River Surfing
May 5, 2007 11:14 PM Subscribe
Interesting photos and video of Montreal's standing wave, which has become something of a surfing hot spot (.mov) even though it is 400 km from the nearest ocean. Standing wave surfing is also big in Munich. Perhaps fallen Baywatch star David Hasselhoff had something to do with it?
It is worth noting that the standing wave in Montreal is right next to the architecturally beautiful Habitat 67.
posted by furtive at 11:18 PM on May 5, 2007
posted by furtive at 11:18 PM on May 5, 2007
flapjax at midnite, they are one and the same, the standing wave in a river is an example of moving media along a standing wave.
posted by furtive at 11:26 PM on May 5, 2007
posted by furtive at 11:26 PM on May 5, 2007
they are one and the same
Of course you're right. And that's exactly the kind of everything-is-all-one-vibrating-energy-flux-circularly-radiating-throughout-eternity-and-back-into-my-fingertips kinda thing that used to be so apparent to me during acid trips as a teen!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:31 PM on May 5, 2007
Of course you're right. And that's exactly the kind of everything-is-all-one-vibrating-energy-flux-circularly-radiating-throughout-eternity-and-back-into-my-fingertips kinda thing that used to be so apparent to me during acid trips as a teen!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:31 PM on May 5, 2007
Oh, the hoops we'll jump through to get the 'tube on the 'fi. No offense, but I kinda hope that the Drunkenhoff gets this post deleted, even if everything else is jake.
posted by klangklangston at 12:23 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by klangklangston at 12:23 AM on May 6, 2007
LOLALCOHOLICS.
posted by dirigibleman at 12:44 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by dirigibleman at 12:44 AM on May 6, 2007
LOLALCOHOLICS.
Is that for the youtube video or the people that keep posting it?
posted by YoBananaBoy at 12:46 AM on May 6, 2007
Is that for the youtube video or the people that keep posting it?
posted by YoBananaBoy at 12:46 AM on May 6, 2007
You're really pissing in the face of the admins, eh furtive?
posted by puke & cry at 1:06 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by puke & cry at 1:06 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
OK ... I'm confused.
Just what does an ( apparently inebriated ) David Hasselhoff have to do with river-wave surfing in Montreal? Is there somehow supposed to be something humorous in that very sad clip; or does the Internet make everything fair game for ironic commentary? Does no one have any sense of common decency left anymore?
What am I missing here?
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:17 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
Just what does an ( apparently inebriated ) David Hasselhoff have to do with river-wave surfing in Montreal? Is there somehow supposed to be something humorous in that very sad clip; or does the Internet make everything fair game for ironic commentary? Does no one have any sense of common decency left anymore?
What am I missing here?
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:17 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
What you're missing: The Hasselhoff clip has been posted and deleted three times already. And now furtive thought he'd be cute and sneak it in to a different post.
posted by puke & cry at 1:21 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by puke & cry at 1:21 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
Pareid, you're missing that that clip has been posted, and deleted, at least twice.
I suspect this entire post is a way of trying to sneak it past the admins.
posted by Malor at 1:22 AM on May 6, 2007
I suspect this entire post is a way of trying to sneak it past the admins.
posted by Malor at 1:22 AM on May 6, 2007
I don't care for seeing Hasselhoffs private problems.
But I did laugh at the stealth link.
Well, it took a while, but you have your outrage now furtive.
posted by jouke at 1:34 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
But I did laugh at the stealth link.
Well, it took a while, but you have your outrage now furtive.
posted by jouke at 1:34 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
Oh.
Thanks.
I guess it makes more sense now. But I still can't figure out what would inspire someone to post such a sad thing in the first place.
Elsewhere someone wanted me to listen to an audio recording of some actor berating his daughter on the phone, but at least they had the decency to warn me about the content in advance, so I could choose to avoid it.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:40 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
Thanks.
I guess it makes more sense now. But I still can't figure out what would inspire someone to post such a sad thing in the first place.
Elsewhere someone wanted me to listen to an audio recording of some actor berating his daughter on the phone, but at least they had the decency to warn me about the content in advance, so I could choose to avoid it.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:40 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
And now furtive thought he'd be cute and sneak it in to a different post.
eponysterical!
posted by octothorpe at 5:05 AM on May 6, 2007
eponysterical!
posted by octothorpe at 5:05 AM on May 6, 2007
So what you will about the Hoff, but he was instrumental in helping to end the fucking Cold War, Goddamn it.
posted by psmealey at 6:06 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by psmealey at 6:06 AM on May 6, 2007
Oh nine, eff-nine, eleven, oh-seven... Ah ne'ermind.
posted by BeerFilter at 6:43 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by BeerFilter at 6:43 AM on May 6, 2007
Dick.
posted by jessamyn at 6:49 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by jessamyn at 6:49 AM on May 6, 2007 [1 favorite]
The people want their Hoff, Jess.
The standing wave thing is pretty interesting. I would think is is a pretty common natural phenomena, I wonder how many places people surf these things?
posted by LarryC at 6:55 AM on May 6, 2007
The standing wave thing is pretty interesting. I would think is is a pretty common natural phenomena, I wonder how many places people surf these things?
posted by LarryC at 6:55 AM on May 6, 2007
Damn, the way that guy just shoots down into the standing wave at the beginning of the video is amazing. And there's lots of video of folks surfing the Munich wave.
The people want their Hoff, Jess.
Ugh. Making fun of that sad, sad video is pathetic. (And someone needs to tell Hasselhoff's daughter that promises from drunk people don't mean shit.)
posted by mediareport at 7:18 AM on May 6, 2007
The people want their Hoff, Jess.
Ugh. Making fun of that sad, sad video is pathetic. (And someone needs to tell Hasselhoff's daughter that promises from drunk people don't mean shit.)
posted by mediareport at 7:18 AM on May 6, 2007
After finally watching the whole video, I think it's just a viral ad for Wendy's."
posted by BeerFilter at 7:24 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by BeerFilter at 7:24 AM on May 6, 2007
another vote for deletion, and furtive getting a timeout to boot.
posted by shmegegge at 8:19 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by shmegegge at 8:19 AM on May 6, 2007
A dull and detailed explanation on how I conceived this post:
The inspiration for this post came after finding standing wave surfing mentioned in a blog only twenty-four hours after seeing yet another friend walking down a Montreal street with a surf board.
I figured river surfing to be a rather unknown phenomenon and decided to post about it after I was pleasantly surprised to discover articles, decent photos and videos available on the web yet nothing more than a brief comment by mathowie about static surfing on the blue.
Matt's comment was enough for me to search the web to see if standing wave surfing occurs in other places, the Saint-Lawrence seaway may be impressive but it can't be the only river featuring a standing wave. At this point I already had a post ready in preview on the site. I was going to add the additional links as part of a [more inside] to go with the Habitat 67 link.
My intention was to let the second draft sit in preview over night and the submit it Sunday morning to help thin out the NYTimes links and other heavy reading that invariably finds its way to the blue at the end of the week, but when I wrote big in Munich it made me think of the whole big in Germany meme. Germany, surfing and Hasselhoff go together like peanut butter, chocolate and an overused cliché, so in an an act of eponistry (stick that in your language hat) I included the drunken Hasselhoff link.
Of course I checked the blue to make sure the drunken link hadn't already been done, and when no links came up I (correcetly) figured it had been done, just not well. Looks like I solved that conundrum.
Note: No alcohol was consumed during the conception or implementation of this FPP.
posted by furtive at 8:43 AM on May 6, 2007
The inspiration for this post came after finding standing wave surfing mentioned in a blog only twenty-four hours after seeing yet another friend walking down a Montreal street with a surf board.
I figured river surfing to be a rather unknown phenomenon and decided to post about it after I was pleasantly surprised to discover articles, decent photos and videos available on the web yet nothing more than a brief comment by mathowie about static surfing on the blue.
Matt's comment was enough for me to search the web to see if standing wave surfing occurs in other places, the Saint-Lawrence seaway may be impressive but it can't be the only river featuring a standing wave. At this point I already had a post ready in preview on the site. I was going to add the additional links as part of a [more inside] to go with the Habitat 67 link.
My intention was to let the second draft sit in preview over night and the submit it Sunday morning to help thin out the NYTimes links and other heavy reading that invariably finds its way to the blue at the end of the week, but when I wrote big in Munich it made me think of the whole big in Germany meme. Germany, surfing and Hasselhoff go together like peanut butter, chocolate and an overused cliché, so in an an act of eponistry (stick that in your language hat) I included the drunken Hasselhoff link.
Of course I checked the blue to make sure the drunken link hadn't already been done, and when no links came up I (correcetly) figured it had been done, just not well. Looks like I solved that conundrum.
Note: No alcohol was consumed during the conception or implementation of this FPP.
posted by furtive at 8:43 AM on May 6, 2007
/me opens a ticket with Firefox about spellcheck failing when word touch certain forms of punctuation.
posted by furtive at 8:47 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by furtive at 8:47 AM on May 6, 2007
"Looks like I solved that conundrum. "
No, you didn't.
posted by klangklangston at 8:49 AM on May 6, 2007
No, you didn't.
posted by klangklangston at 8:49 AM on May 6, 2007
This is a great post. Who cares about the Hasselhof thing? It's not the first time a FPP has contained a small digression that would (and has) made a crap FPP on its own. You people are wound so tight. Sheesh.
posted by Rumple at 8:53 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by Rumple at 8:53 AM on May 6, 2007
No alcohol was consumed during the conception or implementation of this FPP.
Heh heh. You probably shouldn't have said that. Over-consumption of alcohol on the part of MeFi posters has (at least on one occasion) softened a moderator's heart and stayed the hand of deletion.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:55 AM on May 6, 2007
Heh heh. You probably shouldn't have said that. Over-consumption of alcohol on the part of MeFi posters has (at least on one occasion) softened a moderator's heart and stayed the hand of deletion.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:55 AM on May 6, 2007
I really dug the standing wave stuff, having never even heard of it before. So thanks for that. The Hasselhoff was skipped over here because I can't imagine anything Hasselhoffy that would interest me.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 8:56 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 8:56 AM on May 6, 2007
Shhhh... keep it down people. The admins'll hear and delete the Hoff again. We can't have nice things around here...
posted by The Deej at 8:57 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by The Deej at 8:57 AM on May 6, 2007
Geez, I hear if you really want that video of Hoff you can probably find it on the Internets if you look. Try that new search engine they're talking about, too.
Err, the whole Hoff thing is sad. It's never pleasant to see someone when they're down, even if they're a celebrity - being famous doesn't mean we get a special priviledge of laughing at their misery.
Having said that, thank you for the standing wave stuff - fascinating to see. I wonder if there's a worldwide community of river surfers, and if Montreal will start using that as an added tourist attraction (not that you need many more, mind you).
(nice explanation btw furtive).
posted by rmm at 9:50 AM on May 6, 2007
Err, the whole Hoff thing is sad. It's never pleasant to see someone when they're down, even if they're a celebrity - being famous doesn't mean we get a special priviledge of laughing at their misery.
Having said that, thank you for the standing wave stuff - fascinating to see. I wonder if there's a worldwide community of river surfers, and if Montreal will start using that as an added tourist attraction (not that you need many more, mind you).
(nice explanation btw furtive).
posted by rmm at 9:50 AM on May 6, 2007
If people want to focus on the 'hoff instead of the surfing that is their perogative, but it would make better sense to discuss his daughter's posting of the video and not my own surreptitious link to said video. I may be responsible for the quality of the FPP, but you are all equally responsible for the quality of your comments in this thread.
As a starter, perhaps you could say something thoughtful about how the gaze of the electric eye has become so piercing that even hardened celebrities aren't immune to its effect, or how you fear that soon the entire world will be accountable for every action, every decision, in real time. Maybe you could back up your comment with links to the stoning of that poor girl in Iraq, or the breakdown of the director for I Love Huckabees, or maybe you could find a more positive example or challenge others to find one.
Perhaps you could try to persuade us that what 'hoff's daughter did was positive when considered in the context of an intervention between the entire digital world and David Hasselhoff and that it is only awkward because he was caught red handed, or maybe you could say something about how betrayed you'd feel if your daughter did something like that to you and how hard it would be to reconcile things after that,or you know, you could just call me a dick for not reading every post that gets deleted on Metafilter.
posted by furtive at 10:02 AM on May 6, 2007
As a starter, perhaps you could say something thoughtful about how the gaze of the electric eye has become so piercing that even hardened celebrities aren't immune to its effect, or how you fear that soon the entire world will be accountable for every action, every decision, in real time. Maybe you could back up your comment with links to the stoning of that poor girl in Iraq, or the breakdown of the director for I Love Huckabees, or maybe you could find a more positive example or challenge others to find one.
Perhaps you could try to persuade us that what 'hoff's daughter did was positive when considered in the context of an intervention between the entire digital world and David Hasselhoff and that it is only awkward because he was caught red handed, or maybe you could say something about how betrayed you'd feel if your daughter did something like that to you and how hard it would be to reconcile things after that,
posted by furtive at 10:02 AM on May 6, 2007
Interesting ... I had heard about "breaks" like this before, and there's a relatively famous one at the mouth of the Amazon.
In a certain way, the breaks in Montreal & Munich are sort of a natural version of this.
And FlowRiders have always kind of fascinated me ...
posted by Relay at 10:11 AM on May 6, 2007
In a certain way, the breaks in Montreal & Munich are sort of a natural version of this.
And FlowRiders have always kind of fascinated me ...
posted by Relay at 10:11 AM on May 6, 2007
That's a great link Relay, I thought of things like that for skiing/snowboarding but didn't realize it extended it to surfing.
posted by furtive at 10:24 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by furtive at 10:24 AM on May 6, 2007
Here's a Halfbakery link about using dams for flowriding.
posted by furtive at 10:27 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by furtive at 10:27 AM on May 6, 2007
Maybe you could surf both directions on the reversing falls in New Brunswick
Recent globe and mail article
posted by Rumple at 10:33 AM on May 6, 2007
Recent globe and mail article
posted by Rumple at 10:33 AM on May 6, 2007
Whatever people may have to say about standing waves and/or the 'Hoff, furtive, you mentioned something else that made my day. I'd completely forgotten about Habitat 67, but I remember it made a powerful impression on me as a grade schooler seeing it in (I think) My Weekly Reader. I desperately wanted to live there or someplace like it, and I still wish I could.
posted by pax digita at 10:34 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by pax digita at 10:34 AM on May 6, 2007
River waves are a staple of playboating (look at the videos under "playboating"), essentially freestyle moves in small kayaks.
The wave in Montreal (Lachine/Habitat) is one of the bigger vesions, but there are other biggies including Skook and Buseater, but most playboating happens on a smaller scale.
posted by craven_morhead at 10:57 AM on May 6, 2007
The wave in Montreal (Lachine/Habitat) is one of the bigger vesions, but there are other biggies including Skook and Buseater, but most playboating happens on a smaller scale.
posted by craven_morhead at 10:57 AM on May 6, 2007
I just came here to say that the gaze of the electric eye has become so piercing that even hardened celebrities aren't immune to its effect.
And river surfing looks awesome!
posted by The Deej at 11:11 AM on May 6, 2007
And river surfing looks awesome!
posted by The Deej at 11:11 AM on May 6, 2007
As a (wind) ( ice) (snow) surfer myself, I'm still not getting the Hasselhoff connection.
Colour me skeptical.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 2:40 PM on May 6, 2007
Colour me skeptical.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 2:40 PM on May 6, 2007
Hasselhoff --> Baywatch ---> Pamela Anderson ----> Unnatural standing waves of flesh.
Obvious!
posted by Rumple at 2:46 PM on May 6, 2007
Obvious!
posted by Rumple at 2:46 PM on May 6, 2007
Related: a post on The Pororoca (which has this Munich link in the last comment).
posted by tellurian at 5:42 PM on May 6, 2007
posted by tellurian at 5:42 PM on May 6, 2007
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posted by furtive at 11:17 PM on May 5, 2007