Photo courtesy of Eric Soares

I was excited to get a chance to review the latest Tsunami Rangers DVD, Greatest Hits. "These guys are legends," was my thought. Rather than sit alone and watch by myself I pulled together a crew of about twelve friends, some of the Pacific Northwest's best paddlers. We bought a couple of pizzas and set up the projector for an evening of viewing.

True to our expectation the video started off with a bang. It features huge surf, impossible rock gardens, and noble challenges against mother-nature at her nastiest. We hadn't read the cover so didn't know what to expect. It truly is a compilation, so don't expect a story line. "The Best Of" clips were at times hard to follow but provided a non-stop series of action.....HUGE action. The footage proves without a doubt that these guys and gals are more than willing to place themselves into the most difficult of paddling conditions I and my fellow NW paddlers have seen. In fact I'm convinced I saw several of them smiling as they were getting thrashed in the surf and rock gardens.

From a technical perspective some of the footage was of marginal quality and it was at times obvious there was a long distance zoom being used during filming. This didn't take anything away from the action and only served to prove that any cameraman in their right mind wouldn't get close to the turmoil taking place in the rock gardens and surf conditions below the cliffs.

One comment was made that it would have been a good idea to more clearly mention the danger level of the feats these guys were pulling off. So I'll do it here. The Tsunami Rangers are EXPERT paddlers, please don't try this stuff without building the skills they've worked at for years, it would not be a good thing to take a thrashing like these without the skills and paddling partners to back it up.

Without giving away any specifics I'll just say there were several times I noticed the group collectively wince at some of the most intense exciting paddling action you'll find on film, top notch. It's much like a car wreck when you really don't want to see anyone hurt but you just can't resist looking as you drive by. The most common words of the evening were, "OOOOOOOOOO!", "Holy ****!", "That's insane"!

At the end we were left a little stunned and definitely feeling the adrenaline, even from just sitting in the room and watching. This DVD is all one would expect from the likes of legendary extreme paddlers, the Tsunami Rangers.

Most of all we were left wanting more. You will be too.

Retail Price: $30
Contact: Eric Soares at esoares@csuhayward.edu

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-- Tony Porsche

Based in Portland, OR, Porche paddles four to five times a week in the Columbia watershed, and is the CEO of the Porche Agency, a financial services company.