Zippity-Doo-Dah

Zipline madness yesterday - and serious way cool fun.  Unfortunately, for safety reasons I could not take my still camera with me.  Too bulky and a recipe for a broken camera and/or a serious concussion.  But I did take my Flip video cam as you will see below.

The course is located north of Kananapali about 10 miles.  You check-in at the Ritz-Carlton and then a mini-van hauls you up the mountain to an elevation of about 2500 feet.  Then you cross a wobbly 200 foot suspension bridge by foot and board a WWII vintage half-track to climb another 500 feet to the first line.

We did 5 lines - two of which are about a half-mile long.  You zip over ravines and zip down canyons.  Over hill, over dale.  It was very exhilarating and the closest you're likely to feel to actually flying.

Here we go up the hill in the halftrack:

Sadly, my little video cam is not so hotsy-totsy for capturing someone riding a 1/2 mile zipline.  And the Blogger upload will no doubt further degrade the image.  Nevertheless, here is one of my zip compatriots on one of the more interesting lines.  You may not see anything for the first 3/4 of the vid - but you should get the gist of the thing at the end!

I got up to over 45 mph on this segment.  If you feel a need for speed you have to "pencil," i.e., lay back as far as you can in the sling and raise your legs to the horizontal to minimize wind resistance.  I liked the speed.

When you get near the end of the run the "receiver" staff puts his arms out which is your cue to sit-up straight, put your arms out to the horizontal and your legs down to maximize wind resistance and thereby slow you down.  Just before you hit the brake (a rubber coated coiled spring about 20 feet long) you need to grab the handle bars and lean back to you don't whack your noggin' upon deceleration.  BANG!  You come to a pretty abrupt stop.

So there you have it.

Aloha!