On Saturday night, January 13th, sixteen friends got together to celebrate Double Dutch. JonAbad opened his doors and his driveway for adventure.
Lights were plugged in, the ropes were laid out, and the boombox was set to 11.
Those who were new to Double Dutch gathered with hesitation, curious about how the night would proceed. We quickly moved from the driveway to the street in order to spread out. Double Dutch knows no containment.
Nicole and Drew were the first to wield the ropes. And though the night was brisk, once the ropes started turning, there was nothing that could keep us away from the freedom that is Double Dutch.
Skipping two ropes at once is not easy. Entering the whirlwind of ropes can be very intimidating. Especially when you’re using 10mm climbing ropes that can seriously zing if they snag your ear. Our group quickly overcame its reluctance. Here, Ted shows no fear as he enters the ropes.
Ted was one of the few would showed some natural instinct in the entry. You see, Double Dutch entry must be timed just right so that you can get into the ropes to start jumping. We used a self learned technique for entry.
In the diagram above, the jumper would enter from the side with the red arrow. As the green rope traveled past the horizontal the jumper would follow it in. Because the blue rope was traveling away at that point the first rope that the jumper would have to worry about would be the green as it zipped around and needed to be jumped over. Accomplishing this is no trivial task.
Drew looks so hardcore in the picture above. As you may have noticed, we’re all wearing red. this is because I did some intense silk screening and made a ton of double dutch specific shirts. Drew took it to a whole new level matching his bandanna, coat, and pants to the Red/Black theme. Also, in the image above he kind of looks like a ninja.
Nicole has made it to three of the four double dutch events and her exuberance is unmatched. While the picture above is a bit white washed, i felt it was important to include in this montage of rope pictures. Check out this post to read a story of Nicole’s Double Dutch injury.
As we jumped successfully and unsuccessfully, we’d have to occasionally move out of the street as cars drove by. One guy rolled down his window.
“Why are you all wearing red?” he asked
“It’s Double Dutch 2007!” we all shouted in unison
“oh sweet.”
“You wanna try it?”
“Sure! let me pull my car around.”
Sure enough, not moments later he appeared around the corner to try some jumping. He is pictured below:
Just about everyone was successful in the Double Dutch entry. Jon and Mykal both seemed to develop some other strange method for navigating the spinning fury, but most of us stuck to the method detailed above. Tom, shown below, used the mainstream method and was successful on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, the only picture I have of Tom shows him being assaulted by the ropes.
I’m happy to report of some solid successes within the ropes as well. But oftentimes it had as much to do with the spinners as it did the jumpers. Here’s Erich and Nicole spinning the ropes for me:
Tyler and I pulled off a legitimate double dutch, and I think we even hit three people at one point with Tyler, Erich, and myself risking everything for a chance at glory.
After a solid two hours of Dutch we all went inside for desserts. And there were a lot of desserts.
Double Dutch Extreme Cake of Doom, by Nicole.
This cake was elaborately decorated with fondant to mimic the official double dutch 2007 image. If anyone has a photo, please send it to me.
Chocolate Raspberry Cake of Justice by Tom & Mykal
Richness reached new levels saturday night. This is the kind of cake where every slice ends up being so thick and powerful that you’ll hurt yourself eating too much of it.
Brownies of Sin by JonAbad
Two levels of sin. Extra chocolate with less structure, and less chocolate with perfect form. You choose your destiny
Quadberry pie by Erich
QUAD berry. That’s FOUR. Rumor has it, by eating a slice of this pie your sins would be forgiven.
Heart Loaf by Ted B.
A white cake loaf with white frosting and little red hearts. Clearly symbolizing Ted’s deep love for Double Dutch.
Chocolate Pudding Trifle by Tree D.
Chocolate pudding layered with whipcream, oreos, and girlscout cookies. It provides deep satisfaction.
Little Cookie Swirls by Becky
What was equally as impressive as the cookies was the fact that Becky made an appearance even while 8 months pregnant. THAT IS DEDICATION PEOPLE.
Hot Chocolate by Andrew
After two hours of double dutch in mid January, everyone wanted hot chocolate. And, with a little whipped cream, we reached heaven.
After dessert, we all sat down and watched the Disney “JUMP IN” movie, a story of a boxer who gave up his career to pursue double dutch. And it was the perfect crowd to watch it with. We discussed the intricate strategies of the double dutch moves and shouted with stunned joy as we watched real dutchers rocking the scene.
Please count… that’s 9 thumbs up and a high five behind Mykal.
Unfortunately, this photo was taken after Erich and Nicole had to skip out. Overall, I think it’s safe to say that we had SOLID fun.
Did you miss this event? don’t be upset. There will be another Double Dutch adventure in 2007. And rumor has it that DD2008 is already being planned.
Authored by: mike d.
