Roz Goes Global

Roz was living the good life with a great hubby, a lovely home and career. Something was missing in her life, so she wrote two obits about her life. One was her real life obit and the other was her fantasy. It turned out she was longing for adventure. So she bought a racing row boat and entered an Atlantic rowing race. Even though she ended up in last place, she had found what she was looking for. Read her story here.

Grooveshark - Cool Online Music Service

Click the pic for a bigger view.
So everybody knows - I love music. I have it playing most of the time during my waking hours and some during sleep. Lately I have been listening to Donavan Frankenreiter, Adele, Ben Harper, and Will Bernard. I use Pandora on the iPhone as well as Slacker and LastFM. A cool new service I have been using for a while is Grooveshark. The great thing about Shark is that instead of playing lots of other artists, it plays the one you are searching for. It's the reason Apple did not approve their app. If you have a jailbroken phone you can find it in Cydia under BigBoss ($30/year). Make some playlists and you are good to go on the phone. If you want to listen on your computer make sure you plug into some decent speakers so you can crank it up. You also have the option to upload your music as well as a radio feature. Click here for the music.

Highlights from The Eddie a few months ago

Quiksilver in memory of Eddie Aikau 2009 Highlights
Uploaded by quiksilver. - More professional, college and classic sports videos.

Plastiki Sets Sail for Sydney

SAUSALITO, Calif.--At 9:30 a.m. PDT Saturday, precisely on time, the Plastiki, a "boat made of 12,000 plastic bottles" and the brainchild of banking heir David de Rothschild, set sail from a berth here in this town just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Plastiki is not just the world's first boat made buoyant by discarded soda bottles. It's also a statement about the world's garbage problem, and the fact that most plastic bottles are thrown away rather than recycled.
The intent is to sail the boat 11,000 nautical miles from Sausalito to Sydney, Australia. It is carrying about 1,000 liters of water, meaning the crew will have to stop from time to time to resupply. But they have fishing rods onboard, so at least some of their food, in theory, will come from the sea.
Among the inspirations for the project, in addition to bring attention to the way humans are treating our environment, is the Kon-Tiki expedition, Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 trip across the Pacific in a boat that was a reproduction of an Inca raft.
In keeping with tradition, the Plastiki will pay even more homage to Heyerdahl. Among the six crew members is Olav Heyerdahl, Thor's grandson. Follow them to Sydney here.

Via CNET

Cruising the World on an Old Steel Boat

I have been following a fun blog of a sailor from Australia for about 10 years now. His name is Lauri and he is very much a character. Early on in his years of cruising, he would go on and on about the injustices of the world with his rants and raves. He has mellowed out a bit as he has met a fine woman on his travels and is now married. They continue to travel the world on their old steel sloop, Aliisa. Here is one of their updates from the Atlantic:

Our last port in the Canaries deserves a little space here. You see, after a week in San Sebastian (La Gomera) we decided on one more port, Valle Gran Rey. We had been hanging out with Sym and Amy from Sy Quartermoon and with Simon and Lindsey from Sy Doris. All three of us mozied on around the corner, 15 miles to the spectacular cliffs, dark volcanic sand and clear water. There was naked people on the beach and - as our german rasta-friend Hannnes informed us - a yoga/meditation centre plus a few remaining hippies still living under the cliffs. Finally it was socially acceptable for me to jump in naked!

Valle Gran Rey used to be a hippie-haven in the past. Now it seems popular with Germans. Perhaps the old flower-power oldies come here to see their beach-born children who are now approcaching middle-age and live here, managing their small businesses and shops. Tie-dyed clothes, hand-made jewlery, astrology services, organic cafes etc. were dotting the beautiful narrow streets of the sleepy village. In some way, perhaps it was still a hippie-haven. Canaries had not made much of an impression on me, with the nature being almost dead and beaches crowded with sunburnt tourists and highrising hotels. But if I was forced to live in the Canary Islands, It would have to be Valle Gran Rey.

The pressure was on to make a move. We were using up our veggies and water, not knowing what the facilities were like in Cape Verdes. (If I had done my homework, I would have known that Mindelo is a town of 70 000 people and everything is available there) We decided on a 6 December departure, but not before a short ritual for the Finnish independence day. I hoisted the full size flag and assumed my original citizenship for a while. (I am a born-again Australian...) Jean Sibelius provided the emotional straight-to-any-Finns-heart-music. The piece of course is called Finlandia and we blasted it out from the speakers outside, for the whole anchorage. It went straight to my heart and tears welled up. Read more here. You can navigate to their adventures by going to the top left and clicking the Aliisa.net Menu. I hope you will look around as I really enjoy the writers stye and his views of the world and the people they meet during their travels.

Wellington Mayhem

A southerly storm hits Owhiro Bay, Wellington, NZ. Fri March 12 2010. Winds of over 140 km per hour (about 90 mph) were recorded. About the time this was shot, the roof of the house down the road would have been flying by. Crazy wind and not something you want to experience on a boat!

Sailing At It's Best

Click the top pic for a bigger view. Here is the Addiction flying her colors during a race to Vallejo a few years back.

Hope you enjoying reading about my sailing adventures on the San Francisco Bay...cuz I luv writing about them! Went out on Sunday with one of my boat partners, Tall Paul, and his buddies, Mario and Pierre. We headed out with thoughts of flying the spinnaker on the way home. As we rounded the last channel maker of Emeryville, the wind was up with a very northerly component to it. This allowed us to hit the cut in the Berkeley Pier under sail. We continued on a nice easy reach towards Richmond. The sun was out, the wind was about 12 knots, and we were hitting 6 on the speedo. After a few tacks we were out near Belvedere and on our way to the Gate. The wind was up towards 18 as we made it under the Golden Gate Bridge. I had checked the tides earlier (always check the tides before you go near the bridge, the best situation is a slack tide, going into an flood) and knew it was going to be an ebb, but only about 2 knots. We can do 6-7 in a good wind so we should be fine. One spring, we had this same situation, however, we had a huge rain right before we took off. There was so much water coming from the mountains, the ebb had been predicted at 2 but the volume of water running to the ocean took it to 6 knots. On that day, the wind died and our motor could not push us forward. We finally made to the north side of the channel and hugged the coast where the effects of the tide are minimized. We are learning more great stuff through our mistakes! Anywho, we flew under the bridge and into the mile long strait that leads to the Pacific Ocean. It's a memorable sight and an impressive one as well as you have big, rolling hills of Marin and chiseled rock formations all around. And then there is the Golden Gate Bridge. What a cool icon of Northern California. We continue on and the ocean swell is picking up and in the 4'-6' range. The "Addiction" is loving it and so is the crew. We make it out to Pt. Bonita and decide its time to head home. We sailed back against the millions of gallons of water sliding across our hull without much problem. Once we were back under the bridge, we made preparations to hoist the chute for the ride home. Paul has been a partner now for 5 years and we have never raised the chute with him. So here's our first go with him. We are set to hoist our beautiful rainbow spinnaker and the command is given, "Hoist away". She is a gorgeous sight to behold and she opens without a hitch. After a few minor adjustments we are flying along at 7-7.5 knots and the envy of the bay! At this point, there are maybe 10 boats in our vicinity. All going in other directions and currently we have a clean shot for port. Mario is at the wheel and doing a fine job of balancing speed, direction and the position of the boat and spinnaker. It's not that easy to do but he is making it look so. In no time, we are back near the pier and looking for our channel makers after a perfect run across the bay. One of the best things you can do when lowering the spinnaker is to position the main so it is blocking the spinnaker from the wind, this lessens the pressure on the chute and make it easier to lower. I failed to mention that to Mario and we got a bit of a wrap on the spinnaker as it came down but got it down shortly there after using the above technique. Back in the bag and in the slip shortly after 6pm. After cleaning up, Pierre gets a bug in his pants about going out for the sunset. We all agree and head out once more for a blazing red, brilliant sunset. All our navigation lights are on and we are under motor. Our trusty diesel is still pushing in the right direction after almost 30 years of service! After the sun has gone down, we head back once more and put her to bed and head home for the night. Another unforgettable day on my favorite bay!!

Maybe the Best Holiday of the Year - Happy St. Pats!

Ten facts about Guinness:
With St. Patrick's Day imminent, it's time to prime yourself with some basic facts and amusing anecdotes about Ireland's most popular pint:

1. It's dark, so it must be heavy!
Guinness on draft contains less alcohol and has fewer calories and carbohydrates than Budweiser. Sure, it's got more flavor than the typical American lager, but it's far from intense. Guinness is a session beer -- one that you can consume over the course of an evening, or in the case of St. Patrick's, all day long.

​2. What makes it black?
The dark color (Guinness officially claims it is very dark ruby, not black) comes from roasted barley. Unlike most of the barley used in making beer, roasted barley isn't malted. Still, this seemingly defining characteristic wasn't a feature of Guinness until the late 1920s or early 1930s -- well after the company had established itself as a brewing titan.

3. Was Guinness always about stout?
"Stout" was originally merely an adjective in brewing parlance and meant nothing more than "strong." It was applied to beers both light and dark in color. Guinness gained fame as a brewer of porter, another style of dark ale, and in the mid-1800s it applied the term "stout" to one of its products to indicate a premium level of alcohol and richness: Guinness Stout Porter. Eventually "porter" was dropped altogether and stout evolved into a style all its own.

4. What's up with the head?
Most beer is dispensed with pressurized carbon dioxide. Guinness popularized a system that uses a mix of nitrogen (75 percent) and carbon dioxide (25 percent). The beer is forced through a special faucet that strips out the gases, leaving it "smooth"-tasting owing to the lack of carbonation, and letting the freed nitrogen work its chemical and physical magic to make the thick head that proudly sits atop your pint to the last sip.

​5. Much is made of Arthur Guinness' business coup in signing a 9,000-year lease on the brewery property for an initial £100 plus an annual rent of £45. But who was the chump on the other side of that deal?
That would be one Mark Rainsford, whose eponymous brewery had, according to what reports exist, sat unused and unsold on a street of empty breweries for a decade before the lease was drawn up. A hundred pounds was a large sum of money in 1759, and the £45 a year nothing to sneeze at. Only the inconceivable magnitude of Guinness' success turned what Rainsford had to have thought was a great fleecing of young Arthur into a pillar of the Guinness legend.

6. Guinness is responsible for starting the Guinness Book of World Records, right?
Yep. In 1954, after getting into an argument with some buddies while out hunting, the head of Guinness at the time, Hugh Beaver (yes, really), commissioned a handy reference book of all sorts of hard-to-prove facts as a means to settle disputes. The first edition of the Book of Records was a promotional item Guinness gave to bars stocking its beer, to be used to settle disputes before they turned into full-blown fights.

7. Stout's pretty much always been the be-all, end-all of Guinness, true or false?
False. Guinness has never feared to innovate, even when it probably should have been very afraid. This often resulted in hilariously unintended consequences, such as Guinness Smooth, Guinness Breó (a wheat beer!), and Guinness Shandy (a mix of lemonade and beer). Though how Guinness Light failed with this sort of powerhouse ad campaign, we don't know...

8. Does Guinness taste better in Ireland?
We're not going to debate the precious memories of your drunken nights in a cozy pub in Ireland, but the fact is that draft Guinness for the U.S. is brewed at St. James' Gate, right alongside draft Guinness for Ireland. Sure, it has to travel farther, so there may be some minimal degradation, but if you're having a subpar pint in the States, it's probably just that your friends aren't as charming or interesting as the Irish, leaving you more time to overanalyze what's in your glass. That, or the bar you're sitting in doesn't keep its beer lines clean enough.

9. What country consumes the most Guinness?
Great Britain still hoists more pints of Guinness than the Irish, who come in second. Rounding out the top 5 are (in order) Nigeria, the United States and Cameroon. Those African nations are even more impressive, as most of their Guinness consumption is in the form of Foreign Export Stout, which checks in at almost twice the alcoholic strength of standard Guinness.

10. How do you pronounce sláinte?
It's the Irish equivalent of "cheers," meaning more or less "to your health." Depending on where one is from in Ireland, the pronunciation varies, but anything from SLAN-cheh to SLAWN-chuh and you're in the ballpark. Especially if all concerned are in an advanced state of refreshment.

via Riverfront Times.

Youngest Rower Crosses the Atlantic

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - After 70 days adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, up to 10 hours a day spent rowing and the rest of the time alone with her thoughts and endless water, Katie Spotz faced her greatest challenge at the last moment of her record-breaking journey.
As the 22-year-old Mentor native pulled her specially designed solo rowboat up to the pier in Georgetown, Guyana, about 2,817 miles from her starting point in Dakar, Senegal, she had to do something entirely new. She had to climb a ladder.

Seventy days without using her legs for anything other than rowing movements, and suddenly, Spotz wondered if this might be the first in more than two months that she would fail.
"It was a bit nerve-wracking," Spotz said via phone Sunday night.
She successfully navigated the ladder, hugged her father and brother who were waiting for her, gobbled up fresh watermelon and finally reveled in her accomplishment: Spotz became become the youngest person and first American to row across the Atlantic Ocean, mainland to mainland. She began her journey Jan. 3 and reached land at about 12:20 p.m. Cleveland time Sunday, completing the row faster than the 90 days she anticipated the voyage might take.
That quickened pace came despite opting two weeks ago to add 400 miles to her journey to land in Georgetown, Guyana. She made the decision to bypass her original ending point in Cayenne, French Guiana, because she wanted to reach land unassisted and avoid rougher seas. Continue reading here.

Doing the Ha Ha in 2010!!

I have been dreaming of an adventure down the coast for so long it makes my eyes red just thinking about it. I had hoped to go in 2008 but it was not to be. This year, if all goes well, I will be on a boat to Cabo on the 25th of October! For those not familiar, the Baja Ha Ha is in it's 17th year. It's a cruisers rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. This is a 750 mile "race" down the West coast of Baja with 150 boats and 500-600 folks. There are two stops that break up the trip and allow everyone to catch their breath as they cruise down the coast. The first stop is Turtle Bay and gives folks about 48 hours to party, rest, and kick back. Then it's off to Bahia Santa Maria for another stop with a band, lobsters and a ton of fun on the beach. Last stop is Cabo and one last party. If luck would have it, maybe one of my readers is preparing to go and needs a hand. Let me know as I would be happy to send my sailing resume that includes 25 years of sailing. Heck, I may have forgotten more about sailing that you'll ever know! And you can bet we will be sending reports via satphone and keeping our readers abreast of the current happenings! It's gonna be out of this world!! Check out the Ha Ha site here.

Ultimate Ride

Would you brave number 9?

Something Wild

Adrenaline-base jump world record -HD- 1080p
by _006-serie-TS_

M26 in 40 Knots

We all think this boat is a joke but here she is doing what well built boats do. She also has some damn fine sailors at the helm.

Want One!

Sunday Sail

It's been a rainy winter here in Northern California. So when I put out some invites to go sailing last Sunday, I wasn't sure I would have any takers as the weather looked questionable. Come Sunday however, it was bright and beautiful. I headed to the boat with a skip in my step. Everyone showed up on time at 11am and we were off with a full boat of 7 plus Kona (my Golden). Motoring out, there was no wind. Looking past the 2 mile long Berkeley Pier, I could see wind ahead. We finally pulled up the sails and we were off for a beautiful sail towards the Gate. The wind was 12-15 and the sun was bright in the cockpit. Lots of great conversation and the stories were fun. We got around Angel and decided to head for Sam's for a lunch break. No need to belly up to the bar as we has plenty of food and drink on board. Kona got a walk and as per usual, we were stopped several times so folks could get a better look at this beautiful dog. A family wandered out to the boat and a little boy wanted to see the boat. I took him aboard and he looked around down below and was impressed by what he saw as he had never been on a boat before. We took off and the wind was up even more. A couple short tacks and we were off towards the bridge. The wind was in the low 20's by now and there were some big gusts. We shortened the jib up and had a beautiful view of the Golden Gate and the ocean beyond. What a sight. It doesn't get much better than this! I let Dan take the wheel and enjoyed this wonderful view of our home waters. Heading home we had a nice run back to the barn for a quick cleanup and back on the road. What a great way to kick off the season with friends aboard our humble little sloop! I received an email from a fellow sailor out that day and he saw a whale near Angel Island frolicking about. We don't get many in the bay and usually they don't stay very long.

David Crosby's Yacht for Sale

Classic rocker David Crosby of Crosby, Stills & Nash fame has put his beloved wooden sailing yacht on the market after 40 years. Crosby is asking $1 million for the classic 59-ft. Alden 356-B Centerboard Schooner, named Mayan. Crosby, who had an affluent upbringing in California and learned to sail at age 11, composed several songs aboard the yacht which he lived on for long spells. The Mayan is pictured on the cover of the 1977 Crosby, Stills & Nash album CSN, and references to her can be found in songs such as "Wooden Ships," "The Lee Shore" and "Through My Sails."

Crosby originally purchased the yacht in 1968 and spent over $600,000 on a refit in 2005, including new electronics, and she has been upgraded annually. The Mayan, which is located in Santa Barbara, is described as "a very powerful design that takes the weather very well." The cabin layout is very traditional but easily sleeps eight in three staterooms plus a large saloon double berth. Stars like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have sailed on her. If you have a cool mil sitting around, you should buy
her.

Swimming Across the Atlantic

In May, Dan Martin will attempt to swim the Atlantic. You heard it here first. He just made a decision to move up the coast to Nova Scotia for his departure. This will save him about 900 miles of swimming. People are doing some crazy stunts these days. Youg girls sailing the planet, rowers rowing from Japan to SF, and a swimmer who swam the Amazon River.

There are few people in the world of endurance sports who dream as big as Dan Martin does.

In May 2010, the 28-year-old intrepid British adventurer will attempt the 5,800K (3,603-mile) ocean swim leg of an unprecedented solo Global Triathlon where he will literally swim, bike and run around the world.

According to credible swimmers, Dan has been training hard in the English Channel, Jersey, Ireland, the North Sea and Tenerife in the Canary Islands in all kinds of conditions. Dan says, "I am now feeling pretty comfortable in even quite big swells." He better feel comfortable because the Atlantic will thrown everything at him during his time at sea.

Dan plans to swim from Nova Scotia to Brest in northwestern France in an estimated 3-4 months. After his swim leg, Dan will cycle from Paris to Alaska and then finish his Global Triathlon by running from Alaska back to New York where he will finishing with the New York Marathon.

"Recently I’ve found the ideal ship to support me while I’m swimming the Atlantic. She’s an expedition ship called Ice Maiden, she sleeps ten and can hold all the food and fuel we’ll need for the crossing. My route planning is going well for the cycle and run, with most of it set in stone now. The Bering Straits [on his cycle leg] is still a huge stumbling block but I’m working on various ways of crossing it," Dan explains.

In an understatement of the year, Dan said, "I’ve done some pretty tough stuff in the past, but this will undoubtedly be my biggest challenge. It scares me just thinking about it."

Despite the estimated 8-20°C (46-68°F) water of the north Atlantic from May to August, Dan says that he will not use a wetsuit.

Dan plans to swim eight hours a day, but we are confirming how he will define his stage swim across the Atlantic Ocean. Will he use the currents to float across the ocean as did Guy Delage from Cape Verde Islands off of Africa to Barbados in 1991, Benoit Lecomte from Cape Cod (USA) to Brittany, France in 1998 and Jennifer Figge from Cape Verde Islands to Tobago in the Caribbean Sea in 2009? Or will he mark his progress each day with GPS technology so the world can track his program? Will he start the next day at the precise location where he finished the previous day? However way he swims, floats or traverses his way across the Atlantic, it is an epic feat that are within the physical, mental, emotional, logistical and financial capabilities of only the most trepid adventurers.

Assuming Dan takes 4 months swimming 8 hours per day at an average rate of 3 miles per hour (4.8K per hour) - which is an extremely fast clip for even the world's best marathon swimmers swimming for only 8 hours for one day - Dan will cover a total of 4,608K (2,880) over the 120 days. Which means that he will have to work in another 1,092K (723 miles) somehow during his time in the Atlantic. He would either have to swim faster, which would not be possible without fins, take longer, which is always a possibility, or go along with the currents, which is probably the easiest and most logical means to make up the distance deficit.

But what separates Dan from the average person is that he has planned, prepared for and mentally broken down his epic adventure into manageable, human-size proportions. Incredibly and admirably, the 5,800K distance seems to be less of a concern than others. "The biggest hazards I’ll face day in and day out will be chaffing and cold. The temperature will vary from 8-20°C on my route with the early days being by far the coldest. I’ve trained a lot in cold water and am gaining lots of weight to help with the cold and buoyancy."

Distance seems to be Dan's forte after having cycled from Korea to South Africa and then from London to Cape Town the year before - covering over 55,000K between the two trips. We will update you on his progress and wish him a safe swim! Visit his website here.

Too Much Fun!

Embracing the extreme, that's what we do here.

“If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room.”

How Rogue Waves Form

An extra-tall wave struck a cruise ship off the Mediterranean coast of Spain this week, claiming two lives and injuring one person on board. Though the wave may not qualify as a “rogue wave,” it could have been created by the same forces.

To officially be rogue, the wave’s height must be more than double the “significant wave height” of the area, which is calculated by averaging the height of the tallest third of all the nearby waves.

The wave measured 26 feet tall and shattered plate-glass windows at the bow of the vessel. Still, it wasn’t very tall compared to some of the waves oceanographer Libe Washburn of UC Santa Barbara has seen.

“I was surprised it was really that damaged by a 26-foot-high wave,” Washburn said. “Twenty-six feet isn’t that big.”

Until recently, scientists were skeptical that rogue waves even exist, because evidence of them was mostly anecdotal. More often called “freak waves,” these monsters of the sea were confirmed only six years ago by satellite images and extensive studies carried out by MaxWave, a research group funded by the European Commission.

Waves over 100 feet tall have been spotted by oceanographers, scientists and vessel passengers. The highest wave ever recorded was 112 feet tall, spotted in the Pacific by a U.S. Navy tanker in the 1920s. Now, whenever large ships get lost at sea and never return, many are quick to speculate they were victims of rogue waves.

Rogue waves occur in the open ocean in a number of ways. One common cause is when two smaller waves coalesce to produce a very large wave for a short time.

wave_crest“You get waves that add up — smaller waves that constructively interfere and for a short time produce a very large wave,” Washburn said. “When they add up, they can make an extra high crest and an extra deep trough.”

Another way rogue waves propagate is when an ocean wave encounters a very strong current that’s running counter to the direction of the wave, according to Washburn. The Agulhas Current, which flows down the eastern coast of South Africa, is notorious for producing rogue waves.

“It’s very dangerous at the Agulhas,” Washburn said. “Even if you’re on a big ship, that doesn’t mean you’re any safer.”

Storm-related wind is a factor as well. Strong winds transfer energy into the waves, creating interactions between them. Large waves take energy from smaller ones, creating a bigger and bigger wave, said oceanographer Peter Challenor of the National Oceanography Centre in the United Kingdom, in an interview with Agence France-Presse.

Via Wired.com

Lost and Found After a Month at Sea

You just can't keep a good sailor down.

A yacht with a solo sailor on board missing for over a month in the Caribbean, and given up for lost, has been found.

His extraordinary story has been spread among cruisers in the area and reported to Cruisers Network Online.

Many long and short-term cruisers knew 80-year-old Lon Matlock on his 32 ft yacht Liberation, and he had spent many seasons in the southern Caribbean and in Venezuela. They also knew that he was a good sailor, a veteran cruisers with more than 30 years experience.

However hope was fading after he had failed to make rendezvous with another boat and had been missing since 3rd February. Health and Welfare alerts were sent out, and cruisers asked to keep a lookout, but there was nothing to indicate what might have been his fate. Had his vessel sunk? Had he fallen prey to ruthless pirates? It seemed the mystery might never be solved.

But then, the Port Captain in Bocas del Toro heard a story of some local people who had in their care the skipper of a yacht that had foundered.

He told his story, which, in the confined waters of the Caribbean, is extraordinary.

He left Colon on February 3, bound for a reunion in Bocas with his good friend and fellow cruiser John, on Mermaid. At some point his motor failed, and then his mainsail ripped. He then drifted around the area for 29 days, before running aground on a reef near the Panama mainland, Playa Rojo, south of Escudo de Veraguas.

After spending the night on the reef, in the morning the local people noticed him and came out to the reef. They rescued him, took him to the chief's home, and then returned to the stranded yacht to salvage his solar panels, the dinghy, jerry jugs and any other valuable gear they could find, and brought it all to the chief's house where Lon was resting.

Upon receiving the news of the strange rescue, the Port Captain in Bocas del Toro personally manned a launch and to fetch him from the village, and brought Lon back to Bocas to receive medical attention.

Here is another story of man lost at sea and his survival story.

Pics of the Week

Hardcore Artic Surfing

Tsunami Hitting Ventura on Saturday

Discover Boating

With so many opportunities for boating fun available today, there’s no reason why anyone can’t take advantage of the benefits that recreational boating has to offer. Read our personal list of Top Reasons for Boating below:

Boating Improves Quality of Life
It’s a proven fact that recreational boating goes a long ways towards improving your quality of life. The minute you start to move forward on a boat, you’ll notice how easy it is to leave your troubles behind. Recreational boating fun provides a constructive outlet for entertainment that reduces stress and provides enriching opportunities for self discovery, whether it’s learning how to water ski or simply enjoying the warm glow of an evening sunset.

Boating is an Affordable Recreation Alternative
Are you under the impression that recreational boating is too expensive for your current budget? Think again. Many boats can be financed for under $200 a month. Dedicated boating lenders will work with you to help you save money and get you the best financing package available. For help determining if you can afford to buy a boat, including boat loan basics, an NMBA Member Directory, a boat loan calculator, and more, please visit our section on Buying a Boat.

Water Access is Closer than you Think
Did you know that about ninety percent of Americans live less than an hour from a navigable body of water? This means that water access is a lot closer and more convenient than you might think. To find a recreation boating marinas near you, please visit our boat marinas and ramps page.

Boating Fun Helps you Bond with Friends and Family
Fifty four percent of all households, in a study by the National Marine Manufacturers Association, listed fishing as their favorite boating activity (followed by cruising and relaxing with family and friends). In other words, to many people the best part about boating doesn’t revolve around the latest waterskiing tricks or the number of fish caught- the best part of boating is simply the opportunities it provides for boating fun with friends and family. Recreational boating is quality time spent away from the television set and the video games, creating an atmosphere that brings people together and creates fond memories to last a lifetime.

Boating Helps Reduce Stress
We can’t stress the statistics enough - numerous studies have shown that a little bit of boating fun each day can go a long way towards reducing stress. In fact, a National Marine Manufacturers Association survey of over 1,000 American households listed boating in the top-three of all stress-relieving activities.

Boating is Convenient
As we pointed out above, since over ninety percent of Americans live less than an hour's drive from an accessible body of water, you can be enjoying the fresh air and water in no time.

In fact, the convenience of boating makes it possible to hop on your boat for a mini-vacation whenever you feel like it, as an alternative to other family recreation activities which can quickly add up to become even more expensive and time-consuming.

Boating is an Engaging and Rewarding Activity
Recreational boating offers lots of opportunities for personal growth. Whether you’re instilling your child with extra confidence as they learn how to properly secure a line, or you’re enjoying the delicate taste of fresh fish that you caught yourself, boating recreation provides many different rewards for all ages.

Boating is Good Exercise
From a rigorous sailing excursion to an invigorating run on waterskis, boating provides sporting enthusiasts with many active endeavors to choose from. In fact, we’d argue that simply breathing in the brisk wind coming off the water in itself can go a long ways towards strengthening one’s constitution- not to mention the additional physical and psychological benefits in terms of relaxation and stress relief.

Recreational Boating is Easy to Learn
If you’re new to boating, take heart. With so many available boating classes and courses to choose from, you’ll be out on the water before you know it. Whether you’ve always wanted to learn how to sail, or you’re just interested in new ways to spend quality time with your family, a wealth of available boater education courses make boating easier to learn than ever. To learn more about finding boating instruction near you, please visit our boating courses page.

Boating is FUN
Last but definitely not least, one of the top reasons for boating is simply because it’s so much fun. There are so many activities to explore when it comes to boating, whether you like to fish, waterski, snorkel, or simply enjoy relaxing on the water. Be sure to check out our boating activities page to learn more about all the different ways that you too can experience boating fun.

SF Sailing Bloggers Sailebration

Recently the east coast blogging contingent got together for a blogging party. I am hoping to do one better to celebrate my 5th anniversary of blogging. I propose a sail on the Addiction with our San Francisco bloggers. I'm thinking EVK4, Horses Mouth, O Docker, Zen, and maybe frogma could fly out! What do you guys think?? It would be a ton of fun to meet you all and I can't think of a better way to celebrate. I am thinking about a day sail out of Emeryville on our Newport 30. Any other sail bloggers of note from the bay area that I missed? Let's party!

40 Years of Windsurfing

My life changed on a dime when I discovered windsurfing in the early 80's. I was living on a big lagoon in Foster City, CA. A friend gave me his board that he was not using. It was a classic Bic. Had some wonderful times on that old board, learning the wind and playing in the water. Moved up to a nice board the next year and then a Klepper after that. Got so stoked, I started a windsurfing club called Wind Power. Had some awesome times and made some great friends. Sailing the bay and delta was about as wild as you can imagine. Great times in my life. By the mid 90's I was moving towards boats, which was a nice progression. I still get out there and have some fun but nothing like the 60-80 days per year that I used to enjoy. Here is a look back at the very beginnings of the sport from the late 60's. Enjoy! Cowabunga!!

Crew Capacity for a 30' Sailboat?

I sent the above query out to several sailing email groups (Newport Owners Group and San Francisco Sailing, both Yahoo groups if you would like to join). Anywho, I received lots of great responses with most agreeing that more than 8 would be too many. I agreed. Then I got a response from a fellow Newport owner with a picture of his boat and 22 crew! I don't recommend it, but it can be done!

Elephants Never Forget

In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Mbembe approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Mbembe worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Mbembe never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Mbembe was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe and his son Tapu were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man. Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. Mbembe summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mbembe's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Pretty Cool

Solar Dynamics Observatory Launch, Feb 11, 2010 HD VERSION A sun dog is a prismatic bright spot in the sky caused by sun shining through ice crystals. The Atlas V rocket exceeded the speed of sound in this layer of ice crystals, making the shock wave visible from the ground. The announcer can be heard in the video saying, "The vehicle is now supersonic."

How Deep is the Ocean?

If you ever asked yourself that question, we have an answer.

Two Ways to Cross an Ocean

Singlehanded from San Francisco to Hawaii in 27 days from nickj on Vimeo.

Inside-Outside (9mn extracts of "Huis clos" 59mn) HQ
by EandMBerque

Ellison to Bring Cup to the Bay!

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive and multibillionaire Larry Ellison won the America's Cup on Sunday, claiming sailing's most prestigious trophy for San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club. Now he hopes to bring the next edition of the regatta—which will likely be held in about three years—to San Francisco itself.

Mr. Ellison, 65 years old, cultivated his passion for competitive sailing in San Francisco Bay, which he dubs "a wonderful natural amphitheater for sailing." He adds, "I'm not sure there's any place in the world that is better for viewers."

Fresh off the America's Cup victory, Mr. Ellison—who is the Bay Area's wealthiest individual with an estimated $27 billion fortune, according to Forbes—discussed his favorite places to sail in the region and where in the Bay he hopes to hold the next America's Cup.

Larry Ellison, winner of the America's Cup off Spain on Sunday, says bringing the race to San Francisco could boost its appeal in the U.S.

Q: Is San Francisco a feasible site for the America's Cup?

A: Absolutely. We match raced [Switzerland-based rival sailing team] Alinghi in San Francisco Bay in the Moët Cup [in 2003]. It was a spectacular regatta because people could watch from office buildings. The boats are big enough that you can see the entire race. We had hundreds of thousands of people watching this race—it was probably the most watched sailboat race ever. And we beat them.

Q: How did you first get into sailing?

A: Reading an article in National Geographic by Robin Lee Graham, where he sailed around the world in a 24-foot boat. I was about his age when he did that. He started out as a teenager.

The freedom to harness the wind and go anyplace you want to in the world seemed magical to me. That kind of independence, demonstrating that kind of self-sufficiency, at least in my own mind became a very romantic idea and something I wanted to do as well.

Q: And your competitive side took it to another level?

A: I first started sailing just for the joy of being out there. I was in San Francisco Bay and I couldn't go around the world—I had a job—so I just did day sailing. I learned on a 14-footer called Lido 14 at the University of California Yacht Club.

[Later I bought] a 24-foot boat. As long as I was out in the Bay sailing, there were races, and I started doing these.

Q: To hold the cup in San Francisco you would probably need a lot of space, though.

A: Well, that's the thing. I intend to talk to Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, and we'll see if there's room on the waterfront to do this. Maybe we can get out to Treasure Island. We want to develop a sailing village like they have in New Zealand and like they had in Valencia [in Spain, where the America's Cup was just held.] We want teams from all over the world to come here.

Q. Where is your favorite place to sail in the Bay Area?

A: Starting down at the Bay Bridge and racing up to a buoy near the end of the Bay. That's a fabulous place and about two-thirds of the race is along the city front. We get very close to the headlands and people onshore can watch.

Q: The America's Cup isn't as popular in the U.S. as it once was. Would holding the race in San Francisco be a way to change that?

A:If we have the America's Cup here in San Francisco, it will allow many more people to watch it. But we also have to do a better job of televising it. We can make sailing much more understandable and much more exciting by putting cameras on the boats.

These boats twist and groan and the sounds are a very important aspect for gaining an appreciation of the sport and how much stress we are putting on these boats.

Via WSJ

Have Watch, Will Sail

HUGO BOSS Watches Video featuring Alex Thomson
by Steerwell

Go full screen on this one!

Rowing Across the Pacific

Rowing Solo Across the Pacific - without aid - a world first from Geoff A Charters on Vimeo.

Update From the Two Teens on Their Quest

Here is an interesting update on Abby and Jessica as they sail the planet. Read it here.

Is that a wing in your pocket?

Someone asked me how tall the wing is on the Oracle boat. At 223 feet she would not fit under the Golden Gate Bridge (220') at high tide. That is one big wing!! The designers of the wing think they can make an even lighter and more powerful rig on the next iteration. Can you say Extreme 40's on the SF bay in 2014? Now that would be cool!

Jailbreak Your iPhone

I had been tinkering with idea of a jailbroken iPhone for a while and decided to do some research on Youtube. I found out it is not illegal, it's easy in version 3.1.2.,you have a ton a cool apps, themes, and cool things that you can do that Apple does not allow. And you can always restore back to your last back up at any time and go back to your old phone. My two big reasons for jailbreaking where being able to listen to music apps and send an email or text without having to shut down the app, send a text then relaunch the app and start over. A little app called Backgrounder allows you to multitask without having to stop whatever you are doing at that moment. The other thing I wanted to be able to do was tether my phone to my computer so I could use the internet on my computer when I am on the water. The app is called Mywi and it allows you use your phones 3g network on your computer. Think of your phone as a wireless modem. There are so many other cool mods and tricks to make your phone 100% better than it is right now. Go to Youtube and explore. Start with a search, "Why jailbreak". It might be time for you to break free of the shackles!

Mission Accomplished

The Fog is Back

During my sunset run in the hills yesterday, the wind was up as the sun was setting. My run gives me an impressive view of the bay from Mount Tam to Mount Ham and the bay. Looking west, I could see the first fog of the season coming over the San Bruno gap. This is a big deal for sailors in the area as it signals the start of big, consistent winds that make sailing the bay so amazing. We just had the bottom of our 30' sailboat painted and it will make for some fast sailing this summer.

On a sad note, my father in law, Richard Pooley, passed away over the weekend in Fla. He was a great man who loved the water. I took him sailing many times during his visits and it gave him great joy to be out in the SF Bay. His last wish was to have me spread his ashes under the Golden Gate from my boat. We will miss him greatly.

Video Highlights - Mavsurf

Click here for video highlights of the surf contest.

Transatlantic Voyage

Gemini 105Mc - Transatlantic Voyage from Will Hershfeld on Vimeo.

I'm Sailing

Replay of the A-Cup Race

If you missed the final race of the cup and would like to watch it, go here. The racing starts at about 1:20 in. (thats one hour and 20 mins.).

Mavericks Looks Swell

The contest will be held on Saturday in Half Moon Bay! For updates and the latest news, click here.

Just as it was beginning to look as if the Mavericks Surf Contest might be doomed for the third time in four years, El Niño finally appears ready to deliver Saturday.
The official votes from the 24 invited surfers won't be tallied until noon Thursday, but the fast approach of the March 31 contest deadline and fresh memories of seasons that got away have pushed patience aside.
The big-wave adrenaline junkies want their fix — and a chance at the record prize purse of $150,000.
A poll of voters who have been poring over computer-model data suggests there is little doubt that the seventh big-wave champion will be crowned Saturday on the beach at Pillar Point. Waves measuring 40 feet on the face — considered the threshold for a big Mavericks day — are expected.
"Ninety-nine percent," is how longtime contestant Evan Slater described the chances for Saturday, adding, "It's not going to be picture perfect, but it's going to be big, real big if the forecast holds."
Santa Cruz's Zach Wormhoudt, another longtime competitor, was just as confident, saying: "Let's get ready to rumble."
The surfers' optimism might be colored somewhat by a desire to get the focus back on the wave. After swells in November, December and January were voted down decidedly by the competitors, attention surrounding the event turned to a lawsuit filed by contest co-founder Jeff Clark, who contends he was wrongly ousted as director by his former partners at Mavericks Surf Ventures in June.
This winter has proved that even with an early opening of the contest window (Nov. 1) and a flurry of good El Niño-charged swells, it's tricky to find a day that will provide the six- to eight-hour windows necessary for a big-wave contest.
"There are no slam dunks; you're just going to have to make the best call you can make," said Darren Brilhart, who serves as a liaison between the contest's surfers and organizers. "(But) I think it's pretty crucial to have a successful event this year."
The storm generating this swell formed quickly near the international date line early Wednesday and barreled east toward the Bay Area. It is expected to turn north just 600 miles off the coast by late Friday. The proximity to shore worries event forecaster Mark Sponsler, if only just a bit.
It's "definitely close," he said via e-mail. "The best would be if high pressure builds in a little earlier than forecast to dampen those south winds."
That would mean cleaner surface conditions for those negotiating treacherous drops at Mavericks. But bumpy rides or not, the chosen 24 are likely to be out there taking the plunge Saturday with brightly colored contest jerseys pulled tightly over their wet suits.
"Fasten your seat belts," Slater said.

Most Anticipated Tech in 2010

Transperant Display

It's been a while since I threw in a tech entry into my blog so here goes. With CES having a huge splash last month and Macworld kicking off this week, we have lots of cool gagets and new tech coming down the pike in the next 10 months. Are you ready for 3DTV, motion sensing gaming, genius phones, charging your phone using WIFI signals, tablets, 152" 3D TV's and many more. See pics and descriptions here.

Aqualights - Iphone App for Mariners

Lights on boats at night came in many different forms and can be very confusing. Here is an app that can help determine what the lights mean and the type of vessel you are seeing. Just select the pattern of lights you see and the app will determine the type of boat and what the lights are trying to communicate to other vessels. Check it out here.

Can A Boat be Made Entirely of Duct Tape?

Trouble in Paradise

BMW/O to Win the Cup!

Valencia, Spain -- Software tycoon Larry Ellison isn't accustomed to losing.

He outgunned his corporate rivals for 30 years to become the world's fourth-richest man and king of database technology. He won the hand of a celebrated romance novelist and built a 23-acre Japanese-inspired paradise in Woodside.

The only prize that's apparently eluded the Bay Area billionaire is the America's Cup, a silver ewer that's sailing's most coveted prize.

Today, Ellison, 66, the chief executive of Oracle Corp., takes his third stab at winning international sports' oldest trophy - this time in an extreme sailing event in wintry waters off the Spanish Mediterranean coast.

The high-stakes grudge match between Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing syndicate and the current cup holder, the Swiss Alinghi team bankrolled by pharmaceutical heir Ernesto Bertarelli, will be sailed in the two fastest boats that have ever raced in the America's Cup. The best-of-three series on a 40-mile-long racecourse will determine the next cup holder.

"I don't like him. I won't beat around the bush," Ellison told The Chronicle. "If I was going to be nasty, I'd say, what has he done in his life that he's proud of?"

"I came here determined to shake his hand," Bertarelli, 45, said at a news conference Saturday that Ellison declined to attend. "Here I am, available, and he is not here."

For many sports fans, the notion of watching a sailboat race is about as thrilling as watching grass grow. But this year's showdown could be one of the most exciting matchups in the cup's nearly 160-year history. It is being broadcast live in Europe and streamed on the Internet.

The teams will race in giant, lightweight, high-tech multihulls that are screamingly fast, incredibly fragile and so dangerously prone to capsize that their crews wear helmets. In November, the $10 million towering mast on Ellison's 114-foot trimaran came tumbling down on its carbon fiber deck during sea trials off San Diego.

Bertarelli, an avid yachtsman, is the helmsman of his catamaran. Ellison, who has won pro and amateur regattas, said he'll serve as a tactician and strategist on his boat. Depending on wind strength, his trimaran will carry a crew of 12 to 20 sailors.

The 33rd America's Cup has drawn hundreds of journalists and the jet-set glitterati to Valencia. The port city staged a shock-and-awe fireworks display Sunday night in honor of a yacht racing tradition that began in 1851 when the schooner America beat a fleet of British vessels around the Isle of Wight.

Continue reading here.

The Story of a Boat

Watch the America's Cup Online

Click the pic for a fantastic view.

Anybody getting excited about the Cup?? If the cup is taken by BOR90, the next cup would be in SF!!!! Racing is scheduled to start at 10:00am in Spain Monday Feb 8th. That works out to 4am Eastern Standard. 1AM on Monday morning for the West Coast.

The second race will be Wed Feb. 10 at the same time. The third, if required will be on Friday, Feb. 12.

It's a best of three - first team to win 2 takes the cup (until we drown in more court cases later).
The official event website setup by the city of Valencia Spain. It will have links to live coverage though I suspect that they may not anticipate the internet bandwidth they are about to be hit with...but it may be a good spot to find text news and possibly up to the minute video:
http://33rd.americascup.com

www.americascup.com
As a subset of that Valencia website, they claim they will be feeding live video at www.americascup.com. PLEASE NOTE that you will probably have to register to see the feed. That could mean that once they start red lining their bandwidth, they'll shut down registration. I was able to register a couple of days ago but I don't see the link to register anywhere on there now. Check early, check often. This could be one of the best sources.

www.Espn360.com
I just discovered that Jobson and Randy Smyth will be covering the event for ESPN360 (thanks Karl!) so this will probably be worth checking out. I would imagine that ESPN360 would be better prepared for a lot network demand. PLEASE NOTE: you will also need to register and setup an account with ESPN360. It is FREE but takes some time...do it early. Their player is intensive on bandwidth and CPU so if you have an older PC and/or limited internet bandwidth, you may have some difficulty with it. The player requires a few plugins and you will probably have browser compatibility problems if you are not running a 'mainstream' browser. Be sure your security is set to something less than "nuclear power station" and use (gasp) Internet Explorer 8 for the best chance of running it. Watch your upper notification bar at the top of the IE8 window - it will need to install several software plug ins to work and the notifications will pop up there in a faint yellow bar asking permission. It works pretty well for me (I've got a new computer running Windows 7 64bit and a speedy internet connection).

www.SailingAnarchy.com
SailingAnarchy just got sponsored by Layline for the coverage and is working with one of the Italian teams from the last America's Cup to get their reporters out on the water. They also have some deal setup with an internet company that provides internet access for boaters (cruisers). Supposedly they are expecting to be able to upload a lot of stuff quickly. Sometimes hard to watch, sometimes juvenile, but sometimes ground breaking and without fear...the SA coverage will be interesting. I don't believe you will have to pre-register or anything for this one. THIS JUST IN. Our very own JC (FON) will be helping SA with their coverage... definitely worth watching now!

http://www.tsr.ch/
You're going to have to polish up your Francais on this one - but if you can manage to navigate your way through, this Swiss TV station is supposed to have some live coverage of the event.

Oceans - The Movie (coming soon)

Opens on Earth Day, April 22 - 40th Anniversary
Double click the vid to watch in full screen and then punch it up to 720 resolution. Very cool. Love the baby turtles!!

Plastiki Sails...Finally

The boat is the 60-foot-long catamaran Plastiki, which David de Rothschild, the 31-year-old scion of the British banking family, plans to sail across the Pacific to Australia, beginning in the first days of March.

What makes the Plastiki unique is that the boat's twin hulls are made of 12,500 plastic bottles that once held soft drinks or spring water. The bottles are filled with dry ice, which of course is a gas.

Except for the boat's two masts, the twin hulls, a small outboard motor for emergencies, and a few odds and ends like the galley stove, the Plastiki is made of a hard, tough, self-reinforcing plastic material called PET.

"It is totally unique," said Andy Fox, a builder of sustainable boats who lives in the western edge of England and was along for the ride Tuesday. "There is nothing like it in the world."

To tell the truth, the Plastiki is no beauty. The boat is a translucent off-white color, rigged as a ketch with a tall mainmast and a shorter mast aft. Both are metal, gleaming in the sun. The 12,500 bottles that make up the twin hulls give the vessel an odd look, like a kid's science project.

There is a low cabin, rounded like the back of a turtle. Inside are four bunks for eight crew members, a small galley and an area for an array of electronics the boat will carry. There will be plenty of electronics; one of the expedition sponsors is Hewlett-Packard. There is a tiny head, as the seagoing toilet is called. This will be an adventure in tight quarters.

But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

"I'm very excited," said Jo Royle, a 30-year-old Englishwoman who is the Plastiki's skipper. "I think it's really come together."

Behind the adventure is a dead serious message: de Rothschild wants to draw attention to a world of plastic waste. Only a fraction of the world's plastic bottles are recycled, he says. The rest end up in landfills or out in the ocean. He figures the way to get the recycling message across is a plastic sailing adventure - a message in a bottle.

Read more here.

New Docking Technique Demonstrated

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Oceanfest Film Fest - Today in SF

A bunch of water related films will be screened at Theater 39 on Pier 39 starting today and going thru Sunday. Surfing Dolphins will be screened there (see below). Check out the schedule here.

Interview with Greg Huglin - Surf Flim Guy

He did the dolphin docu from yesterdays post below.

Northern Lights

Auroras are associated with the solar wind, a flow of ions continuously flowing outward from the sun. The Earth's magnetic field traps these particles, many of which travel toward the poles where they are accelerated toward earth. Collisions between these ions and atmospheric atoms and molecules causes energy releases in the form of auroras appearing in large circles around the poles. Auroras are more frequent and brighter during the intense phase of the solar cycle when coronal mass ejections increase the intensity of the solar wind.

Caught in the Storm

It was seven minutes to 3 a.m. when the brass clock in the lower cabin of the Sean Seamour II stopped.

For 62-year-old Ottawa adventurer Rudy Snel, it came to represent the precise moment he believed he was going to die.

The clock froze as sea water poured through every crevice of the cabin following the 44-foot sailboat's rollover in near-hurricane-force winds about 257 kilometres off the North Carolina shoreline a little more than three weeks ago.

As one of three crew members aboard the sailboat, it had been a lifelong dream of the hobbyist sailor to cross the Atlantic.

Setting sail days earlier with two men he met via an online sailing forum, Mr. Snel never imagined it would nearly cost him his life.

In the three weeks since the U.S. Coast Guard plucked Mr. Snel and his European crewmates, Jean Pierre de Lutz, 58, and Ben Tye, 31, from the dilapidated life raft to which they clung for hours, they have confronted their mortality again and again -- recounting their survival after the sailboat was swallowed by the sea.

"The main part of it is not just thinking you're dead, but being convinced of it," said Mr. Snel.

He did not know at the time that the winds behind the storm would subsequently be named as those of subtropical storm Andrea -- a storm so powerful that one ship lost 21 containers, the U.S. Coast Guard would eventually rescue nine people, including Mr. Snel's crew, and four people lost at sea have never been found.

Continue reading here.

Surf Documentary- Dolphins

Click the above pic to read the text.

Amazing Stuff