LOVE ANGELES PROJECT®

Solar-Powered Plane Makes Successful Maiden Flight

Source: Yahoo (PAYERNE, Switzerland) - At the pace of a fast bicycle, a solar-powered plane took to the skies for its maiden flight Wednesday, passing an important test on the way to a historic voyage around the world — a journey that would not use a drop of fuel.

The Solar Impulse lifted off from a military airport at a speed no faster than 28 mph (45 kph) after briefly accelerating down the runway. It slowly gained altitude above the green-and-beige fields and eventually faded into the horizon as villagers watched from the nearest hills.

"There has never been an airplane of that kind that could fly — never an airplane so big, so light, using so little energy. So there were huge question marks for us," said Bertrand Piccard, who is leading the project. In 1999, he copiloted the first nonstop round-the-world balloon flight.

During Wednesday's 90-minute flight, the plane completed a series of turns by gently tilting its black-and-white wings, which are as wide as those of a 747 jumbo jet. It climbed nearly a mile above the Swiss countryside. The weather was sunny, and there was little wind — obvious advantages for a plane so light and dependent on the sun.

Engineers on the $93.5 million (euro70 million) project have been conducting short tests since December, taking the plane no higher than 2 feet and flying no more than 1,000 feet in distance. A night flight is planned before July, and then a second plane will be built based on the results of those tests.

That plane will be the one to attempt the round-the-world flight planned for 2012.

"The goal is to fly day and night with no fuel. The goal is to demonstrate the importance of renewable energies, to show that with renewable energies we can achieve impossible things," Piccard said.

Aviation experts said they see a future for renewable fuels in commercial aviation, but they predicted that biofuels from plants, algae or other sources were more likely to succeed than solar power.

"Solar energy does not have enough 'energy density' to power regular airplanes that are supposed to fly somewhere in a reasonably short time," said Hans Weber, president of San Diego-based aviation consulting firm TECOP International, Inc. With solar planes, "the objective is only to stay aloft, not to go anywhere fast."

Test pilot Markus Scherdel said Wednesday's flight proved that the plane could take off and land safely and handles like a passenger jet.

"Everything worked as it should," he said.

While the next plane will have an outer shell, the current prototype has an open cockpit — sort of the aeronautic version of a convertible.

Scherdel said the frigid air didn't bother him and that it was "too cold for flies" that might otherwise have hit his face.

"I was wearing my special underwear and a windproof overall," he said. "I got shoes and gloves with built-in heating. You see, we thought of everything."

Using almost 12,000 solar cells, rechargeable lithium batteries and four electric motors, Piccard and co-pilot Andre Borschberg plan to take the plane around the world. They will make regular stops to switch places and stretch after long periods in the cramped cockpit — and to show off their aircraft.

The circumnavigation will take time. With the engines providing only 40 horsepower, the plane will perform like a moped in the sky, at an average flight speed of 44 mph (70 kph). The trip will be divided into five stages — keeping the plane in the air for up to five days at a time.

Solar flight isn't new, but Piccard's project is the most ambitious.

In 1980, a fragile ultra-lightweight experimental solar plane called the Gossamer Penguin flew short demonstration flights with one pilot on board. A bigger project called the Solar Challenger flew a single pilot from France to England in 1981 in a trip lasting more than five hours.

Solar plane technology recalls the early days of manned flight, and the slow ascent of the Solar Impulse was somewhat reminiscent of the Wright brothers' pioneering experiments in 1903.

Wilbur and Orville Wright also progressed from short hops to longer flights after 1905, reaching average speeds above 30 mph (48 kph) and only slightly slower than the Solar Impulse.

The loud clicks of the Swiss plane's four propellers added another hint of nostalgia. And designers acknowledged the same worries that preoccupied the first fliers.

"The first crucial question was: Do we have enough power to fly?" said Borschberg. "The second crucial thing was: Are we capable of landing this airplane, is it controllable?"

"It was two hours of deep emotion," he added, calling the test flight the high point of seven years of work on the project. "The airplane has landed but we have not yet landed."

Borschberg followed the flight in a helicopter. Below waited numerous people involved with the project and Piccard, who comes from a long line of adventurers. His late father, Jacques, was an oceanographer and engineer who plunged deeper beneath the ocean than any other man. His grandfather Auguste, also an engineer, was the first man to take a balloon into the stratosphere.

On Wednesday, the Solar Impulse reached an altitude of 5,500 feet. After a gentle landing, Scherdel emerged from the cockpit with his arms raised, and the team broke open bottles of champagne.

When the plane attempts to circle the globe, the team will have to monitor conditions closely to ensure the aircraft follows the best weather. Ground crews will stay close to provide service at each stop, he said.

"Round-the-world will seem impossible until we do it," Piccard said. "Today is an absolutely incredible milestone."

Earth Hour 2010

Source: Guardian - The fourth annual lights-out event expects 1 billion participants, and counts for the first time international landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State building and the Burj Khalifa

The biggest turn-off in human history will start at 8.30pm tomorrow in Chatham, a tiny South Pacific island with only 12 street lamps.

Almost 25 hours later, but at 9.30pm the same day, it will finish on the other side of the international dateline in the Galapagos Islands, where scientists at the Charles Darwin Research Station will share a candle-lit dinner with several hundred locals and environmental activists.

In between, Earth Hour – the annual worldwide call for action against climate change – will spread darkness across all seven continents, drawing in 120 nations, 1,700 municipalities and hundreds of millions of people, including supermodels, archbishops, and footballers.

In the UK, many hotels and restaurants will be offering special candle-lit dinners where guests will be able to watch well-known sites plunge into blackness, including Big Ben, Edinburgh Castle, Wales's Millennium Stadium, Belfast City Hall, Durham Cathedral, St Paul's Cathedral and the London Eye.

Now in its fourth year, the event organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature, has spread an ever-widening expanse of hour-long darkness. Two million people took part at the first switch-off in Sydney in 2007. Last year, hundreds of millions participated in 88 countries. This year, organisers expect the figure to be close to a billion.

Beijing's Forbidden City and London's Houses of Parliament, the Eiffel Tower, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the Empire State Building, Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue, and the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa. will all plunge into darkness.

Nations that have signed up for the first time this year include Saudi Arabia – long seen as resistant to climate change action – Mongolia, Nepal and the Czech Republic.

Another debutant is a first group of participants from Antarctica: the Davis Research Station, which is home to several dozen scientists who presumably will not be also switching off their heaters in -10 degrees Celsius.

James Leape, the director general of the WWF, said the worldwide event was particularly important after the disappointment of the climate conference in Copenhagen last year.

"There was a sense after Copenhagen that we, as a world, had lost momentum," he told the Guardian. "One of the important things about this year is that it is a chance for people to say 'Hey, we are still concerned about climate change.' A lot of people are looking for an opportunity. If they speak out by themselves, it may not make much of an impact, but through this shared action of Earth Hour, they have a platform to speak."

Leape is in Beijing to attend a darkening ceremony at the Forbidden City, the 600-year-old symbol of Chinese power.

Last year, China's support for Earth Hour was conflicted by the timing of the event, which coincided with the anniversary of the Tibetan unrest in 2008, prompting some organisations – including Peking university - to warn students not to get involved.

This year, with no such complications, participation is enthusiastic. Fifteen Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Dalian, have signed up. Pandas in Sichuan will be involved, along with cartoon characters in Hong Kong, and rock bands in Xiamen. Chinese organisers are using the event to kick-off a "low-carbon lifestyle week" aimed at persuading consumers in the world's most populous country not to follow the wasteful example of developed nations.

The message is catching on at the grassroots. Among the events in the former Chinese capital of Xian, will be a free unplugged music concert.

Across the world, people are expected to mark the event in ways that reflect the diversity, creativity and inequality of the human population. In cities like Tokyo, Seoul and New York, netizens are being asked to record the switch-off of landmark buildings on their mobile phones and upload them online. In Zimbabwe, hundreds of children will join a candle-lit picnic at Victoria Falls. In Canada, an Earth Hour Blackberry application has proved a hit. Elsewhere, the world's highest paid supermodel, Gisele Bündchen and World Cup-winning footballer Francesco Totti will act as spokespeople for the event, along with South Africa's archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Not everywhere is going dark. Tanzania initially did not sign up because few would notice a switch off in Dar es Salaam and other cities where only 10% of people have electricity. Instead, WWF organised a "switch on" of solar energy for a local school last year. It will scale this up to 20 schools this year.

In Madagascar, 99% of the country has no electricity and people are frightened to be on the streets after dark because of the instability that has followed the political crisis. But WWF say locals have asked to participate.

"There are only 12 street lights on the Chatham Islands and for safety reasons these will remain on," said Pickles. Organisers said locals would enjoy making the news, but the event would have to compete with a 21st birthday party at the one hotel in town.

"A lot of people will be there," said Lee Barry, Earth Hour Project Manager in New Zealand. "Hopefully someone will remember to turn the lights off."

Earth, Wind and Wire: Going Beyond Solar Panels

Source: LA Times - Here's a look at three technologies that California residents are using to cut their energy bills and turn their homes into clean mini-power plants.

Not long ago, people who wanted to generate their own green energy at home had to content themselves with rooftop solar panels.

But new technologies -- and hefty government subsidies -- are now allowing homeowners to tap the wind, the Earth and other renewable sources in their own backyards.

Call it the green evolution.

The cost of heating and cooling with fossil fuels has nowhere to go but up, thanks to rising global demand and increased regulation of carbon emissions. Turning one's home into a clean mini-power plant is getting cheaper and easier all the time.

Here's a look at three technologies that some California residents are using now to cut utility costs while turning their homes into truly green houses.

Small wind

Californians driving along gusty interstates near such places as Palm Springs are accustomed to seeing commercial wind farms, where turbines as tall as buildings spin lazily against a blue sky.

These days, a modest but growing number of people are using a downsized version of that technology inside their own fence lines.

Roughly 10,500 small turbines were sold to homes, farms and businesses nationwide in 2008, according to the American Wind Energy Assn. Though 2009 figures aren't yet available, demand last year remained strong despite the recession, said Elizabeth Salerno, the association's director of data and analysis. A survey of small-turbine manufacturers has projected a thirtyfold increase in the U.S. market by 2013.

Locally, some of the growth comes from companies eager to lower their electricity costs. In Palmdale, for instance, city officials are allowing businesses to install wind turbines up to 60 feet high. Among them is Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has a 17-turbine project planned for its Sam's Club store in Palmdale.

But interest is also surging among people such as Ernest Ramirez. He and his wife live in Oak Hills, an unincorporated, blustery section of western San Bernardino County dotted with spacious homes on multi-acre lots. The couple weren't looking to install a wind turbine. Their 3,250-square-foot home, which they purchased in 2003, just happened to come with one.

Ramirez can't imagine life without it now.

Perched on a slender tower about 80 feet high, the 10-kilowatt turbine has three 10-foot-long blades that whip often enough to keep his power bills from Southern California Edison at about $100 a month -- roughly a quarter of what he calculates he'd fork out otherwise.

Gusts are so fierce in this part of the Cajon Pass that they have been known to snap trees and jackknife semi-trucks. But Ramirez welcomes a bad hair day.

"When I get out of my car and it's blowing 35 mph and I have to stay inside the house, at least I know I'm saving money," said the 46-year-old grant writer. "Wind is such a precious resource."

Ramirez said he could count seven neighbors with their own wind turbines. Still, what works in windblown, rural San Bernardino County won't necessarily fit everywhere.

For a turbine to make economic sense, the AWEA said, a homeowner considering one should live in an area where 10-mph winds are frequent and be paying at least 10 cents a kilowatt-hour for electricity. Permitting is also a challenge in many communities; some neighbors consider the spinning contraptions ugly.

The technology certainly isn't cheap, running about $3,000 to $6,000 per kilowatt installed, or about $40,000 for a system large enough to power a typical home, according to the AWEA.

Subsidies are helping to soften some of that sticker shock. Homeowners can get a hefty rebate from the state of California -- up to $12,500. They're also eligible for a 30% investment tax credit from the federal government. Continue reading on here.

Apple Thinking Solar-Powered iPod?

Source: ecorazzi - While the world may be hanging on every shred of new info leading up to Apple’s potential unveiling of their tablet on Wednesday, the tech giant is quietly planning for future - and possibly greener - products.

One patent, filed last week, details a system in which an iPod draws power from solar cells covering the device. According to Gizmodo, it includes a description on how constant voltage could be maintained even with the user’s hand obstructing some of the cells and explains how the solar power could be used in conjunction with traditional batteries.

While there are plenty of external solar chargers available for the iPod right now, carrying one less thing around with me would be a welcome addition. It would also be interesting to see how Apple could integrate the solar cells (which we assume would be of the thin-film variety) to fit their rigorous design standards.

Granted, most Apple patents rarely make it into final products, but we like the way they’re thinking.  To learn more about the ways Apple is working to make their current business more green, jump here.

Earth Hour 2010 Set For Lights Out March 27th

Source: ecorazzi - Are you ready for Earth Hour 2010? It’s hard to believe, but we’re already on the third year of the worldwide campaign to recognize climate change with the symbolic gesture of “lights out” for one hour. The initial list of US landmarks taking part in this global climate event includes Mount Rushmore, Empire State Building, the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas,” Harrah’s Caesar Palace and the MGM Mirage on the Las Vegas Strip and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

New Earth Hour participants in 2010 will include Montezuma Castle National Monument in Arizona and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Indianapolis. Other local landmarks taking part include Atlanta’s Bank of America building and the Pike Place Market sign in Seattle, with many more expected to sign on in the days ahead.

The World Wildlife Fund, which organizes the campaign each year, is hopeful that participation in the U.S. will include people, buildings, and landmarks from all 50 states.

Last year, celebrities like Edward Norton, Alanis Morissette, and even Yoko Ono campaigned for people to join the campaign. Are you ready for a little candlelight on March 27th? Check out the new promo below:

Mythbusters at the White House

Wired - "After seven years of promoting experimentation, education, and the scientific method on Mythbusters, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman visited the White House today and received a direct shout-out from President Obama, who told them “I hope you’ve left the explosives at home!”

Their visit was part of a White House event promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in education called “Educate to Innovate”. This includes a public-private partnership from a number of media companies, including Discovery, who broadcasts MythBusters, who are creating a number of STEM initiatives such as commercial-free Kids’ Science Blocks and a new STEM Academy for teachers.

Congratulations to Jamie and Adam, you two clean up really well!

Incoming Malibu Mayor Says It's Time to Clean Up

LA Local - "If Matthew, Mark, Luke or John were alive and still writing, Malibu would definitely get a mention in an updated version of the Bible. There'd be a parable about a blessed place of heavenly natural beauty attracting people who foul their nest, introducing pollution to paradise.

In the absence of those four sages, there is Zuma Jay, a surf shop owner and city councilman who is about to become mayor of Malibu. Zuma Jay believes it's time to quit fighting the state, enter the current century and install sewers to replace septic tanks that are threatening to turn the Malibu coast into a giant commode. He doesn't expect his position to be popular with residents and other city officials.

"I'm going to be sitting alone. I'll be taking the bullets. I'll get chastised at City Council meetings," Zuma Jay said.

That's not his real name, by the way. But most people, including the Malibu city manager, refer to Jefferson Wagner as Zuma Jay or just plain Jay. Will he be Mayor Wagner or Mayor Zuma Jay? Either way, he's an interesting fellow with an unusual bio, even by coastal California standards.

Zuma Jay is an explosives expert, a surfing legend, a stunt man and former model, not to mention a Clint Eastwood look-alike. He once was bitten on the thumb by a shark while diving and is proud of the scar. So in a funky one-of-a-kind outpost like Malibu, he probably should have been mayor long ago.

One day last week, I stopped into Jay's shop and found him reading a City Hall press release on plans to fight a ruling earlier this month by the Regional Water Quality Control Board, which called for phasing out septic tanks in portions of central and eastern Malibu over the next 10 years.

"The city of Malibu has a strong history of protecting the environment," said the press release, quoting Mayor Andy Stern. "The regional board's septic ban is like a doctor operating on the wrong arm."

An interesting claim, given the numerous pollution- related lawsuits against Malibu over the years by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Santa Monica Baykeeper.

I asked City Manager Jim Thorsen to explain the city's position.

Malibu, he told me, believes it already has in place a more economically feasible and scientifically sound plan. The water board's septic moratorium zone is too large, he said, and he cited two studies suggesting it's not entirely clear that septic tank leaching is responsible for the notorious levels of pollution at Surfrider and other beaches, which often get grades of F from Heal the Bay. Read the entire article at LATimes.com

Morrison's Call

Over the last few days, I felt like the Spirit of Jim Morrison was tapping me on the shoulder because I just couldn't get him or the music of the doors off my mind. This isn't the first time it's happened, but since I've moved back to LA, it's been happening more frequently and with an increasingly stronger call. Ironically, this picture I recently found of Jim and his soul-partner Pamela strikes an almost eerie resemblance of my beautiful friends who just married the other night. Anyhow, last night I watched The Doors film (for the millionth time) starring a stunning performance by Val Kilmer and still felt the need to drive around LA listening to their greatest hits until late into the night. I definitely feel a connection with Jim and many of his ideals. I can also feel with super-sensitivity all of the pain he experienced during his short embodiment on the planet. I like to think that if I were friends with him during his life, that I would do everything in my power to get him to realize that the heavy drinking and drugs were just taking him away from the true doors to freedom he was always seeking after.

However, even if I somehow could have gotten through to him in the late '60s (fat chance), it still wouldn't have been my job, nor right, to attempt to "convert" him away from the destructive path he was on. In the infinite picture, everything serves a purpose. All we can do, all we must do is strive to let, rather than to get. We don't need to preach and we definitely don't need to complain, simply live by example, the vibrant life we wish for our loved ones.

Thinking out loud -Jim brother, what are you trying to tell me? Perhaps you're simply lending me some of the Spirit of creativity that you once mastered how to work with? Let me know! And in the meantime, if you could somehow inspire someone to write a sequal to The End, I hope that it would be called The Beginning! 

International Alchemy Conference at the LA Convention Center

The annual International Alchemy Conference is coming to LA on October 23-25 and will be featuring Dr. Masaru Emoto, Don Miguel Ruiz, Don Jose Ruiz, Rickie Byars Beckwith, DreamingBear, Don Estes, Dr. Theresa Ibis and many more practicing alchemists!

The event is produced jointly by the International Alchemy Guild and the Modern Mystery School. The Guild is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to preserving the ancient teachings of alchemy. The Modern Mystery School offers advanced spiritual training in the ancient lineage of sacred wisdom transmitted through the great masters.

The official website for the event www.alchemyconference.com mentions, the goal of our work is to empower individuals with the highest level of spiritual growth coupled with practical knowledge on how to change our personal reality and thereby transform the world.

Love Angeles will be covering all the transformational happenings throughout the weekend. Make sure to get your tickets and I look forward to meeting you at the conference.

Check out the clip below and spread the word!

David de Rothschild Is At It Again

ecorazzi - "Adventurer, ecologist, and activist, David de Rothschild is the latest celebrity to appear in a series of videos plugging Prince Charles’ Rainforests Project and encouraging people to become involved. “We’re getting to a period where there’s no turning back,” he says,” and the most important thing is our ability to live on this planet.” Check out the video below.

In other news, the Plastiki Expedition has received a slick new website that let’s you take a peek at how everything will work on the vessel. Conceived by de Rothschild a few years ago, the Plastiki is a 60-foot catamaran made from reclaimed plastic bottles. According to the site, the goal of the expedition is to “not only continue encouraging the world to focus on reducing, reusing and recycling more of its natural resources but ultimately to think smart by re-thinking waste as a resource.” The voyage is expected to kick off sometime later this year."

Team Earth Campaign

ecorazzi - "Backed by inspiring music, Harrison Ford is supporting and voicing a new campaign called “Team Earth”. The 67-year-old actor is a long-time conservationist and last summer, at the height of the Indiana Jones 4 media blitz, waxed a portion of his chest to highlight deforestation. For this new effort, Ford is once more promoting preservation of the forests by partnering this campaign with Prince Charles’ Rainforest Project.

“Saving the planet won’t be easy — and it’s certainly not something you can do alone,” he writes. “That’s why I need your help — and that’s why I’ve joined teamearth.com. We all know that our planet is at a critical juncture: and humanity needs a healthy planet to survive.”

Check out the video below, or visit the official site here to join up

How many MPG's is that again?

Yahoo - A one-liter car? This moniker describes a car that uses one liter of fuel—about a quarter of a gallon—to propel a car for 100 kilometers, or 62 miles. The one-liter car’s fuel economy translates to almost 240 mpg, and VW has had such a car in its sights for some time now. In 2002, outgoing VW CEO Ferdinand Piëch, now head of the company’s supervisory board, drove a cigar-shaped prototype from VW headquarters in Wolfsburg to a shareholders’ meeting in Hamburg.

Now the idea of the one-liter car has been resurrected. VW’s biggest news at the Frankfurt auto show was the L1 concept, a prototype that "is close to production" and "will be developed," the company says. Three ingredients were needed to make it happen: a supremely efficient powertrain, great aerodynamics, and lightweight engineering.

As to the powertrain, VW has opted for a two-cylinder, 39-hp turbo-diesel engine combined with a 14-hp electric motor. There is a stop/start system and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The L1 can reach 100 mph, but fuel economy at that speed drops to a shameful 1.38 liters per 100 kilometers, or 170 mpg.

The front-wheel-drive L1’s aerodynamics are optimized by the two-seat layout with the occupants sitting in a row. The result is a car that is relatively long, quite low, and extremely slim. The monocoque and body is made of carbon fiber, and total weight of the L1 is a mere 838 pounds. We think that the seating configuration will likely be changed as development progresses; two people sitting behind each other is too unusual for prospective buyers.

Even so, the L1 looks refined and close to series production, which couldn’t be said of the 2002 concept. It could be on the market as soon as 2013, Volkswagen sources tell us. The L1 may seem ironic to those who remember that VW is also responsible for Bugatti, which makes the fastest production car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron, and which just unveiled the W-16 Galibier sedan concept. But if you think about the styles of both Piëch and current VW chairman Martin Winterkorn, this contradiction seems logical: These guys both tend to go to extremes. And we submit that the Volkswagen L1 is a more significant step in saving resources than are heavy gasoline-electric hybrids.

More at Car & Driver

Why Would Paul Swim Across the Catalina Channel?

As many of you already know, my friend Paul Lundgren recently swam the 21-mile channel between Catalina under the full-moon a few backs back. Everyone, me included, wanted to know why in the world he would do such a thing. 

Well, here it is...after much reflection, Paul transferred his thoughts and heart-felt emotions into words, to share with us all and most importantly shed some light on his recent exploration. Paul writes, "I'm sorry I didn't get this to you sooner. I appreciate your support and never doubted for a moment you were with me during the swim. I get very emotional speaking of it so find it easy to say in email. Thank you and enjoy the read...

There is no doubt it was a special night. The mood on the boat was filled with an excited, nervous anticipation. Everyone was joking and laughing. A nervous laugh the kind you get when you breathe in the air and your lungs fill your belly with a hot sizzling gas that heightens your senses.  The night was warm with a light breeze coming from the North West.  Moon light was shimmering off the water and the mist in the air smelled of the ocean. We were all talking with questions of strategy, ideas of execution and stories of past adventures.  My Blackberry was constantly buzzing with messages coming from literally all over the world wishing me luck and letting me know I was not alone.  It got to the point I had to hand it to my friend Brian, because it was too much.  I couldn’t digest all the attention. I needed to find a place quiet in my mind.  The night was providing everything I could imagine and more than ever anticipated.  It was the moon I kept turning to, it was the moon that centered my attention on the place in my mind that kept everything in perspective.  With the moon I waited for the boat to make its two-hour voyage from San Pedro to Captain’s Cove on the north end of Catalina.

The most common question I hear in the final weeks leading to this night, mostly from myself, is, ‘Why?’  Why would I want to swim nineteen miles across an ocean channel at night?  For years I always considered it just enough of a challenge to scare me into fitness.  It’s not something I would want to go into unprepared.  I would have to get in good shape.  The other why is to explore the unknown domain of my mind.  I think the process of on something new, unknown and of great risk creates a path to a closer understanding one’s true self.  I don’t think of the Channel as a physical risk, but rather as the goal itself, and the sacrifice to achieve the goal is a risk.  To ask my friends and family into the process of this goal increased the impact of its outcome.  The risk of failing, of not being prepared for the challenge and not finishing the swim would weigh heavy on my shoulders.  I wouldn’t want to let those people down and I mostly wouldn’t want to let myself down.  To make this swim, at this stage in my life, and to invest the time and energy would be at a great cost.  To fail would be devastating.  The process of approaching a goal with the self-imposed weight of its importance is revealing.  As a coach I have witnessed it hundreds of times.  When the big event grows near the weight of the risks sheds the multiple layers of protective skin around one’s true self.  Eventually the moment comes and nothing is left but the truth. Athletes either learn to explore the truth or mentally break down.  I was hoping to explore the depths of my mind through extreme circumstances.

One of my strongest childhood memories is that of my swimming coach.  He is a man who, when I was 14 with one foot in a youth detention facility and the other dancing at the line of a drug overdose, pulled me back to the pool and gave me the option of swimming or a beating to the death.  The memory is of a practice or swim meet at the moment when every ounce of myself was invested he would stand up with coffee in one hand, a stop watch in the other, a pencil behind the ear and whistle.  He would then do a big over arm swing with the hand holding the stop watch while taking three steps down the pool deck beside me.  Then he would sit down, drink his coffee, and watch the story unfold.

I mention this because it was never a random moment.  It only happened when I was giving everything I had.  He would jump to action with 500 yards to go in a mile race or eight thousand yards into a timed ten thousand swim during workout.  It was eerie in a way because he never showed much emotion.  His philosophy was “the flame of life was within and it was up to the swimmer to find that flame.”  He wasn’t the type of guy to yell his swimmers into motivation.  His power to influence me in life was that somehow he knew when I was tapping into that flame.  He knew the moment I was giving everything I had to give.  He and I both knew in those moments that I was taking great risks and that he would stand up for me.  An athlete knows there is nothing greater in sport when they finished a race or a workout and they have nothing left to give.  The results are never as important as the effort provided, and I learned that when I gave it my all, nothing else mattered. For me to have a relationship with a coach who knew when I gave everything is unforgettable.

This report is as hard, if not harder, to write than the swim itself.  This is my third attempt and I just dumped four or five pages of heartfelt, soul-wrenching, drippy scribbles into the trash bin.

I guess I feel vulnerable exposing myself, because, like I said, I was looking for the truth and I found it in a big way.  The challenge now is taking you there and me going back.  The reality that I came to understand, no matter how much I tried to deny it, in the final days leading to the moment was that I was scared.  I was scared of sharks, and I was scared of the deep, dark ocean.  I was afraid I would get too cold.  I was afraid I wasn’t physically strong enough.  I was afraid my mind would crack and I would go insane.  I was afraid I would never see my boys again.

The problem was I didn’t understand any of the emotions or fears until I jumped in the water and started swimming.  I kept looking at that moon.  It was the light in my life that kept me in touch with the rest of the world. The same moon all my friends and family live under, the same moon I always looked to when ever I felt alone.

Before takeoff, Phil Garn told me to be careful not to get the grease that I used to lube up in my goggles.  If I did I wouldn’t be able to see.  Sure enough an hour into the night the only thing I could make out was the shapes of people and things.  The kayak beside me was glowing from a night lantern in its bow.  I could see the shape of the person sitting on top, but nothing more.  The 54-foot escort fishing boat was lit up.  I could see it clearly every time I breathed to that side.  Unfortunately, every other time I turned to that side a flash bulb would blind me in the eyes.  The first fifteen or so shots were fine, but after about an hour of flashing I was starting to get a little frustrated.  As much as I appreciated documenting the event, I was starting to lose my mind.  I’m not saying that as a cliché—I really was losing my mind.

At the start there were several fishing boats around and I had so many people telling me what to do and where to go that I was mentally scrambled. I started swimming and a spotlight was shining on me.  I thought “Wow, this is interesting—I’ll be lit up the whole way.” I saw the boat that had the spotlight and started following it.  Then I swam right into it.  I was flustered, and wondering what the hell was going on.  I looked up and realized it was one of the fishing boats docked in the little harbor. “Where was my kayak?”  I came around the boat and found my guide kayaking away from me.  He yelled for me to go the other direction as he started paddling.  I yelled at him, trying to explain that I was following him.  I guess he didn’t realize how frustrated I was that he was leaving me.

The water in the beginning was calm, with only a small current and waves. But soon I found myself struggling to keep in line with the boat.  Either it was too close or too far away.  I was depending on the kayak to keep me straight, but he was having the same trouble.  The next thing I knew he was tipped out of the boat and I wasn’t sure if I should help him or keep going. I stopped and everyone on the boat yelled to keep going.I spent the first three hours swimming to the boat and swimming away from the boat.  There was a north west swell pushing me south east, the boat was on automatic pilot heading east.  To keep pace with the swimmer the boat engines would rev up and then down.  When the engines revved down the bow of the boat would be pushed south, and as I would compensate accordingly, the boat would then rev up.  As it revved up, the boat would speed up and I would find myself at the stern which had straightened itself. While I was compensating for the bow flowing south, the stern would straighten from the power of the engines, and I would need to compensate again.  I was constantly pushing against the North West current and adjusting to the flow of the boat.  My kayaker was having the same problem.

It was early on when I started to question how I was feeling.  My legs for some reason were fatigued.  They were fatigued in a way that made my body feel nauseous and weak.  I started to panic, questioning my ability to pull this off.  I wasn’t sure I could maintain this effort for nine hours. Something had to change or I was definitely going to fail.

I know enough about life and endurance that I know that it’s the mind that holds the key to reality.  What is real is a perspective.  I needed to get out of there.  I needed to change my perspective.  It must have been about two hours into the swim and I was at the edge of a full-on mental breakdown.

It is a lonely feeling to know you are just a few yards away from friends and you can’t talk to them and they can’t help you.  I would take, longer then typical, two to three minutes to feed, not so much for nutrition, but for human contact.  I was feeding every 45 minutes and the time between felt like eternity.  My mind needed a break.  It was 2am and I realized everything was coming to this moment all at once.  The year of training and the impact of support on my emotions was all coming to a head at this moment and I was feeling the weight of it pull me down.  I then thought of Chris and what she was doing at that moment.  I saw her lying in bed and figured I should go there.  If there was one place I would most want to be at that moment it was in bed with Chris, falling asleep.  I climbed into my side of the bed, tucked under the covers and started to fall asleep. I swear, if I didn’t have to navigate where I was going I would have fallen asleep while swimming.  I altered my consciousness and I found an amazing force of peace cover myself.  That got me to hour five.

The swim was never easy.  From the first stroke I never felt comfortable.  I never felt in control.  I never felt confident.  There was something I learned from a river one time along time ago.  The nature of swimming in water is a relationship with a life force.  In my situation on the river I was dealing with a force much greater than I, and that night, a little over a week ago, I was in the same situation.  I was having a relationship with such a force.  What I learned on the river I brought with me to the ocean. There is no way in a life time I could out-power the force of this ocean.  I know I am a small man in light of my surroundings, but if I am any man at all I am going to honor this life force of nature with every ounce of life I have.

I heard my coach whistle and saw him take three steps on the pool deck.  For a moment I thought I was in lane six at the Pocatello, Idaho YMCA pool. That lasted only a moment, this ocean; she wasn’t going to let me go anywhere now.  I tried to crawl back in bed with Chris, but she, the ocean, was with me and wanted me there.

The question now was if I could I feel the spirit move me.  Did my little experiment work? Was I capable of feeling the power of friends and family sending me thoughts and prayers?  I was struggling to induce myself into an altered state of awareness.  The reality of the water around me kept me alert and lucid.  Other than the feeling of falling asleep for a couple hours, my mind was awake.  The awareness of spirit is undeniable.  I felt something I have never before felt to this degree and that was a force of will.  I am a stubborn man and have suffered through many a long days, but I have never felt such a deep force in my soul.  My mind and body were constantly in question, but not once did I question my will to continue. Not once did I think I would stop.  I thought they might pull me from the water when my body would fail, but I never once thought I would stop of my own will and get out of the water until this thing was done.  I was aware that there was something greater than myself propelling me.  But I never questioned where it was coming from.

I know it sounds sadistic, but I welcomed the pain.  There was a pain in my left wrist.  The tendon was inflamed from the fingertips at entry.  They would catch the surface of the water and as I resisted, the pressure on the tendon of the wrist was causing inflammation.  By the time I finished the it was nearly excruciating.  The great thing about pain is that it gives you something to take your mind away from the rest of the pain.  The little pains that popped up were welcome visits, taking my mind briefly to another place to focus my attention.  When I was thinking my body was going to fail me and I was going to likely sink to the bottom of the ocean, I welcomed distractions.

The second kayaker was Mark Montgumery who I have known for over twenty years.  We used to race triathlons together and train in Southern California.  I have traveled the globe racing and training with Mark; I know him well.  He is a retired L.A. lifeguard who grew up on the beach and is subsequently, a very capable water man.

For years I have been thinking about this swim.  I remember eight or nine years ago, Mark returned a message I had left him to discuss the swim.  He called me and started the conversation casually; discussing water conditions and friends he knew who were familiar with the nature of the channel, as if nothing were wrong.  Then he said, “I have some bad news. In a couple hours they are wheeling me into the operating room to put a pace maker on my heart” (thus retired LA Life guard).  I was shocked.  Just a few years earlier we were traveling around the world trying to make a living racing triathlons.  How could somebody who lived the life of an endurance athlete be physically vulnerable to heart conditions?

Mark guided that kayak so closely to me that I could reach over and grab it if I ever needed.  He paddled for almost six straight hours.  Because I was being pushed to the south Mark figured out a way to communicate when I needed to adjust and navigate to the north.  With me between the fishing boat and the kayak I could sight off both boats.  And because my goggles were so greased up I couldn’t judge distances.  If Mark let the kayak fall back out of my sight, I knew I needed to adjust and turn towards the fishing boat.  This was crucial, because the only other way for me to adjust was for him to block me with the kayak, which is very frustrating and could injure my hand.  This communication technique was subtle and didn’t take words or effort.  It kept my navigation on track through the night.

A lot of people want to know what it’s like to have the sun rise.  It’s glorious. All I can say is it sure lightens a mood.  Once the sun rose, the current died down and I mo longer needed Mark’s communication method to navigate.  I wasn’t being pushed anymore and I could just sight off the boats.

The way I managed the swim from start to finish was to focus on the next 45 minutes, or the next 30 minutes, or the next 15 minutes, depending on my feeding time.  I would always say to myself, “I know I can swim for another 30 minutes.”

In training, thanks to John Mathews and Gordon Clute, I used Belvedere Lagoon.  One loop around the Lagoon took me roughly an hour.  I figured, based on comparison of other people’s times, and depending on water conditions, I could do the swim the Channel in eight to ten hours.  Eight hours would be a miracle with a big push from Mother Nature.  Hey, I believe in miracles.  Ten hours would be because the ocean felt it should take me a little longer.  In my mind I was thinking that around nine hours would be about right.  The swim took ten hours and nineteen minutes.

My friend Vito got in the Kayak after the sun rose and at 7.5 hours into the swim I told him only a loop and half—meaning the remaining amount of distance was equal to 1.5 loops in the lagoon.  I am so thankful he didn’t tell me the truth.

If you ask me what the hardest part of the swim was I would say it was the first three hours and the last hour and a half.  The first three hours I went insane, and in the last 1.5 hours I felt like I should have been done.

It took eleven minutes for me to swim the last 200 yards.  As hard as it is to believe, one of the reasons was that I didn’t want it to end.  I kept trying to suck it all in.  I kept looking at the shore and the boat and my friends and tried to absorb everything.  The other is the tide was pulling me out.  It was some powerful force, I’ll tell you.

When I finished, Vito asked me if it was the hardest thing I have ever done. I was on camera and I said, “I’ll have to think about it.”  There have been times in life I have endured when I didn’t think I could handle anything harder.  Last fall when Phil and I did a bike ride down the coast from Oregon I was challenged pretty hard.  Physically this was not the hardest thing I have ever done, but mentally it is the hardest athletic feat I have ever accomplished and it still scares me.  The spirit cannot be measured by effort, but this was without a doubt profound.

I believe in the power of the human spirit.  I believe we are all connected by some mystical force and, if willing, we can draw great strength.  I learned to share that force whenever given the chance because its impact on another person’s heart is profound and too amazing not to share.

This was a once in a lifetime experience.  I still don’t know if I want to pursue more goals similar to this or focus my energies and attention in other directions.  Time will help me decide.  For this particular experience I have to thank some very important people who helped me along the way. First, and without question, I could not have done this swim without Chris my wife’s support.  She was literally pushing me out the door to train and I am deeply thankful to her.  Vito Bialla was the constant companion and mentor.  He lives for these kind of sick, twisted adventures and gives everything of himself so other too can find their truths.  John Mathews, who, grabbed me by the arm one day, insisting he help.  He provided access to his dock where I could swim in the lagoon, without which I don’t know if I could have trained properly. John also showed up at 10:30pm one night while my friend Joe and I were in the middle of a 15-mile training swim. Gordon Clute also provided access to the lagoon from his dock and made the experience enjoyable with his enthusiasm.  I would also like to thank Night Train and all our friends of Night Train who have an insatiable taste for having fun.  I have to thank Joe Locke who I shared many long hours with, swimming around the lagoon and at Scott Valley pool.  “Smokin Joe” was a beast who pushed me hard and kept me honest.  (I also want to congratulate Joe on his swim last week across the Channel in 9 hour and 45 min.  Thanks for letting me be there with you to share the experience.)  Thank you to Phil Cutie, my Sancho Panza, who was there when I made the plan and at every stroke of the way to the finish.  Also, big thanks go to Brian Bunch, who crewed and kept the boat in the light.  Mark Montgumery—without whom I don’t think I could of made it through the night.  Knowing you were there if I was going down kept me up when things got so dark, thank you. Thank you Presidio Sport and Medicine for sponsoring the event.

Finally I have to thank all those who sat up with me that night, those who woke up in the morning and turned on their computers to tune into and see where I was going.  I felt your thoughts, I knew you were there and I have to say their impact affected my far greater then just getting me across the channel.  I have been blessed and I truly thank you all

Like swimming the Channel, this story never ends.  I learned about the power of community, the power of people sharing one thought directed towards one goal.  My drive home from L.A. was spent with Clancey, my sons’, Luke and Cole, teacher.  She flew to L.A. so I wouldn’t have to drive home alone.  I guess Chris took one look at me when I was done and figured it might be a good idea.  L.A. to San Francisco is a long drive.  You learn a lot about a person.  Clancey told me the most amazing story of her Dad, who today is having his third brain surgery on the same form of cancer that took Ted Kennedy’s life.  I was struck so profoundly by the story of this man’s life and how he has lived with unconditional love and support for his family.  I believe the power of the human spirit has the ability to channel life’s force to where intended with miraculous effects.  I have one last favor if you wouldn’t mind.  Today, Kevin Kelley, who is in Texas in surgery fighting for his life, needs all the help he can get.  Please send him and his family your heart felt thoughts and prayers with the same intensity and power you shared with me.  I know it is amazing, I know it is powerful and I know it will help.

Thank you,

Paul Lundgren

PS  Below are some links to related media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqFNttVYUds

http://www.examiner.com/x-7447-SF-Extreme-Training-Examiner~y2009m9d4-Bay-Ar
ea-athlete-brings-mind-body-and-spirit-across-the-Catalina-Channel

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=ui6kmpz.1pl5qpdf&x=1&y=ryu
29x&localeid=en_US

Anastasia and the Ringing Cedars Series

  

Have you heard about Anastasia and the mysterious ringing cedar trees of the Siberian Forest? If you haven't and you have an open channel to truly powerful resources, I promise you that you will now begin hearing and/or seeing these magical books a handful of times over the next few weeks and months! I really don't know where to begin in describing my relationship to the knowledge radiating from the mystical Anastasia, the first book of the 9 part series that I'm currently engaged with. It seems like I'm not the only one struggling to find the right words to paint the Siberian entrepreneur Vladimir Megré's vision known as the Ringing Cedars Series, which, by the way, has already sold over 10 million copies in 20 different languages!

I will certainly reflect on the series as I go through them and I can't help but plan on reading them one after another! For now, I'm going to give you a teaser from the publisher's website www.ringingcedars.com:

A warning! Nothing you have ever read before can prepare you for the journey you are about to take.

You are about to meet Anastasia—a beautiful young woman—discovered by the author, living alone deep in the remote wild forests of Siberia. She is considered to be a surviving member of an ancient Vedic civilisation whose extraordinary powers and knowledge far exceed anything known today.

Anastasia's powerful, myth-shattering messages reveal a profound wisdom grounded in ancient knowledge; they expose suppressed secrets and hidden historical facts that will completely change your understanding of our past, and offer a whole new paradigm for our planet's future.

Anastasia will lift you up and hurl you into a future that is… well… everything you imagined life could and certainly should be!

The twist is… it's here NOW!

Anastasia will have you dancing with delight and squealing with excitement as you re-discover YOU… in all your glory!

Anastasia's messages will simply blow your mind!
Her soft-spoken words go straight to your heart—like nothing you have ever read!

And the more you read them… the better you'll feel.

Anastasia will restore your hope for the future and re-ignite your passion for life. After reading these books—nothing will be quite the same…

Lovolution in Malibu with Dreaming Bear

My new friend Frank over at Elevate Films just reminded me about the upcoming performace of poet and loveangelist Dreaming Bear at Leigh McCloskey's Olandar in Malibu.

Where: In the Studio of Visionary Artist Leigh McCloskey
6032 Philip Ave Malibu 90265 (Olandar)

When: Wednesday, August 19 @ 7:30 pm
http://www.leighmccloskey.com
$13 - RSVP To Carla 310-457-5398

Here's what Frank had to say:

"DreamingBear is a conscious alchemist of tenderness who is dropping quark-sized Love-bombs in such quantities that the country is on red-alert! 

He is a master word-smith delivering his fervent message with extraordinary verbal dexterity and relevance. 
He's a nomadic bard, a hip mystic and modern-language Sufic style philosopher-poet all rolled into the best stand-up monologuist to hit the scene as long as I can remember!

He draws his audiences in using language laced with erotically nuanced temptations that morph into personalized challenges to de-evolve the socialized bounds of our ego and re-evolve from the place of infinite possibilities into the person you've always known you could be but never had the courage to really, really let loose.
He sets "poetically timed detonations of ego-destroying devices" as he animates the room with his physicality and entrances his participants with pregnant poetic prose made of liquid Love that explodes like dynamism in the hearts of those around him.

He's heading the new Lovelution; and he is at large!

If you'd like to experience a living combination of Spaulding Gray, Rumi, Jack Kerouac, Robin Williams, Shel Silverstien, Michael Talbot and Thich Nhat Hanh- you owe it to yourself to see Dreaming Bear.

Frank Marino
~Elevate Films~

See a clip of Dreaming Bear below:

Language for the New Paradigm from DreamingBear Baraka Kanaan on Vimeo.