Erik Gates, of Mythbusters Fame, Dies in Freak Accident

Erik Gates, who is most famous for having appeared on several episodes of Mythbusters in his capacity as a rocketry expert, died in a freak accident when he apparently fell off a roof where he was working through a skylight thirty feet to his death.

Erik Gates owned a firm called Gateco Electric and was working on a site owned by Xirrus Inc., the President and CEO of which is his brother, Dirk Gates. Both Erik and Dirk Gates were active in amateur rocketry and ran a website Gates Brother Rocketry.
Erik Gates was able to use his expertise in rocketry to appear as a guest expert on four Mythbuster episodes.

The first was the pilot, when the Mythbusters tested an urban legend about a man who strapped a rocket to the back of his pickup truck and fired it off. According to the legend, the man smacked into the side of a mountain, unable to stop or turn.

The second episode was about the Ming Dynasty Astronaut, which explored the story of a Medieval Chinese inventor who strapped a number of rockets to a chair, sat it in, and then ignited the rockets to fly through the air.

The third episode explored the bullet proofing properties of water. Also the episode tested whether a person on a swing could swing three hundred and sixty degrees all the way around. At one point rockets were attached to a test dummy on the swing to make it swing all the way around.

The last episode Erik Gates was on concerned the Confederate rocket. There is a story that during the closing days of the American Civil War, the Confederates were working on a rocket with which to bombard Washington DC. The result was that, using technology available at the time, the Confederates could not have hit Washington from Richmond.

Big-Wave Surf Competition Opens in Hawaii

WAIMEA BAY, Hawaii — The Eddie is on.

Looking out on a crisp, blue morning, officials with the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau Competition — one of the surfing’s most prestigious and rarest events — announced just after dawn Tuesday that the event was a go, the first time the big-wave competition will be held since 2004.

“We gotta put on a show,” said the contest director, George Downing, 79. “The show goes on.”

The full day of competitive surfing — featuring 28 of the world’s best — started just after 8 a.m. local time with three surfers flying down a monster wave and drawing a huge cheer from the thousands of spectators who are crammed into Waimea Bay, the famed surfing cove where Eddie Aikau, a legendary surfer and lifeguard, once plied the waves.

Anticipation of the event had been building for days even as Hawaii’s North Shore was pounded by huge waves, some 30 to 50 feet high, the result of a turbulent Pacific storms to the north of the island.

Unlike Monday, where drizzle and choppy conditions caused the event’s postponement, Tuesday dawned bright and sunny, with a few pink-tinted clouds hovering over the bay. Since its inception 25 years ago, “the Eddie,” as the invitation-only event is known, has been held only seven times. Even before the official word came down, however, both event surfers and local “watermen” were kicking and paddling their way into the surf, and zipping down wave faces about 1,000 feet from shore.

Over the last week, competitors had traveled to the island of Oahu from around the world in expectation of an “Eddie,” and spectators started filling the bay before dawn. Some had apparently slept on the beach, which like many in the area, has been seriously eroded by days of pounding surf.

Shortly after the announcement of the event, lifeguards took jet-skis into the waves as a precaution and there was a Hawaiian prayer for the safety of competitors, and spectators, who had pitched tents, thrown down towels and generally created a party atmosphere.

“On the mainland they have snow days, in Hawaii they have surf days,” said Mark Cunningham, one of the event’s announcers. “No school, no work. Let’s celebrate it.”

That said, the competition always carries with it an air of danger. On Monday, one world-class surfer, Tom Carroll of Australia, shattered an ankle when he wiped out in heavy surf, and officials warned crowds from getting too close to the churning waters.

For his part, Mr. Downing, a lifelong big-wave surfer who is the only man who can call the competition on or off, had studied overnight readings from offshore buoys before making his decision. And as the first surfers took to the waves, he seemed relived that the Eddie would take place.

“Everyone, I think,” he said, “will be happy.”

Original Posted By: JESSE McKINLEY