Picture it: 10 buddies sitting in a rubber raft, getting tossed back and forth, and paddling like crazy through a menacing drop-off the guides call, The Meat Grinder. Besides whitewater rafting, parties can perform airborne ballets after leaping from planes at 10,000 feet, reel in fish ranging from 30 lb king salmon to 300 lb sharks, or drive hundreds of cattle alongside real-life cowboys. As an added bonus, guys return from the adventure, with pictures, mementoes, and memories that will always remain special.

Although these adventures bring a fresh, new idea to the bachelor party concept, groups are given many opportunities to do some old-school partying. Typically, the extreme adventure locations are located off the beaten path, requiring a couple-days excursion. Everyone usually congregates in a major city near the adventure site and spends the first night enjoying the urban nightlife. Day Two kicks off with an early morning rise, followed by a trip out into the wild for the adventure activity.

Some detailed examples of adventure-based bachelor parties paint a clear picture of exactly how extreme adventure combines with traditional fun to produce an unforgettable experience.

Whitewater Rafting

Whitewater rafting is an adventure that can take place in multiple locations across the country. As long as there is a flowing river, someone will put a boat in it. The trick is finding the rivers that will take you to the edge, without throwing you over it. Under the guidance of an adventure expert, guys paddle, dodge, and hold on through class IV and V rapids, all while taking in spectacular views of the scenic beauty and wildlife. To compliment the adventure, the group spends the first night at an upscale hotel in a bustling downtown area and the second night in more rustic accommodations surrounded by nature. This combination creates a solid mix of fun and adventure.

Cattle Wrangling

Imagine living out the movie, City Slickers. Saddle-up the crew, ride the open range like old-time cowboys, and drive longhorn cattle through rugged mountain terrain. In the morning, work alongside real cowboys to move the thundering herd to greener pastures. Enjoy the sights and sounds of rolling rivers, towering mountain ranges, and native wildlife while attempting to control the wild herd. After the drive, see if anyone lasts eight seconds on the mechanical bull before taking aim at the skeet shooting range. Recount the day’s highlights during a Texas-style-barbeque dinner including steaks, potatoes, and plenty of beer. Before you dive headfirst into the cowboy lifestyle, enjoy a night with upscale hotel accommodations, fine dining, and outstanding nightlife characteristic of the adjacent downtown area.

Charter Fishing

In groups of four to six people, the guys board separate charter boats and compete in a private fishing tournament. Someone not only has the satisfaction of wrestling a trophy fish into the boat, but also the sweet taste of victory in catching the winning fish to beat the rest of the bunch in the tournament. While everybody breathes in the fresh air and takes in picturesque views, the expert captains and crew guide the team to the hot spots and teach the boys how to reel in the big one. After a full day of fishing, camaraderie, and competition, a chef “cooks the catch” at a restaurant overlooking the water. Since most fishing trips are located in beach side towns, nights will be spent at Buffet-like bars sipping Margaritas, watching the fade over the horizon.

Skydiving

What’s better than jumping out of a plane, free-falling for over a minute at 120 mph, and seeing for miles in every direction? Doing it all with some of your closest friends. After some basic training, everyone flies to 13,000 feet and prepares for the jump. Hearts pound, men begin to fade to the back of the line, and adrenaline pumps as everybody peels out of the plane into the open sky. Once everyone has returned safely to Earth, the party begins. The boys enjoy beers in the hanger, a bonfire on the grounds, a delicious catered dinner, and a viewing of the days skydive video. To enhance this exceptional skydiving experience, upscale accommodations, fine dining, and locally distinct nightlife in a lively downtown setting complete the package.

Regardless of the adventure theme you choose, it will be important to make the outing an experience rather than just a trip. Answer these questions when planning your weekend to remember:

What adventure activity is the group interested in?

What areas of the country offer this type of activity during the groups seasonal timeframe?

Is there a major city near the event where people can fly to at a reasonable price?

What hotels offer high-class accommodations and fit the groups price range?

Is there a restaurant with a private banquet facility near the hotel, where champagne toasts and words of encouragement can be uttered without upsetting the other patrons?

What are the best bars?

How will the group get from the hotel to the adventure outfitter?

If the adventure is outside of the city, where will the group stay the second night?

These are just some of the questions that will come up as the event planning takes shape. The most important part of the trip is making sure the groom has a great time. So, if you are the best man, make sure to have his best interests in mind at all times. If all goes as planned, you will have successfully orchestrated a weekend filled with memories to last a lifetime and maybe even overcome some fears along the way.

About The Author

Darren Hitz is the Founder of Adventure Bachelor Party (ABP). ABP plans unique, adventure-based trips for groups of friends looking to make great memories. By planning everything from the lodging to the adventure, ABP allows the groom and his friends to enjoy the experience without all the worries and hassle of planning a group trip. Contact ABP at www.adventurebachelorparty.com or call 248-910-8152. ABP weekend adventures can be arranged for as little as $349 per person.

View their website at: http://www.adventurebachelorparty.com/

info@adventurebachelorparty.com

Written By: Darren Hitz

Swooping competitions are relatively new, and there are two different types. The first is just a swooping competition in which all of the sky divers are accomplished swoopers. The second type of competition takes place as part of a larger sky diving competition.

Even though swooping is a new sport in a lot of areas, and there are not always competitions in place wherever you go, the number of competitions worldwide is increasing. In fact, these competitions are doing a lot to add to the popularity of the sport – both among other sky divers and other people who are just looking for an extreme sport to watch.

Most swooping competitions are only for very expert swoopers. Since a lot of the different maneuvers that are required in the competition are difficult, none of these competitions are open to everybody. If you would like to compete in a swooping competition, then you’re going to have to qualify. You can qualify by showing through a few jumps that you have control over your canopy, and that you are able to accurately hit inside of a target area.

Swooping competitions also generally consist of several different rounds. This way, more than one skill is being tested through the competition. Also, in this way, the best overall swooper wins – and a single bad jump may average out in the end.

Before competing in swooping competitions, you may want to try competing in regular sky diving competitions for practice. Some of the skills that you will use in order to do well in these competitions should help you as a sky diver – and you will be able to get used to the stress of sky diving competitions before you find yourself getting ready to swoop competitively.

About the Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.swooping.net. Visit his website for the latest on this new and extreme way to skydive.

Written By: Jakob Jelling

competitions of skydiving

In order to find a good location for swooping, you should first find a drop zone where people have a tendency to go swooping quite often. This will generally be a place where you’ll be able to go swooping without too much difficulty. Also, you should ask around if you know anybody who has ever been swooping – and find out where they usually do it.

Then, before you do any swooping, you should get a good idea as to what the conditions at the drop zone are like. What this means is that you should take a look around the drop zone before you do any jumps, and you should make sure that your first jump is a standard skydiving drop. The reason for this is that you might experience conditions toward the end of the drop that you are not used to. Therefore, once you have made a few safe jumps, you should be ready to swoop.

Another good way to find a place to go swooping is to look for instructors in your area first. This is especially the case if you have no swooping experience – you’re not going to want to go swooping without instruction. There are just too many different techniques that you need to learn first.

Also, most of the instructors are at drop zones that make it easier for you to learn how to swoop.

The other thing that you should consider if you are already experienced at swooping is that some of the swooping locations are more fun than others. For instance, if you’re already used to doing regular swoops, you might want to try something a little bit different, and look for a drop zone that is over a lake or other body of water.

Finally, if you’re very good at swooping, there are swooping competitions held all over the world, some of which allow amateurs to sign up and compete. If you decide to compete in a swooping competition, good luck!

About the Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.swooping.net. Visit his website for the latest on this new and extreme way to skydive

Written By: Jakob Jelling

There are several different types of swooping competitions, and one of the biggest events involves distance. While there are several ways to determine the length of a swoop, most competitions find it easier to do this event over a lake or pond of some sort. As a result, the swooping distance is measured from the point where the swooper’s feet first hit the lake until the moment when they finally land.

Like any distance sport, more and more swoopers will end up breaking the distance record. This is especially likely in a sport like swooping when the equipment can have such a large effect on whether or not it is possible to swoop for long distances.

The upper limit on distances for swooping now is the record that was set by Shannon Pilcher. He managed to swoop an entire 418 feet, or about 125 meters. When you consider that a football field is 300 ft, that’s a long way!

In order to swoop that far, swoopers have to be going pretty fast before they hit the ground – at least a little bit faster than they would be if they were just sky diving normally. Swoopers usually pick up speed again near the ground by making a few turns near the ground. Going long distances is pretty difficult, since these last turns are the hardest part of sky diving.

It might be possible that there is a limit as to how far people can swoop. However, until that limit is reached, swoopers will continue to swoop farther and farther. As it is, however, the distance you can count on somebody being able to swoop depends a lot on their experience and the type of equipment that they’re using.

About the Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.swooping.net. Visit his website for the latest on this new and extreme way to skydive.

Written By: Jakob Jelling

www swooping

Between World War I and World War II, parachuting started to become more and more popular among people who were not soldiers. These people at first started out just using old ex-military equipment. This was good enough at first, but it was discovered that there were several changes that could be made to the equipment in order to improve the steering of the parachute.

Eventually it was also discovered that it is much easier to skydive safely if you jump out of the plane in certain positions. Skydiving, while it was still only a sport for the brave, gradually became more and more popular over the years. In 1950, it was considered to be an aeronautical sport, and now there are hundreds of competitions and skydiving schools all over the world.

Of course, after a while even the most exciting sport gets a little bit boring. Swooping is just another way for people to make skydiving more interesting – it’s more of an evolution in skydiving techniques than it is its own sport. Even so, there are a lot of people for whom swooping is the sport of choice.

It is not really known when swooping first started, though it definitely began during the past 20 years. It was a mixture of people looking for a new type of skydiving, as well as the result of new, high performance parachutes. These parachutes allow so much control that a lot of people are able to make sudden turns right before they land. Once it was discovered that this was possible, a new sport began. Swooping is currently gaining in popularity, and there is now a large and growing following for this sport all over the world.

About the Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.swooping.net. Visit his website for the latest on this new and extreme way to skydive.

Written By: Jakob Jelling

swoop skydiving technique