The Makeshift Slide

From the technological heights of the AquaLoop I thought it would be good to cover the other side of things - the makeshift slide.

First, an anecdote!

On a recent trip to Benicassim music festival I was witness to a group of young lads creating their own makeshift slippery slide. About 15 meters long and made out of what looked like some thick plastic or rubber sheeting they proceeded to spread washing up liquid an

d water over the long sheet. The hill was very slight and the group found the only real way of using the slide was to drag to each other along it. The rock that resided unseen under the slide quicky put an end to the fun and one of the brave young mens' chances at fatherhood. The point of this story is to highlight the haphazard and potentially dangerous nature of a makeshift slide - especially when those who build it are under the influence.

So, to begin. First we have the popular youtube hit. Known as the "Ron's slip and slide extravaganza", the slide was constructed by three friends in the USA and is a two story slide, built onto a house, with a 16ft jump into a paddling pool. This slide would fail every safety test in the book. According to the video no one was seriously injured, yet some of the partakers missed the pool and must have hurt themselves.

Despite the safety risks, these gentlemenhave got my unreserved respect; Representing man both at his most insane and visionary they created something that most thought could only ever be a pipe dream (or a pipe nightmare for the waterslide heretics). Yes, people were probably hurt, however people are also hurt at private waterparks. Watching the video those responsible for the inception of "Ron's slip and slide extravaganza" clearly planned and tested their creation. My point is that if you are going to create your own slide you need to be sensible, otherwise you WILL hurt yourself; Badly.

While searching for slides on google I came across a travel blog featuring a makeshift slide in Natal, Brazil. The first image is an optical illusion, the slide is not as steep as it looks! The second image gives you a better indication of how steep the slide actually is, and I think this shows how great make shift slides could be. I also realise that there are no barriers to the slide which could be quite worrying, however I suspect the slide is slightly dipped to avoid the chances of you leaving the slide.

To help you understand a bit more about what is possible I've embedded some videos from youtube of some homemade slides. All of them are reasonably good, however some also have me questioning the chances of injury.






































To finish I think it's fitting to include a guide to creating your watershoot or waterslide, though I would also like to add that I take no responsibility for you injuring yourselves! I'm yet to try and make one myself so I've included instructions I found on the net.
1.) Lay out plastic tarp on soft grass. Make sure to remove any rocks or sharp objects before laying out the tarp. Use sand to patch up any holes or rough areas in the lawn for a smooth and safe slide area.
2.) Keep your slide in place by placing sandbags, or some other type of anchors at the top corners.
3.) Douse the slide with water and make sure that you continue to keep it wet. If you have one of those sprinklers that attaches to your garden hose, those are great keep the slide slippery -- and they're fun to slide under!
4.) For an extra slippery slide, pour a little bit of liquid soap onto the slide. If the slide is not slick enough, and it's not easy enough to slide down, it could cause knees and elbows to get red and irritated. You also want to make sure that the soap or lubricant that you're using does not irritate eyes. I recommend using a little bit of baby soap or baby shampoo - and use it sparingly.
5.) Wet the slide again making sure that the soap is spread evenly over the slide.
6.) Get a good running start and see who can hurl themselves the farthest down the slide.

Thanks for reading!

The Watershoot Connoisseur.