Busy, busy.

I'm lagging on posting.  Getting in school mode is hard after having such a fun summer.  :)  Anyway, two weeks ago Ryan Levinson invited me to join his paddle group that he meets every week.  I've never tried a traditional paddle board and he had an extra one for me to use.  The route was 4 miles long and I definitely wanted to see how far I could go.  I have to say, prone paddling is a lot harder than I thought.  I made it the full four miles and can't wait till I have some more free time to join the group again.  Thanks, Ryan!

Torry Pines Kiwanis Club

During my first season of snowboarding, I was given a scholarship from Torrey Pines Kiwanis Club to go snowboarding in Durango, CO. Food, flight, stay, mountain passes all paid for. There's nothing better than having a few solid days on the mountain to teach you how to board or even perfect your skills. You also get adaptive coaches. It was a great experience.

After learningsome basic skills, I went to Windells snow and skate camp to help me out with rails, jumps and pipe that same season. The following year I competed at Nationals at Copper Mountain, CO and won second in BoarderX.

Here is the form  to apply for a scholarship to Durango, CO courtesy of Torrey Pines Kiwanis Club.  Good luck and have fun shredding!


Here is a video of me snowboarding in Durango, CO.

Duke's Festival Oahu, HI

In August I went to Oahu, HI for a vacation before school and support my girlfriend in her longboard competition.  Surfing at Queens was definitely an experience.  Warm, clear waters but small waves and way too many people out.  By chance, I was told that there was an amputee competition the next day so of course I jumped at the chance to surf an uncrowded Queens.  The competition was being held by Access Surf and I was able to register for the amputee division.  This was my first competition that has made me want to do more! I received third place and can't wait to try and improve that next time.  Big thanks to the Duke's festival, AccessSurf and Kaitlin Maguire for giving me the heads up!

Surf shots taking by Hawaiian Water Shots.  Please visit their site to view more at this link.

Wounded Warriors

Throughout the summer I volunteered with exercise physiologist, Betty Michalewicz.  Every thursday I would go out and surf with the Wounded Warriors.  It was always a great experience.  The first time I ever surfed was with Betty so it was even better to go back and show her my progression.

On one of the last Thursdays of this summer, Victory2Victory was there giving out wetsuits and new boards to the program.  Russel Pierre from Surf Action took some surf pictures and I did an interview with Paul Higgins from Aimsports.tv.  Beautiful day at Del Mar!

Roxy Jam 2010

In July, I went to the Roxy Jam 2010 in Biarritz, France and participated in the Expression Session.  It's the first time I did anything like that.  I had a lot of fun.  That same day before I went out, I was surfing with some friends and had some pictures done by  russian photographer, Kirill Umrikhin.  These photos were used in an interview with Tanya Chekhova that was in the Russian blog Drugoi.

Paralympics

At the beginning of this year I got a phone call from Vancouver, Canada asking if I would skate in the opening ceremonies for the Paralympics.  What an experience!  BC Stadium sold out with more than 65,000 people.  They treated us like rock stars and it was great to skate with friends Oscar Loreto, Aaron Fotheringham, Evan Strong, Christiaan Bailey, and Paul.

Infragilis

This summer I was asked to be in a student documentary called Infragilis with a great friend of mine, Oscar Loreto.  A killer skater.   He is missing his left leg below the knee(BK) and his hands.

Link to see Infragilis

Jettygirl and Chris Grant

This summer I had the privilege to have some surf photos taken by Chris Grant.  Chris has an amazing website, JETTYgirl .  Make sure you check it out and thanks, Chris!

Introduction

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Danielle.  I decided to make this blog because I have been receiving a lot of messages about the sports I do, especially surfing and how I do them.  Here I'll share info and pictures with you and hopefully get input too.

A little about me:  In July 2004, I was in a motorcycle accident that resulted in the lose of my right leg above the knee(AK).  I also suffered from a fractured neck(C6), broken ribs, fractured humerus, ruptured spleen, collapsed lungs, coded 3 times, and was in a drug induced coma for a month and a half.... That was a mouth full.

These days I'm doing pretty good as you'll see from this blog.  But like any amputee will tell you, you have your painful days and your not so painful days.  I'll talk about that sometime too.

Hope you enjoy,

D

Under construction.

I have created this blog with the intent to share my active lifestyle with the public.  Thanks for stopping in! First entry will be up soon. :)