What: Extreme Ironing in water, in the Hida Miya river

When: Aug 13, 2007

Where: Hidya Miyakawa River, Gifu - Japan

click here to view underwater ironing panorama

How/technical details: with a Camera Olympus SP-350 + PT-030, mounted on a tripod Velbon Ultra with weights, head: Nodalninja 3, remodeled by Hiroharu.

Forget boring afternoons at home pressing your clothes. Forget the corvée of tons of shirts that are waiting to be ironed...inside. Instead, do something spicy and grab your ironing board, grab a few items of clothing, walk to a remote location and practice some...some...extreme ironing. Extreme ironing? Gosh, what is that? A...a - uhm, say - perfect sport for desperate housewives?
The members of the Extreme Ironing Bureau do not think so.

So, how did this discipline start? Where? When? How?

The dormant city of Leicester (UK) clearly needed somebody to wake her up when - back in 1997 - Phil (whose nickname is...Steam) decided that an evening at home ironing would have been too annoying, considered that he wanted to go hiking. The decision was soon taken: he was going to do both. He went out with all necessary paraphernalia and some shirts to rock climb and yes...to iron under the sky, regardless to the weather condition, regardless to the location. Suddenly, ironing wasn't so bad. Phil was followed short after by his housemate Paul (a.k.a. Spray), and some time later the mystical sport began attracting several freaks all around the world.

Courtesy of © Extreme Ironing Bureau

Today the aficionados iron on the peak of difficult mountains, in war zones, in a canoe, in the woods, underwater, whilst snowboarding and parachuting, on public spaces...wherever they see fit. Either in solo, or in groups. A couple of British "ironers" even set the record of smoothing garments at the top of the Weissmeiss (4023 metres/ASL in Switzerland). Just check either Youtube or Facebox to see that, even though ten years have passed by, extreme ironing is more in vogue than ever. The pages of the Extreme Ironing Bureau (defined by Roland White - Sunday Time journalist - the "website for anyone who enjoys rugged outdoors sports, pushing themselves to the edge and testing themselves against the elements, yet still understands the importance of a well-pressed shirt") are the Bible for any person willing to struggle with a bunch of clothes to be ironed under severe conditions.

Hiroharu Shizuya is a Japanese photographer addicted to extreme ironing, who decided to combine both his passions in this panoramic image. He told us "there is a wrinkle there...".

Links:
Hiroharu's web site
Hiroharu's Weblog
Extreme Ironing Bureau