Shipwreck Island

Image courtesy of Shipwreck Island

I have been working on an artwork called No Waiver Park. The basic premise is the ultimate amusement park. The joke being that you do not need a waiver…the thrill is just being a kid a being able to do all this cool stuff. It made me think of this water park called Shipwreck Island that my brother and I used to go to in Panama City Beach when we used to visit our grandparents. Our favorite ride was Raging Rapids. The image above does not do it justice, but it was a tube ride that was sort of free form. They used to just send a bunch of people down at a time and you had to sort of maneuver yourself around the rapids and chutes. It was never the same ride every single time because you could always try and do different things. One summer when the kids in Florida had already gone back to school and the park was pretty much empty, I rode it 31 times. Years later, we went again but they had pretty much ruined the ride I remembered. They sent people down one at a time, and there were people stationed throughout the ride to usher you through the rapids. What a waste! It is too bad in this day of lawsuits and fear and finger-pointing that something like this great ride can be ruined…oh well, at least I have my memories.