SPRING SWAMP BUGY CHAMPIONSHIP

Skwoosh makes a “big splash” in the Everglades

Eclipsed by the Oscars and spring training, the ‘DUNKING” of Megan Hoolihan, an 18 year old senior at Golden Gate High School and the 2009 - 2010 Swamp Buggy Queen, almost went unnoticed. Megan was officially dunked on Sunday, March 7, at the Swamp Buggy Spring Championship which was held at the Florida Sports Park in East Naples Florida. Never heard of a Swamp Buggy let alone the Swamp Buggy Races? I wonder why.
Here’s a little history:
It all started with farming, fishing, hunting, and hunting buggies. During the development of Collier County (encompassing a major part of the Everglades in S.W. Florida) strange looking vehicles featuring huge balloon tires, gun racks, and sporting catchy names like “Dirt Dobber” or Tumblebug” began to emerge. There were no developed roads so the only way to penetrate the vast boggy mire of the Everglades was the “Swamp Buggy”. Back then, before Skwoosh gel cushions, kayak seats or waterproof kayak fishing seat backs, the Everglades was a perfect place for kayak fishing, camping and hiking. Swamp Buggies were built primarily as vehicles for hunting but soon they were being used for everything from Sunday afternoon outings to hunting expeditions in the Everglades. Prior to the opening of the hunting season many of the “Crackers” would gather and spend a week preparing their Buggies for the “season” by camouflaging, stocking up with fuel, food and ammunition. They waterproofed their Buggies and layed in at least a one week supply of their favorite home brewed beverage. After all, they were going into the murky Florida swamps for a week or two of gators, snakes and panthers. Now just imagine the comfort these harty South West Floridians could have experienced if they had a waterproof gel Therapy cushion to help support their backs and improve their swamp driving posture. They wouldn't have needed their home brewed buverage to kill their pain.
The first races started around 1943, featuring a dozen or so local hunters racing only for the pride of finishing ahead of their neighbors. By the late forties, 30 to 40 would-be racers would gather the week before hunting season to race for valued prizes, usually a new shotgun donated by local merchants.
On November 12, 1949, with a field of almost 50 competitors, these awkward, determined vehicles motored their way into history.
As the popularity of the sport grew, so did the rewards. Cash prizes began to replace the turkeys and shotguns of the past. With purses of several thousand dollars, the incentives to go faster grew. Buggies were now being constructed for racing only. The newer designs were too fast and too loud to be used for hunting and an engraved trophy replaced the at-a-boys and the trophy deer. It was during this era that several important traditions were born. The most popular and colorful, is the legendary "Swamp Buggy Queen's Annual Mud bath!" The Swamp Buggy Queen Pageant is held every April, and a Queen is chosen. The "Dunking" tradition began in 1957 when race winner H.W. McCurry, in a state of exuberant celebration, grabbed the Queen, gown, fancy hair-do and all and dunked her in the deepest and muckiest part of the "Mile 'O Mud" oval race track. This grimy, slimy, hilarious tradition lives on today and is the final act of every race weekend. Let’s say the weekend closes with a great big “mud splash”.
Now you ask “how could the Oscar’s and Spring training eclipse a major activity like the Spring Championship Swamp Buggy Races”? We don’t know the answer to that question but we are pondering the strategy Skwoosh will use to promote our swamp kayak paddling gel seat. How does “travel to the Swamp Buggy Races on a Skwoosh gel travel cushion” sound? Do you think we might be able to offer the 2010 Swamp Buggy Office gel Cushion? If Skwoosh is successful in winning a grant for the construction of bleacher and stadium seats for the Swamp Buggy Races we could see sales of Bleacher gel seats and Stadium gel seats skyrocket. Come to think of it, Skwoosh can be dunked all day long. Each and every Skwoosh gel cushion is WATERPROOF and unaffected by “mud dunking”, you know.

SKYAKING

An Exciting, Exploding, Kayak Seat Market-Maybe!!!

Ever heard of Skyaking? If you happened to be watching the Today show on MSNBC this morning you would have caught a great segment on Skyaking. The man who introduced this new sport is a fellow named Miles Daisher from Twin Falls, Idaho. He sounded like and looks like a sane guy. He is married and has a little daredevil offspring. Skyaking is a combination of sky diving and Kayaking, explained Miles. Almost like Yakfishing only a heck of a lot more thrilling. In Skyaking, the paddler is strapped into his kayak, in this case a high performance, high impact plastic kayak called a whitewater creek boat or just plain creek boat. Most owners of the Skwoosh Kayak gel seat are familiar with this short, stubby, lepricon shaped kayak into which a fearsome paddler squeezes him or herself. One of the differences between creek boaters and traditional kayakers is the fact that the creek boater has to be as one with his boat and therefore wedges himself into the cockpit. Creek boat paddlers often line the inside of their snug cockpit with foam in order to fill the empty places between themselves and their boat. They are literally wedged into the boat. Of course, Skwoosh makes a very high performance kayak gel seat, appropriately named the XTREME, that is very popular among creek boaters around the world. Yes XTREME. The Skwoosh Xtreme performance paddling seat is designed to be very thin, with light weight gel to help protect a creek boater’s bottom and now, a skyaker’s bottom. Once entrapped in the creek boat, thetraditional paddler usually heads for type 5 rapids, traverses the fiery white water and climaxes with a few feet of free fall over a mild to mildly raging water fall. Well if you think traditional creek boating is exciting, look into the newest thriller, Skyaking. Here’s how modern day kayakers push the boundaries of the sport. The yaker loads his favorite creek boat, swaps his paddles for a super performance Skwoosh XTREME gel cushion and boards a light plane. Once the plane reaches altitude (a lot higher than your average waterfall), the Skyaker, strapped into his boat, parachute attached, pushes his boat and himself out of the plane and begins a free fall. It takes a few seconds for the sky paddler to stabilize his boat by letting the air catch the flat bottom of the kayak. Once stabilized, the Skyaker uses his outstretched arms as “wingerons” (wings and ailerons) and proceeds to enjoy the exhilaration and freedom of free fall. The total time of this orgasmic flight depends not only on weight and altitude but on balance and the skill of catching air. Now comes phase two of this adventure. Yes you guessed it – the landing. As terra firma rushes toward the skyaker, he deploys his main chute (he always carries a back up) and out pops a Ram Air Canopy parachute. The Ram Air Canopy chute is a more rectangular shaped chute, designed to help make pin point landings. The fun or the flight isn’t over yet. The skyaker must still find a body of water on which to land his airborne creek boat and use wind power to power him to shore. This is where the cushioning effect of Skwoosh’s TekPad gel could come into play. TekPad gel is known to help cushion the sudden impact by padding the Skyaker’s “stitz” bones. When asked if he ever missed a landing point Miles answered “yes”. When asked what happens if he misses water and lands on dry land he said “it’s a little more of a sudden stop but the boats can handle it with no problem”. If asked about Skwoosh, he would have undoubtedly commented on its light weight, design, premium materials, construction, and waterproof construction. No kidding, Miles really would have said all that.