Wet dreams

Yesterday was the day. We stripped down one of our 3 Hovery Bimos, put it in the back of my Mondeo and drove down to Millpool capark in Looe, our local fishing town. We had spring tides (6m) and got down there about an hour before slack water.

Putting the machine back together was hilarious, clock ticking, people watching, me huffing puffing and cursing as the time ran on and on. We had to get the machine out on the water by 6.00PM to allow a two hour window to get to the destination before dark. The later the better as the wind and swell would drop a bit as evening came on.

I managed to drop a little bolt (throttle cable mounting) into the cooling fins of one engine. Idiot. After that I wound my neck in and got on with it. Jack and Ben calm, laying out the safety kit on the tarmac ramp and going over the route and call points with me until they were sure I knew where I was going.

VHF radio preset to channel 16 for Mayday calls, distress flare, Adrenalin Quarry radio to talk to the guys on the move. Knife, Cable tie cutters, mobile phone. Thermal underwear, rash vest, t-shirt, 5mm wetsuit, wetsuit boots and gloves, wetsuit shorts, board shorts. Bouyancy aid with lots of pockets for the bits and bobs, ear defenders, woolly hat and another rash vest in bright yellow over everything. Ben and Jack murmering in my ear, pushing and pulling me into the safety gear, preset my phone to ring their numbers when I got there.

Last of all we strapped two 5 litre fuel cans into the frame under the seat using cable ties. We still didn’t know if the machine had enough gas to make it in one go.

6.15PM time to go. I fired off the ramp and into a problem: the extra fuel was to far back, making the back of the machine drag. She wouldn’t pick up speed and was hard to turn, so I came straight back and we strapped the fuel on a bit further forward to give a neutral balance.

6.20PM. I had to do it now or never so fired back in and headed through slack water round to Looe bridge. Shit! I realised straight away that this time the extra fuel was too far forwards, tipping the machine onto its nose. Too bad. I had run out of patience and was running out of daylight.

Round the corner to Looe bridge and aim for the centre of an arch, people walking across and turning round to see what all the noise was about. I then realised that with the spring tide my head was going to smack into the underside of the arch as I went through. Errrrrrr…….throttle back to sit the machine down in the water and bend over as far as I can. Easy.

Looe Harbour quiet, looking beautiful at high water. Out past Banjo pier, left through a school of mirror dinghies and aim West for Rame Head. Game on. The swell was worse than it had looked form the shore and was uncomfortable even in the lee of Looe Island. I got on with it but couldn’t use full throttle as she would start to bounced really hard in the swell so I found some kind of compromise and cruised west as fast as I could stay in the seat.

Opposite the Whitsand Bay Hotel and first call point. I remember telling them that I was not having a good time with the swell but didn’t want to turn back into the 13 knot tail wind. I heard Jack Jacks voice but couldn’t make out a word. Too far out to sea as I was making a bee line for Rame head rather than follow the curve of the shore.

All the first leg was really uncomfortable, hard to keep my feet down on the pegs and my arse on the seat with the chop. That far from the shore there is no impression of speed unless you go close to a bouy or over some weed or something. Looe was a long way back and Rame head a long way ahead. Decent size rollers now, but easy to surf along the upface and power down the backs. So far so good.

Less than mile short of rame head and getting choppy. I leant back and removed a petrol filler to check how fast I was getting through it. The swell was enough to make it impossible to tell what fuel was left in the tanks as the machine pitched and rolled so I thought I’d fuel up anyway. Big mistake. I got the cable tie cutters out easy enough and got the fuel in without to much trouble, engines ticking over and the hovercraft facing the swell. It took time, and I had now drifted with the wind and swell right into the rough stuff off Rame head itself.

Big confused peaks randomly slapping us around and water shipping over the front of the skirt. At this point I found I was unable to tie the used fuel can back down and the unused spare tank had now slipped over on the right of centre, pulling the machine with it. I was too scared to get out of the seat to tie them back in properly, and too stiff to reach from a sitting position so decided to go get on with it.

Nothing. Nada. Nix. Full power on both engines and she couldn’t pick up enough speed for a water start. Not good. Conventional wisdom is to get the wind and swell behind you and ease the power on, get some speed up and then go into full power. I didn’t want to go inshore at all so decided to drag out through the swell and get some room before I turned around. Not good. I couldn’t control where I was going very well and the swell was just starting to break up into white caps. Nice.

Then a massive random stroke of luck. Somehow the swell flicked her up and we were off on a rollercoaster, smashing through the wavetops hard enough to make the engines flex the tiny frame as they flopped forwards and back. I was unable to keep my feet down or stay on the seat, and somehow didn’t want to ditch the half full fuel can in my left hand. Like a rodeo for wet idiot. A wet scared idiot.

TBC

STUFFED

Anyone can dream. This week we got to throw a large party of Bankers (from HSBC Liskeard) off the cliffs of Adrenalin Quarry. How cool is that? The victims won one of our newsletter competitions and were tough enough to come and get their just desserts.

Even better, they live and work in Adrenalin Quarry territory and so had no way of backing out. To be fair, they were a great group and had a fantastic time. I went out in the safety boat to get some snaps and they were bobbing and grinning in the sunshine. Love this job.

Were still reeling from our big days last week. 602 zips in a day! Then came yesterday with 632. That’s one every 45.5 seconds. All day long. Crazy. We discovered a new set of challenges with that rate of activity, some mundane, all hard to fix.

Parking: if peeps can’t park, they can’t jump, and if they can’t jump, we’re stuffed.

Queues: if peeps have to wait more than they can bear, they get grumpy, and if they get grumpy, we’re stuffed.

Well we’ve got it fixed: more overflow parking and bigger signs; and a really hard look at the practice on the jump decks gave an elegant solution: more crew working harder. Nice. What keeps you awake at night?

From 7.30am to about 11.00am there really are no problems, only challenges. From 11.00am to 3.00pm the challenges turn into problems. At 3.00pm turn off the phone and hustle till it’s over. Simple.

HEALTH, SAFETY & CHILD CARE

I just saw my eldest son go off The Tombstone, our biggest coasteering jump. Scary. You do all the sums, all the risk assessments, check and file all the qualifications, interview everybody five times, measure the water depth, test all the equipment...and you still feel ill when they jump off the big one. I have never been so pleased to see his mad grin as when he broke the surface and tapped his helmet twice to let the instructor know he was ok.

Everything is streaming into place at work. Pressure’s increasing now and the company’s like an engine starting to pull hard. All the little stuff, all the things we’ve learnt, all add together when we get to do what we've trained all year for. A bit of friction running up to the start of our season made me feel really jumpy: what’s gonna happen when we have to deliver service and make good all the promises made in this year’s marketing? The pressure seems to suit us better than the build-up.

Had a 2 1/2 hour meeting with HSE this morning. They really seem to get it, how it works, what we’re doing. Get it or not we have to keep revising and updating all the systems that keep everybody safe, and keep proving on paper that we’ve done a good job. Bring it on.

WORLD CUP’S OVER & IT'S ALL GOING TOKICK OFF.

Like going to confession, I should imagine: father forgive me, it has been 67 days since I have blogged…

We have two days to go before the schools kick out and it all kicks off here. Same, same but different; new faces, new systems, a whole new ride with the coasteering and a new shape for the teams. It’s like last year we were 4-4-2 and now we’re 3-5-2. Positively continental.

We’re locked down and ready to go with the rides, and running round trying to do all the signs/painting/polishing/saluting/mowing one last time before the ground starts to shake. I feel like we’re through waiting now everybody’s ready and champing at the bit and that’s making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

We have two crazy people in reception full time on the phones and sorting out the mail, a touch screen till etc etc. Where’s it going to end? That’s what I want to know. When we’re really going full tilt we have 11 people at it all day, plus the web guys, plus me. Nasty.

The freshwater coasteering is better than my wildest dreams. We’ve had about 15 groups out since we started a couple of weeks ago and Joe Public is loving it. Talk about a good use of the space. Imagine being able to bomb off the cliffs inside the set of a Bond movie. They look so cool in all the safety gear, yellow helmets and shirts with these crazy buoyancy aids that make you look like an action hero. I love it.

We now have 3 fully qualified instructors in the water. Jack and Lucas just came back from Newquay on Friday absolutely knackered having qualified in heavy swell and a strong onshore wind. Made me feel old just thinking about it. All these young dudes in Adrenalin Quarry shirts prowling around the site are better at the job than I am. Scary thought for an old man.

We have this massive internet booking portal that allows you to do it from home, then we do mail order gift vouchers, mail order merchandise, you name it. Sainsburys for lunatics.

From carrier bag to blast-proof office in a year

Sun's out and water's dripping off everything like the whole quarry just emerged from the sea. Unreal. The lake is clear as a bell, blanket weed and crazy creatures dancing down there in some strange world we hardly look at. On the cliffs there's new stuff growing and all kind of birds have moved in for 2010. Canada geese use the lakeshore as the panoramic toilet on the set of their nature movie and we have baby ducks on the pond. Baby somethings anyway.

A whole year just ripped past - terrifying, confusing, hilarious, funny, sad and beautiful. Never boring, always scary. New faces here, old faces a year wiser and stronger. Now, I work in an blast-proof office surrounded by invoices and emails. This time last year I lived in a caravan and kept the paperwork in a carrier bag. I'm not sure which one I like more. The grass is always greener......

I got hurt pretty bad in February and walk round carrying the pain like a monkey on my back - makes me a little ball of misery thinking I can hide it from everyone and it's busines as usual. Just starting treatment today at the sports injuries clinic- that's a joke: I'm so far from sports right now I'm not even in the stadium. Pain makes you stronger, right? Don't think so. Pain gets managed like a motor running hot or a slow puncture. Never turn your back on it.

Simple!

Archive: Mon 23 Nov 2009

Simple? you have to be kidding!

Anyway, there we were in the cold and rain and I was still none the wiser. Mystified I watched as Brian borrowed a chainsaw and lurched off into some scrub at the top of the cliff. Several sorry looking bushes later the chain flew off "don't worry, I've got an up to date chainsaw ticket" He said, and hit the kill switch. "It's gonna go from here all the way down there see" right.

Down the bottom it was much the same story but no chainsaw. Still none the wiser we talked about handing over a deposit, Brian rolled up his sleeves and went to work. I slipped off to figure out how to get the money to pay for all this. Lots of huffing and puffing in the Quarry, lots of fast talking on my mobile in the garden.

Eventually I had a plan:

"Darling, you know our mortgage isn't all that big when you think about it?"

My plan was to wing it from there.

" Ok but if you screw this one up and lose the house I'm gone"

Hmmm....

Back to Cornwall with the loot ASAP. Even patient, understanding, inspired and inspiring Brian had by this stage started to run low on goodwill but I got the first payment in just in time to realise we now had to drag the cables across the lake...

Rain

Archive: Sat 23 May 2009

Rain rain rain. No let up. Rain.
Every one got caught out this time, even the farmers.

Everything. Is. Wet.

On the bright side the lake is full and the people keep turning up: full on holiday season now with the car park rammo and our working lives filled with amazing crazy people from far and wide all wanting to jump off the cliff. I love it.

We get to see kids running up to the viewing deck and then stopping dead in their tracks when they see the view right across the lake. Gets them every time. From reception you see the childrens faces in profile as they leg it up the ramp. Hilarious.

How much more rain can there be up there? It's August and still raining - can't really get my head round that at all. We have uniform T shirts now, yellow or black. I think they look really swish but then I would wouldn't I? They've had a good soaking since we got them. The Zip Crew are out in the weather all the time, it gets good and windy on the launch deck and if you get soaked uo there you can get cold really quick. When your fingers get cold it's hard to open the karabiners, we use trilocks that are so safe it's hard to get them open anyway, let alone when you're cold. You have to lift, rotate and then pull back the gate to open the karibiner and when you let go the sprung gaet snaps shut. We use them all the way through the system for people, and use conventional screwgates for everything else.

It's working well.

Where

Archive: Mon 15 Jun 2009

Did a lot of net searches, youtube, everything.

Had a look at the videos, looked at the big ones in South Africa and France. Amazing, awesome even.

What I was trying to figure out was how to land people at the right place in one piece, give them the longest steepest fastest possible ride in the space available. The landing/stopping methods used by the competition were really not going to work on the scale needed to make this rock. I checked out platforms that swung out, raised up, static platforms, rollers, sandpits. Some places lower you onto the ground, some zipwires let you do it yourself. Some of them have a landing like a train hitting the buffers, others seemed really slow.

Anyway Enter Brian Phelps from Vertigo Pursuits. He had the answers. He said "don't worry, this is going to be amazing". During the site visits with Brian I realized firstly that I had no idea how to do it and secondly that I wanted him to build it. Until then I had been thinking that I could do lots of research and then sling it up myself.

Hmmmmmmm.

In retrospect I'm really glad I ran into Him. It might seem obvious now but we had to figure out where to put it. I wanted to cross the quarry void at a diagonal and stretch further over the Hoverworld flying field, Brian had other Ideas. "You got to think out how to get them off at the bottom" he said. Christ, I was thinking of nothing else. He saw what I had missed: the ground underneath the old access road rises up at the same sort of angle as the cable would as it swung back up from the lake to the lower (cliff) anchor points. Simple.

Fast Forward 2009

Archive: Sat 23 May 2009

Just got married: 10 years, 3 kids and now rings. We went away for 3 nights on our own, no computer, no calls, no children. Our third break together in 10 years. Magic.

Adrenalin Quarry now has a life (and a mind) of it's own, we have a great team but most of all it's the people who walk through the door: they love it and it shows.

It's built, open, working. I have to pinch myself sometimes just to make sure it's real. The vegetation on the cliffs and around the Quarry is lush, rampant, out of control. Every colour you can think of bursts out of the cliffs when the sun comes out, everything in blossom at once. We'll have to trim the growth close to the North Cable as green leaves almost reach the feet of riders on The Zip as they barrel off the launch platform into clear air. God I Love it.

The Lake is teeming with life, mad with it. Teeny little strange wiggly creatures bomb around the shore up to their teeny strange creature business. Mad weed hanging off the Buoy ropes marking the safe edge of the hovercraft runs, seabirds, ducks, you name it we got it. Canada geese, rabbits (not usually in the lake), buzzards, peregrines. They all seem unfazed by the hovercraft, apparently it's because the machines make very little wake. I think it's because ducks like hovercraft.

You may as well start at the bottom

Archive: Thu 14 May 2009

Early Autumn 2007 and I’m in a bed at Redlands Hospital, Bristol, wondering what happened. I can hear the Talking Heads “ this is not my beautiful life, this is not my beautiful car….” in my head but I can’t remember the name of the song. That bothers me not one little bit as I have other fish to fry: Jessie was there when I came round from my double discectomy and spinal fusion and asked me to wiggle my toes and they moved. Bliss. I went back to sleep smiling.

There is a gap of a couple of months, painkillers and drinking mostly, not a good look for a man with two kids and another on the way. I wore a plastic collar to hold my head on while new bone grew through the two titanium cages in my neck. The amazing Mr Porter put them in to me and filled them with bone dust that he removed with a grinder from the vertebrae behind my voice box.

Anyway I was a mess and needed to get better quick because I had plans and the clock was ticking louder than ever. Mr Porter told me that it was a good job but the fix wouldn’t last forever and that I should get on with my life. That kind of advice really helps you get up in the morning.

For me, getting up in the morning meant getting strong enough to get back down to Cornwall 3 days a week and seeing some results.