges that mayfly emergences provide and began to look forward to the dense hatches that came off on many of the stillwaters that I fished. Read the rest of this entry »

The unparalleled DDD is without question the most famous dry fly in use on South African stillwaters today. The DDD was created by the now legendary South African fly-fisherman Tom Sutcliffe, a person who has channelled all his free time and energy into the pursuit of trout and all activities allied to fly-fishing. Tom graduated with a medical degree from the University of Stellenbosch, and it was on the streams surrounding Stellenboschthat he was taught the skills of fly-fishing by the late Mark Mackereth, an angler well known for his abilities to deceive trout with a fly. Tom’s occupation later took him to KwaZulu-Natal, a province renowned for its lake fishing, and it was on the lakes in the Impendhle and Dargle areas that the DDD quickly established its reputation. Read the rest of this entry »

Ants, which play an important part in the diet of trout, occur in every terrestrial ecosystem except in Antarctica. Because they forage for food in bankside vegetation they are easily blown into the water where they form an abundant food source for trout. When falls of flying ants occur on streams and lakes (this is not common) trout will usually feed selectively on them to the exclusion of all else, making for particularly frustrating fishing. While most anglers encounter ants at some point while fishing, and despite the fact that ant imitations often fool wary fish that may shun better-known and more widely used flies, almost all fly-fishers neglect the role of the ant in fly-fishing. Fly- fishers will find that it pays to carry a selection of bothwinged and non-winged ant varieties. These tiny imitations may save the day when fish begin to take ants that are trapped helplessly in the film. The best falls of the winged ants occur on hot, humid days, either during or after a spell of rain, whereas the terrestrial ants encountered along streambanks can be found on the water during any warm month of the year, especially when strong winds are blowing. Read the rest of this entry »