Some of Hans's YouTube Videos

Hans embraced all things new. New music, new sports, new videos, new books, new places, new clothes, new technology, new ideas. I believe it's what keeps people young in spirit and body, embracing new things. I remember when answering machines were invented in the 1970s and my grandparents refused to get one. They believed that if something was important enough, the caller would continue trying to call them back to finally reach them in person. Pretty soon, my grandparents were missing out on important information because callers didn't want to spend their precious time trying to figure out when my grandparents would be home to get the message to them. They eventually broke down and bought one.

Why, as we age, do we eschew technology more and more? I still haven't figured out the answer to that, not believing that it is just fear of the new thing. I do know that if we continue to reject new things we will not grow as much with people and places and experiences. Think of the people not long ago who refused to invest in one of those new-fangled cars, stuck at home, or close to home, because their horse(s) couldn't make it easily to another state to visit their grandchildren. On what did they miss out because they eschewed that new technology?

Hans would try new things, would love to document them with new technology, and then share them with the world. Here you'll find the links to each of his YouTube videos so you can vicariously try some new things too (not posted here in any particular order but you can also find all 30 of his videos in chronological order at https://www.youtube.com/user/hpldrummer/videos)

1. SPRING BREAK KITESURFING 2014 Hans loved, loved, loved to kitesurf. This is the last movie he made just a week before he died. You'll notice he starts out on his old Rusty surfboard, then he changes to his kiteboard. He preferred his more challenging surfboard, which is a little more difficult to kitesurf as there are no straps for his feet. He has to use motion to stay connected to his board. But he sure shows some fun tricks and catches some really big air on that kiteboard!

2. MD DOWNHILL RAW RUN 2014 Being an adrenaline junkie (yes, it's a real thing and Hans wrote his high school senior project on the subject), Hans liked going fast -- on the water, on the slopes, on a hill. This isn't just a typical downhill longboarding video. In downhill longboarding there is the term "raw run" which means the skater makes it all the way down a hill, from top to bottom, without crashing and all in the same raw clip of film, with no cuts or clips, which can hide a mistake. The movie starts out with Hans showing you his mistakes on this one-way, ice-splotched, wet road on Sugarloaf Mountain near Frederick, MD. But watch as he begins this raw run with a click of the discs on the palms of his gloves, and a little dance on his board.

3. GIBBON SLACKLINE 2011 We used to laugh about who "discovered" or who "owned" a new activity or song or friendship, knowing full well it is a rarity to really be the first, the only, or the discoverer of anything or anyone. But Hans was definitely on the forefront or resurgence of many activities. Hans bought himself a Gibbon slackline when he was a junior in high school and quickly mastered it. This is one of our favorite videos. In it, he again shows that, though he makes it look easy, he spent many hours practicing, failing, and falling, and getting back up again.

4. LANDYACHTZ TOP SPEED 2013 It was during this skate session that we realized what a risk taker Hans really was. Eric refused to even ride in the car on the second day of filming. He didn't want to watch Hans possibly die. Eric drove the first day (with Hans's girlfriend Alexis holding the camera out the window) and was afraid to drive too closely to Hans. I drove the second day for some additional footage. Hans owned a watch that could track his speed and hit almost 50 mph on his runs. It was scary and exhilarating. We still don't know how these downhill longboarders do it! The park ranger who stopped him asked him, "You know you can die doing this?"

5. SEAGLASS PROJECT SURFING 2012 Hans was the first to ride a Seaglass Project surfboard in Surf City, and we have yet to see another one since his death. They're not easy to ride! It's a small surfboard, oddly shaped, with no fin. It's like sailing without a keel. It takes some talent to catch and ride a wave on one. Watch as Hans masters some 360-degree turns on this neat little board.

6. WINTER BREAK LONGBOARD 2014 There aren't too many hills here in southeastern North Carolina and Hans spent a lot of his free time looking for them. This hill, in downtown Wilmington, is no longer available for skaters because of development but he had many great skate sessions with Zatha, Eric, his dear friend Molly Lewis (a professional skater), and others. One fellow skater, Walker Bankson, coordinated Wilmington's first-ever "Hans Loewen Memorial Slide Jam" (a huge feat!) on Cowan Street in 2015.

(http://www.beautyoutofbabylon.com/media/2015-hans-loewen-memorial-slide-jam).

Hans makes it look so easy leaving a little 'thane on Cowan Street.

7. THANKSGIVING SESSIONS // LONGBOARD 2013 Wanting to share his fun, Hans would cajole others to join him. Here, on Thanksgiving break from the Naval Academy in 2013, Hans brought his sister Zatha, girlfriend Alexis, and dad Eric out for an instructional day on Cowan hill. Say you're cute!

8. GO PRO AT GREENSPRINGS 2012 Greensprings is a semi-secret private water playground on the Neuse River in New Bern, NC, made by a sweet old grandfather for his grandkids. It's an incredibly fun place and we regularly give kudos to the grandpa for opening his private property (swim at your own risk) to visitors. It's a dangerous place (at least four deaths have been attributed to the place) and thus one of Hans's favorite. In our ridiculously litigious society, I'm surprised it hasn't been shut down and hope that it never is -- just like I hope skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, driving, living are not shut down because of our risk-averse populace. Once again, Hans shares the fun and film time with his friends.