Time flows by rapidly: 18 things you won’t believe happened 10 years ago!

If you’ve followed our journey through the twists and turns of water sports, you’d know this year we are celebrating our tenth anniversary, and we can confirm that the cliché holds true – time really does fly when you’re having fun.

While clearly the launch of CIWW is the most notable event of 2010, we decided to take stock of what other significant current affairs were captivating the public a decade ago. Here’s the highlights:

The year started with the official opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (January 4). Towering over the Empire State Building, the United Arab Emirates’s structure is the tallest man-made building to date.

This was shortly followed by another monumental launch – this time in technology. On January 27^th, tech giant Apple revealed its first iPad, building upon their iPod offering and revolutionised the world of tablet computers.

Meanwhile, slightly less excitingly for Apple, they started seeing some real competition on the smart phone market for the first time as Android grew in popularity.

In other tech gossip, Microsoft and Yahoo joined forces in a bid to disrupt Google’s search empire through alternative search technology (merging Bing and Yahoo’s Search).

Taking the world by storm in February 2010 was also "Snowmageddon" – a series of winter gales which covered the US in over forty inches of snow in record time, prompting then-president Obama to bestow the phenomena with the nickname.

The snowy weather in North America was probably good news for everyone competing in the Winter Olympics. Held in Vancouver, Canada that same month, the games attracted over 2,500 athletes representing more than 80 countries. Host country Canada held its own, winning the most gold medals that year, while the US (determined to make the most of Snowmageddon), took home the most medals in total.

Waiting until the weather thawed a bit, in mid-May Jessica Watson completed her uninterrupted solo sailing journey around the world, becoming the youngest person to achieve this at age sixteen.

Later on, in the dead of summer the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicked off in South Africa. Spain scored first place, followed by the Netherlands in 2^nd and Germany in 3^rd place. Despite being eliminated within the first round, New Zealand set a record of its own as the sole undefeated team in the competition that year.

The FIFA World Cup also seeped into pop culture, defining the sound of summer 2010 with blasts of vuvuzelas (long horns fans would blow during the games) and the unmistakable tune of the tournament’s official song "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" performed by Shakira. The song was inspired by a traditional African soldiers' song and performed in both English and Spanish alongside South African band Freshlyground.

Funnily enough, the vuvuzelas were so disruptive, they caused many complaints both from players, who believed the noisemakers hindered team performance, and from audiences at home, who were unimpressed with the audio feed. As a result, many networks, including ESPN and the BBC, looked into offering broadcasts with the noise filtered out.

Other popular (albeit less disruptive) sounds in 2010 included "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha, which topped charts as the number one song that year, as well as girl anthem "California Gurls" by Katy Perry and the all-encompassing “Hey, Soul Sister” by Train, which seeped into your commute, meals out and, slowly, your dreams.

That fateful summer also saw the origins of One Direction as the joint X Factor entry of (previously individual) contestants Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson. Which is crazy, considering they’ve since managed to become a musical sensation, split up and start their own careers!

Meanwhile in the tech world, Instagram co-developers were running the first test posts on the social media platform, before officially launching it in the beginning of October 2010.

Its competitor Facebook was all the rage that year, with the obsession seeping into all strands of pop culture. Founder Mark Zuckerberg was named Person of the Year by Time Magazine, while The Social Network (the blockbuster following the conception of Facebook) won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Another noteworthy Oscar win in 2010 was Toy Story 3, which was awarded Best Animated Feature Film. Tapping into childhood nostalgia, it premiered June 12 and went on to become the highest-grossing movie of the year, making a mark in history as the first ever animation to exceed a billion dollars at the box office. 

Less than a month after everyone’s favourite animated sequel, another smash hit swept the nation. Inception was released on July 8^th, and although Leonardo DiCaprio was left dreaming of an Oscar for his performance, the film snapped up Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects.

The King’s Speech won an Oscar for Best Picture (as well as a number of other categories), with lead (and British national heart-throb) Colin Firth taking the prize for Best Actor, while Best Actress went to Natalie Portman for her harrowing performance in Black Swan.

Notable mentions in 2010 Film & TV include part one of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which marked the approaching end of a phenomenon that swept generations, as well as the premiere of The Walking Dead, which rekindled everyone’s love (and fear) of zombies.

Following Government advice on preventing the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), we've had to temporarily close our doors, but we would like to take this opportunity and thank all our amazing customers for your continuous support over the past ten years. We look forward to celebrating our anniversary with you in the near future!