Documentry on Mav's

Check out this video on the world's largest surfable wave. Mavrick's (in Northern California) has had 40-50 foot waves slamming the coast already this year. This year's surf contest is offering the biggest purse ever, $150k to the winner. All we need now is Mother Nature to cooperate and the surf organizers to pull the trigger and bring in the top big wave riders from around the globe. The vid is here.

Enjoy Your Weekend!!

Too Much Fun!

Keeping it Real

Creative Ideas for Old Computers

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Bonehead Letter to the Editor

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Pic of the Day

These dating services really need to screen their applicants. I mean, I am all for blind dates, but come on!!

10 Amazing Pools

I have been in some amazing pools myself. Pools that have waterfalls and caves, infinity pools overlooking Banderas Bay, slides, rope bridges and hot mineral springs inside caves. Here is an impressive list from around the world.

A Keepa from Hookipa

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Applied Geometry
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Couple Rescued After 40 Days at Sea

A British couple who, between them, have sailed the Atlantic Ocean a total of 11 times, have been saved from the middle of that same ocean by an Italian tanker after spending 40 days disabled and drifting.

Stuart Armstrong, 51, and his partner Andrea Davison, 48, are on board supertanker Indian Point and heading back to Amsterdam.

Although they escaped unhurt, they were tired, exhausted and grateful to be heading home after their six-week ordeal.

The drama began on January 9, six days after the couple left the Cape Verde Islands off the West Coast of Africa on board their yacht Sara and headed for Antigua where they intended to anchor until April.

But midway through the 2,550-mile journey disaster struck and the rudder on the 13-metre yacht jammed to starboard. Attempts to fix it were useless. At this stage the couple, who live on the yacht in Majorca, were in the middle of the Atlantic, 1,200 miles from Antigua – five days sailing time away and out of range for any rescue attempt.

Speaking from the bridge of the Indian Point, Mr Armstrong said: 'In effect we were sailing round and round in circles as the rudder was stuck all the way over.

'The coastguard said it was too dangerous for anyone to come out so we just had to carry on drifting in the middle of the ocean.

'We tried to counteract our continual turning by putting droves over the side to try and help point the boat towards land but we didn’t really have any great success.

'At first we were not too bothered as we had a good supply of dry provisions, the usual things you have on a boat - pasta, kidney beans, biscuits, rice and soya. There was also plenty of water to keep us going, the radio was still working and we had power so there was no need to be too worried. Read the full story here.

Why I Am Sticking to Water Sports

When I was a teen back in the 70's, hang gliding was the extreme sport that captivated my imagination. I wanted to try it so bad. I studied the sport and knew the dangers but still wanted to try it. I tried to sell my parents on the idea and even quoting a statistic that I read about how driving a car was more dangerous than hang gliding. Well silly, driving a car is one of the most dangerous things you can do, statistically speaking. In college, I was the lifeguard at the university pool. Everyday this guy named Larry Tudor would come in and do his laps. I asked him about his dedication to swimming and he said he was a hang glider. Turns out that at the time he held the straight distance record for the sport (at the time his record was over 100 miles and in 1990 he took it to 330 miles in 9 hours). So I asked him to take me out the next time he launched. We headed out to a dry lake bed outside of Las Vegas and man this guy could soar! It was so cool to watch him fly. I never did hang glide or parasail but once in Cabo I did some behind the boat with a parachute. That was fun and a lot less dangerous (I think). The video below is an example of why I am sticking with water sports. Water can sting, but it usually won't break anything.

Don't Forget To Smell The Roses

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Our lives are so busy these days with cell phones, texting, tweeting, work, kids, and all the other things that fill our lives. This note is to remind you that there is much more to life and and that it takes effort to slow down and "smell the roses". A good way to do this is to go sailing with friends, take a long walk, listen to your favorite album, take a friend for a picnic, lay in a hammock or just lose all the distractions. One thing I notice is that there are so many things going on we forget to appreciate the people in our lives. Next time you see your parents, spouse, best friend, or even someone you really like and are just getting to know, stop and look them right in the eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul. Look deeply into their eyes. I think they will be shocked as there is so much stimuli around us we are forgetting to look each other in the eyes. And next time you pass a rose bush, take a wiff!

Condition Black

If you are interested, the 52 min. version can be found on Guba.com

Subs Collide

First we heard about the satellites colliding in space. Now we have subs colliding in the ocean. What next? The moon and the earth? Here is the scoop: A Royal Navy nuclear submarine was involved in a collision with a French nuclear sub in the middle of the Atlantic, the MOD has confirmed. HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant were badly damaged in the crash in heavy seas earlier this month. First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band said the submarines came into contact at low speed and no injuries were reported. Both the UK and France insisted nuclear security had not been compromised.
BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the incident was "incredibly embarrassing" for the Ministry of Defence.
HMS Vanguard returned to its home base Faslane on the Firth of Clyde under her own power on 14 February. "Very visible dents and scrapes" could be seen as tugs towed her in to the port on the final stage of the journey, our correspondent said.

The submarines are equipped with sonar to detect other vessels nearby but our correspondent said it might be the case that the anti-sonar devices, meant to hide the submarines from enemies, were "too effective". "This is clearly a one-in-a-million chance when you think about how big the Atlantic is," she said. The two submarines are key parts of each nation's nuclear deterrent, and would have been carrying missiles, though both the UK and France have insisted there was no danger of a nuclear incident. They were carrying around 240 sailors between them. A French naval spokesman said the collision did not result in any injuries to the crew. Le Triomphant is based at L'Ile Longue near Brest, north-west France. HMS Vanguard arrived back in Faslane on Saturday. On 6 February, France's defence ministry had said that Le Triomphant "collided with an immersed object (probably a container)" when coming back from patrolling, and that the vessel's sonar dome was damaged. But in a subsequent statement, it admitted that the collision between the two submarines took place. "They briefly came into contact at a very low speed while submerged," the statement added.

Top Nautical Movies

Here is an extensive list of movies that relate to the mariner. Some of my favs include: Dead Calm, Wind, Captain Ron and White Squall. See the whole list here.

Memorable Pool Scenes

Not much happening in the bonehead department today so let's go to the movies. Here we have a list of swimming pool scenes. Not on the list is the scene from "Wild Things" with Neve Campbell and Denise Richards. The movie also features a great sailboat at the end of the flick. Anyway here is the list.

Top Spots for SCUBA

Lion Fish

I have been diving since college and it is one of my favorite things to do when we travel to tropical ports. Fiji, Thailand, Bali, Tahiti, BVI's, Cozumel, Hawaii are just a few of the spots I have gotten wet. If you have ever considered getting certified, now is the time. I got mine when I was on the swim team at UNLV. We were taking a trip to Hawaii for training and the coach thought it would be a great idea to get certified. Since we were all great swimmers, it was easy. The dive we took was not the best. One mistake we made was not to hire a divemaster and a boat. We carried our equipment out to the head of Hunamma Bay to a place called the Toilet Bowl. My friend Dave was my dive buddy and in we went. We were in the water for about 20 minutes when I ran out of air. I gave Dave the signal that I was out of air - finger across the neck. He thought I wanted to "practice" buddy breathing. I gave him the signal again and he reluctantly gave me his regulator. As soon as I passed it back, he ran out of air. So he thinks I have plenty of air and he gives me the signal. Now we are both giving each other the signal and neither has any air. We were in 30' of water so we both did a slow swim to the surface and made it up without a problem. It was a funny start to some great diving adventures all over the world. He is a list of some of the greatest dive spots on the planet.

Pic of the Day

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