Today we’re heading to the Student Wakeboard Nationals at Sheffield Cable Ski in Rother Valley Country Park. 

Although we technically launched our 5K Giveaway at the British Paragliding Cup in the Yorkshire Dales over a week ago, a few technical, meteorological and geographical problems meant we had trouble letting anyone know about it.

Oh, and mechanical problems…the scissors were too blunt to cut the red ribbon.

Never fear, the red ribbon will definitely cut and we should get to see some incredible action on the water.  As well as the Boat Competition, we have a Big Air and Pro Demo later in the evening.

If you’re visiting The Conch having seen us in Sheffield, make yourself at home!  You should already know about our 5K Giveaway.  To be in with a chance of winning £5,000 just sign up now.

I can’t wait to see photos of the Student Nationals on The Conch, as well as a few of my amateurish videos.  Who knows, maybe there’ll be a quiet moment to take to the water myself…although I’m not counting on many quiet moments tomorrow!

I’d like to introduce to you the latest member of Team Conch (I’ve heard they don’t mind me calling them that).  Although he’s the first official employee, Anthony joins a group that have been working hard to get the new website off the ground and to build a community you’ll love and want to get involved with.

Anthony will be with us throughout the summer, heading up marketing and promotions.  He’ll be working particularly closely with the 5K Giveaway. 

So…enough of me.  Over to you Anthony…

"I am really looking forward to working with The Conch. Adventure sports are an undiscovered area for me so I can’t wait to get stuck in and try out as many new activities as possible in the coming few months.

I’m here to promote the 5K Giveaway, so I’ll be touring the UK this summer, attending all the major sporting events, meeting new members and challenging Simon to promote The Conch with some pretty crazy (and hugely entertaining) publicity stunts. So far, my plan for him to dive off the UK’s tallest waterfall in rubber arm bands has failed but I’ve still got 3 months so fingers crossed we’ll get some embarassing footage to upload soon.

It’s going to be an awesome summer for The Conch and all our members.  Keep active and keep uploading.”

Go to Anthony’s Profile

I just heard on the radio some great news for the Scout Association.  They’ve managed to get the high-profile adventurer Bear Grylls to be their Chief Scout.

I’m a fan of Bear and I grew up in scouting so I can really see him making a positive, lasting impact.

On behalf of The Conch I’d like to wish him the very best of luck.

More on the Scout Association website.

Some of you may have noticed it was Easter this weekend.  In the UK that generally means reruns of the trashy films they couldn’t squeeze into the Christmas schedule and copious amounts of hot cross buns.

Here at Conch HQ we wanted things a bit more traditional, resurrecting the old past-time of Egg Rolling…with a twist.  That’s right, Egg Rolling with some of our favourite Eggstreme Athletes from around the world. 

Meet The Team

Picking the competitors was a tough decision.  I would have liked to have had more but, as you can see,  my artistic skills were already stretched to the limit.

So, without further ado and from left to right, I give you:

Shaun White (Olympic Gold & Pro Snowboarder), Lance Armstrong (Cycling God), Shanaze Reade (World BMX Champion), Laird Hamilton (Big Wave Surfer) and Tim Emmett (Ice Climber and Para Alpinist).

The Competition

Platt Fields Park, Manchester - United Kingdom

Just picture one of the fiercest challenges in Platt Fields history.  Lined up atop the city’s most challenging gradient, our heroes pushed themselves to cracking point.

The rules were simple.  Get to the bottom, fast.  Although important, speed was not the only factor.  The egg who covered the most distance would be crowned the outright winner. 

And so it began…

The Race

From the B of the Bang, four of our contestants left the starting line like they had wings.  Sadly for Shaun White, his wings were weighed down by hair so he quickly ran out of puff.

Both Tim Emmett and Laird Hamilton lost equipment in the madness.  Miniature ice picks and a stand up surf paddle were later found littering the course.

Shanaze Reade had good form and made her descent quickly but in the end it was between Tim Emmett, Laird Hamilton and Lance Armstrong to battle it out.  While Tim looked like he had it, a final push from Laird and Lance finished him off. 

Hard boiled until the end, Lance finally broke away leaving Laird to watch as he rolled across the line. 

Victorious as ever, Lance Armstrong was our winner! 

At this point the crowd went wild and even broke loose onto the course.  One egg-basketcase made it dangerously close to the exhausted Tim Emmett before being hauled off by security.

All in all, it was a very eventful day.

The Results

5th - Shaun White

4th - Shanaze Reade

3rd - Tim Emmett

2nd - Laird Hamilton

1st - Lance Armstrong

Congratulations to all of our participants in The Conch Eggstreme Egg Rolling 2009 and well done to our champion, Lance Armstrong.  Be sure to tune in next year for Eggstreme Egg Rolling 2010, only on The Conch.

It’s an exciting day for us at Conch Towers.  The balloons are up, the music is on and the bubbly is flowing…dandelion burdock that is.

The Conch, a new online community for adventurous people, launches today.  We are here to bring together everyone with a passion for adventure and the outdoors, from individuals and community groups to businesses and advertisers.

This is your community

We’re taking a risk launching as early as we are.  The site is still due a lot of work and many new features will be added over the coming weeks and months.  But this is your community and we want you to be involved in its evolution.

Exploring the site, you will encounter bugs.  We’ve tried to minimise this but with your help, ideas and feedback we can make The Conch a bug-free zone.

Feedback

If you have any feedback on what works or what could be improved please tell us through our contact page or, if you are on twitter, contact @Shellshocked.

Once again, welcome! 

Join the community today and explore your sense of adventure.

Have fun!

Simon

A couple of months ago I registered my interest on the Independent Adventure Travel Show’s website to attend their exhibition from the 20th-22nd March 2009.  I thought it odd I’d not heard anything so for the last few weeks I kept on checking the website and everything seemed ok.

Now, the website has been taken down and the only reference to the show are a few online ticket agencies, linking to the dead site.  Only one of these mentions it has been cancelled.

After a little digging, it seems the conference organisers, Expomedia Events UK have gone into administration.  This follows their parent holding company, Expomedia Group, who went into administration sometime since November.

The strange thing is, I can’t find much in the way of Internet chatter about this at all.  This conference has been running for 13 years.  I doubt I’m the first to have noticed it’s gone.

Perhaps we’ll see some more details soon.  If you were planning on heading to the Adventure Travel Show this week, I suggest you get your tickets for the Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show in Birmingham sharpish.

In November 2008 I began a daily roundup of adventure blogs from around the world.  It gave me a dose of fresh adventure news each day that I could pass on to you.  I was surprised I managed to maintain that for as long as I did. 

I’ve mentioned before that December was a tough month for me personally, so blogging dropped off the radar.  It must seem, from the sparse blog posts, that I don’t get around Conch Towers much anymore but that’s not true!

Twitter

I subscribed to the micro-blogging service, Twitter, back in August 2008 but only started using it in earnest last Autumn.  Instead of one blog post a day I can "tweet" about various subjects, posting new content, reposting adventure stories from around the world or just telling you what kind of bread I’m using to make sandwiches (seeded batch usually).

The point is, I’m talking all the time and until I get my updates embedded here on the blog you can find me on Twitter.

Weekly blog posts

For those of you that prefer Conch tidbits in more than 140 characters, I’ll do my best to blog more regularly, although it will be more like once or twice a week.

I’ve discovered a lot about social media, especially over the last six months.  It seems to me that a mixture of services and networks is the best way to get the message out.

I’ll pay more attention to the blog in 2009.  That’s a promise.

It’s that time of year when, to stave off the post-Christmas blues, everyone rushes out to bag themselves a bargain. With stores jumping over the cold, dead carcasses of their failed competitors to offer you the best deal it must be hard to know what to spend your limited cash on.

That’s why I love the concept of Whiskey Militia. It’s like no online store you’ve seen.  It only offers one deal at a time and only for a 30 minute period.  Miss it and the deal is gone. 

Oh and when I say ‘deal’ I mean the kind of scary discount no high street retailer would dare offer.  As I write you have only a few minutes to buy a DC Roofstar hoodie at 65% discount.  By the time you read this it will probably have expired but you should definitely check out the latest steal.

If you’re into your snowboard, skate or surf fashion, Whiskey Militia is worth a look.  I think I’ll hold out for some summer gear or a snowboard jacket for when I finally get to book myself that trip.

Thanks to boardsanddecks for the heads up.

If this actually happened to me, it would be terrifying and not in the least bit funny.  Because it happened to someone else, it’s hilarious!

A skier at the Vail resort in Colorado was left hanging upside down and completely exposed after he slipped from the chairlift.  The Smoking Gun has the pictures. 

Hopefully he warmed up pretty quickly and didn’t suffer frostbite (ouch!).

Thanks to @ColoradoOutsidr for the heads up.

I, Simon Jermy, being of slightly adrenaline fuelled but overall pretty sound mind do hereby pledge:

• - to spend the next year as if it were my last, seeking out the world on my doorstep.  Regardless of what others think, I will challenge and push myself, measured by my own standards and expectations.
• - This is my time; the year to try new things; to meet new people who share a passion for adventure and the outdoors…AND TO HAVE FUN!!

Take the pledge with me

Donate your status on Facebook, Twitter or any of your social networks.  Just copy and paste the following sentence and insert your name then paste it into your status:

[NAME] has made the Club Conch Resolution 2009. You can too at http://tinyurl.com/8jky4s