Taken right around the time of the World Record attempt

Just after the record attempt, just before the rain!

And there's the rain!

]]> http://www.paddleatthepoint.com/2010/06/15/birds-eye-view/feed/ 2 http://www.paddleatthepoint.com/2010/06/09/1-minute-time-lapse/ http://www.paddleatthepoint.com/2010/06/09/1-minute-time-lapse/#comments Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:23:32 +0000 admin http://www.paddleatthepoint.com/?p=520 This is our favorite. We can’t stop pressing replay. Check out this awesome time lapse video created by Randy Sargent and Paul Heckbert of the Carnegie Mellon University CREATE Lab. Be sure to wait until second 36 when everyone gets soaked in the rain!

It’s even better in HD, download the HD version here: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~gigapan/timelapse/flotilla-timelapse-1080p.mp4

For anyone who didn’t get their certificate, there’s how to pick one up:

1. Print your own at home. Download a pdf of the certificate to print.

2. Stop by the Venture Outdoors Office to pick yours up. We’re located in Downtown Pittsburgh at 304 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. Please bring your wrist band from Paddle at the Point to prove your participation.

3. Pick yours up at Kayak Pittsburgh Downtown. Stop by our kayak rental concession under the 6th Street Bridge, on the North Shore, next to PNC Park. Please bring your wrist band from Paddle at the Point to prove your participation. Certificates will be available here starting Wednesday, June 9th.

We’ve had an overwhelming response over the past month, bigger and better then we ever imagined!

The Guinness World Record™ for Largest Raft of Canoes/Kayaks is currently held by a group in Inlet, New York. They assembled 1,104 boats on Fourth Lake. Our region’s old rival, Cleveland, held the record previously with 776 boats.

We’re on track to smash the record: As of this writing, nearly 2,000 people have signed up to participate in the Pittsburgh region’s Paddle at the Point!

But wouldn’t you know it, there’s already a group nipping at our heels. We hear rumors that the Quad Cities region in Iowa and Illinois is organizing an attempt later this summer they’ve dubbed Floatzilla.

While we hope everyone who participates in Floatzilla has a fun and safe day on the water, we want the Paddle at the Point record to last. Let’s show the world what Pittsburgh is made of and blow that record out of the water, by getting out on the water!

Remember Friday at 10:00 AM is your last chance to register!

Currently over 1,300 boats and many more people are signed up to help break a World Record on the waters of Downtown Pittsburgh. If you’re keeping track, YES, that’s more then the previous records set in New York and Cleveland! Great job everyone!

Registrations are still rolling in, and we hope you’ll keep spreading the word. We’re aiming to break the record by several hundred; we want Pittsburgh’s World Record to last!

For more detailed information on the logistics of the event, see the FAQ page.

Ivy, what’s a flotilla? I keep hearing that word.

Loosely, a fleet of boats. It often refers to naval vessels, but describes what we’ll be doing equally well.

It’s also a videogame featuring “Chicken space pirates, psychic dog advisers, and rhino bounty hunters,” but that’s not what we’ll be doing. We will be in kayaks and canoes!

What sort of things can make up a flotilla? Just kayaks?

Tugboats, yachts, submarines, warships (yikes)…you name it. On the civilian side, there are flotilla sailing vacations abroad, you can hitch your pontoon boats together and have a cookoff, or use kayaks to break world records. The world record is technically the “Largest raft of Canoes and Kayaks,” so please leave tugboats at home.

What’s the correct pronunciation of flotilla?

Rhymes with Godzilla: float-illa. The word is a derivative of the Spanish flota, but don’t be tripped up when you see the lovely double “l” found in words like quesadilla (mmm…) we dropped the “y” sound upon appropriating the word for English use.

Will there be drinking? I associate flotillas with alcohol.

A: No. We encourage families to take part in the day together, and alcohol use is prohibited during our record attempt. However, we are working an after-party celebration if you’re interested.

Do I have to have my own kayak?

No, and you don’t even have to know where to get one. Register now and receive a follow-up e-mail about reasonable kayak pricing through our partners, or watch this website and www.ventureoutdoors.org for updates on local outfitters and their prices.

If you do own your own boat, great! Let’s get it on the water.

Ok, sounds fun! What will I have to do that day?

In the afternoon, we’ll gather and push off from several convenient points on the shore downtown and gather our kayaks to form a raft near the Point. Once everyone is assembled and the helicopter is positioned above to get some high-quality footage (how cool is that?), we’ll pull up our paddles and hold onto the boats next to us. The record attempt should be done and we’ll all shoot to be out of the water by 3:00, if not lots earlier.

Of course, the logistics will take slightly longer to complete than to explain, but we’ll keep you updated through the website, via e-mail, and at the point.

I’ve never kayaked before. Is that a problem?

Not at all. It’s not too difficult, and you’ll only paddle a short distance for this event. We do require that you wear a life jacket, and remember that quite a few of your fellow participants will be experienced paddlers or trip leaders. In the unlikely event that you have a problem or tip over, you’ll have a life jacket to keep you afloat and 1,500 friends to help you upright.

If you like this experience, we do hope that you’ll try kayaking on another day in a more traditional format. It’s fun!

Organizers of World Environment Day announced this year’s theme – Watter Matters, along with the 6-week schedule of  events at a press conference yesterday in Downtown Pittsburgh. Read the full article about the announcement by clicking on the link below.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10071/1042148-28.stm

For a full list of World Environment Day media coverage, click here.

Paddle at the Point
Saturday, June 5 is World Environment Day and Venture Outdoors and its 30 plus outdoor partners are taking over Pittsburgh’s three rivers in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record^TM for the largest kayak and canoe flotilla in the world. 1,200 kayaks and canoes are needed as we set a mark at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers to beat a record that was previously held by long time arch nemesis Cleveland!

Don’t have a boat? Don’t worry. Sign up early and rent a kayak from Kayak Pittsburgh before they’re all gone. We’ll need everyone and anyone, clubs and groups welcome! Parking will be offered for free on the North Side and we’ll shuttle your boat to the landing for launch. Be part of history in the making and celebrate World Environment Day in Pittsburgh with Paddle at the Point!

We’re looking for local clubs, groups or organizations that want to become a part of history! There’s no experience necessary so bring your book club, youth group or scout troop. Join the ranks and we’ll announce any club or organization  on this website to help spread the word  and rally more paddlers.  And we’ll keep running list of all the groups attending so you can see who’ll be there.

These zombies were actually ‘burghers in disguise, and rather than seeking brains for food, they solicited non-perishables for locals in need. The walk was a successful food drive for the Greater Pittsburgh community food bank. As for fame—they got it!

Pittsburgh’s walk on October 9, 2006, set the first-ever World Record for “The Most People Participating in a Zombie Walk.”

Walkers were inspired by Dawn of the Dead, Director George Romero’s 1978 zombie flick filmed at the Monroeville Mall.

The movie is a sequel to Romero’s earlier Night of the Living Dead (1968) and follows four survivors of the expanding zombie apocalypse into their refuge: an abandoned shopping mall.

894 Pittsburghers, in memoriam of the film, shredded their clothes, looked as lifeless as possible, and stumbled from one end of the mall to another.

Pittsburgh’s record has since been challenged, beaten, and reclaimed in a following Zombie Fest of 1,341 participants, verified in June 2009. The second attempt included fun events like a “Zombie Olympics,” “Brain Eating Contest,” and “Ugly Pageant.”

Other notable World Records set in Pittsburgh include the Largest Wedding vow renewal, October 2008, as part of Pittsburgh 250.

Participant Chet Suty proposed the renewal to his wife, Christine, because “it would be romantic, fun, and record-breaking.” Oh it was, Chet. It was.

Also in 2008, Mama Lena Pizza, in McKee’s Rocks, attempted the world’s largest commercially-sold pizza, a whopping 150-cut, 53½ inch pizza that takes 15 pounds of cheese. It’s still available, for a bill proportional to the number of bellies it’ll fill.