Surfer Keith Malloy's movie about his passion for bodysurfing: "It's about taking a breath, and kicking your feet, in the big blue sea -- come hell or high water."
The film explores the history and progression of the sport of bodysurfing and the pureness that comes from riding a wave.
Shot primary in 16mm, the film takes a unique look at the culture, beauty and simplicity of the sport, capturing the stories and locations of those who belong to this community. (narrated slide show of the making of the movie)
While Malloy is most widely known for his time in the water as a surfer, his exploration into the world of bodysurfing began some 10 years ago when he wanted to reconnect with the ocean and did so through bodysurfing.
The Paraná River appears as a wide, blue strip with the muddy brown water of the smaller Verde River entering from the northwest (top left). An extensive wetland (dark green) occupies most of the left half of this astronaut photograph, and the floodplain reaches a width of 11 kilometers (about 7 miles). The thin line of a road crossing the floodplain also gives a sense of scale. Above the Paraná-Verde confluence (image center), the floodplain is much narrower. The floodplain is generated by sediments delivered by both rivers.
The evidence for this is that the entire surface is crisscrossed by the wider traces of former Paraná River channels, as well as numerous narrower traces of the Verde. The floodplains along both rivers are bordered by numerous rectangular agricultural fields. The dominant crops along this part of the Paraná River are coffee, corn, and cotton. Turbid water, such as that in the Verde River, is common in most rivers that drain plowed agricultural land, as some topsoil is washed into local rivers after rains. A long tendril of brown water extends from the Verde into the main channel of the Paraná, where it hugs the west bank and remains unmixed for many kilometers. This effectively shows the direction of river flow from orbit: right to left for the Paraná, and upper left to image center for the Verde.
When discussing underwater lore and legends, Atlantis is an obvious subject of interest. However, the lost island of Hy-Brasil is just as intriguing and has more first-person accounts. Hy-Brasil is also spelled Hy-Breasal, Hy-Brazil, Hy-Breasil, Brazir and related variations. It may be the reason that the South American country, Brazil, was so named. The central image on the Brazilian flag, a circle with a channel across the center, is the symbol for Hy-Brasil on early maps.
Extract from the 1473 Grazioso Benincasa atlas, Egerton MS.2855 Courtesy of the British Library. 9 Brasil (mythical)
The name of Hy-Brasil may come from the Middle Ages term brazil, which seems to indicate a source of rare red dye. The dye may have acquired its name from the legendary island, or vice versa. Or, the name Hy-Brasil, also called the Fortunate Island, may originate with the old Irish word, breas, meaning noble or fortunate. In folklore, this island country takes its name from Breasal, the High King of the World, in Celtic history. (He may or may not be related to Bresal Echarlam mac Echach Baethlaim, from the stories of Lugh at Tara. He was not St. Breasal, although pre-Christian folklore may be the foundation for that saint’s legends.) Hy-Brasil was noted on maps as early as 1325, when Genoese cartographer Dalorto placed the island west of Ireland.
Brasil showing up on the map of Ireland by Abraham Ortelius in 1572
On successive sailing charts, it appears southwest of Galway Bay.
On some 15th century maps, islands of the Azores appear as Isola de Brazil, or Insulla de Brazil. After 1865, Hy-Brasil appears on few maps since its location could not be verified.
Regardless of the name or location, the island’s history is consistent: It is the home of a wealthy and highly advanced civilization. Those who visited the island returned with tales of gold-roofed towers and domes, healthy cattle, and opulent citizens.
The lore of Hy-Brasil is equally fascinating. For example, it is shrouded in fog or perhaps beneath the ocean, and appears only briefly, once every seven years. The island has been visited by many people for centuries. Both Saint Barrind and Saint Brendan found the island on their respective voyages, and returned home with nearly identical descriptions of Hy-Brasil, which they dubbed the “Promised Land.”
One of the most famous visits to Hy-Brasil was in 1674 by Captain John Nisbet of Killybegs, Co. Donegal, Ireland. He and his crew were in familiar waters west of Ireland, when a fog came up. As the fog lifted, the ship was dangerously close to rocks. While getting their bearings, the ship anchored in three fathoms of water, and four crew members rowed ashore to visit Hy-Brasil. They spent a day on the island, and returned with silver and gold given to them by an old man who lived there. Upon the return of the crew to Ireland, a second ship set out under the command of Alexander Johnson. They, too, found the hospitable island of Hy-Brasil and returned to Ireland to confirm the tales of Captain Nisbet and crew.
The last documented sighting of Hy-Brasil was in 1872, when author T. J. Westropp and several companions saw the island appear and then vanish. This was Mr. Westropp’s third view of Hy-Brasil, but on this voyage he had brought his mother and some friends to verify the existence of Hy-Brasil.
Researchers and archaeologists have searched in the most likely locations west of Ireland, and there is evidence that islands existed there. Shallow-water shells have been found at Porcupine Bank, somewhat northwest of the most likely location of Hy-Brasil. Even further north, similar shells were discovered at Rockhall.
So, there is evidence of land mass changes in that part of the Atlantic Ocean. The most distinctive geographical feature of Hy-Brasil, is that it appears on maps as a perfect circle, with a semi-circular channel through the center. The circular perimeter of the island was confirmed by both Saints Barrind and Brendan, who separately walked the shore to determine where the island ended, but never found it. Most likely, they were walking in circles.
Although Hy-Brasil does not have the fame of Atlantis, outside role-playing games, it is a story worth exploring.
Other names for Hy-Brasil: Tir fo-Thuin (Land Under the Wave), Mag Mell (Land of Truth), Hy na-Beatha (Isle of Life), and Tir na-m-Buadha (Land of Virtue). Fourteeth and Fifteenth century maps spell Hy-Brasil as Ysole Brazil, Bracir, and Hy Breasail.
Next month marks the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic. The disaster spurred maritime nations to start monitoring icebergs, so why are ships still hitting them?
Shortly before midnight on 14 April 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank less than three hours later. The tragedy galvanised world leaders to hold the first Safety of Life at Sea convention to address the iceberg threat. With only visual sightings and a shipboard radio to guide the Titanic safely through iceberg-infested waters, the liner was ill-equipped to detect its nemesis.
The conference after the sinking resulted in the International Ice Patrol (IIP), which was assigned to monitor "Iceberg Alley", the infamous stretch of ocean around Newfoundland. The IIP has been monitoring the area ever since, using aerial patrols and radar to determine the limits of iceberg danger, which they broadcast in a daily bulletin.
In the southern hemisphere captains rely on programmes like the European Space Agency's Polar View for real-time iceberg detection via satellite imagery. With dedicated monitoring teams issuing daily reports, satellites beaming back images and ship radars offering detailed information, the risk of smashing into huge chunks of ice might seem slim.
But it still happens.
All of these advances could not prevent MS Explorer's encounter with an iceberg on the evening of 23 November 2007. The 154 passengers had to abandon ship, floating on life rafts for several hours in icy waters. Everyone survived, but the incident was dubbed the "modern Titanic" in the New York Times.
Less than two months later another Antarctic cruise ship, the MS Fram, lost engine power and struck a glacier. The impact smashed a lifeboat, but the 300 people on board escaped unharmed.
Only last year an iceberg tore a hole in the hull of a Russian fishing boat cruising around the Antarctic. The 32-person crew threw cargo overboard to lighten the ship while waiting nearly two weeks for rescue.
There are no globally-collated figures for iceberg strikes, but they happen every year.
For the northern hemisphere, from 1980 to 2005, there were 57 incidents involving icebergs giving a rate of 2.3 per year, according to Brian Hill, of the Institute for Ocean Technology, who maintains a database of more than 680 iceberg-ship incidents.
And while considered less of a menace, iceberg strikes regularly happen in the southern hemisphere. Antarctic areas have experienced a slight increase in collisions, according to Hill. "People are pushing into these frontiers a little more," he says. "Typically if you had an accident it would be in the North Atlantic in the shipping routes, that doesn't happen quite so often now. It's more in those remote areas."
Many more cruises now head towards the Antarctic. The number of passengers bound for Antarctica have ballooned from a few hundred in 1969 to a projected 31,265 visitors for the 2012-2013 season, according to Steve Wellmeier, executive director of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. While most cruises won't come close to areas where ice is problematic, captains still have to be wary, Wellmeier says. "They have to be on guard the same way that ships do that are crossing the north Atlantic. You had icebergs back in 1912, and you still have icebergs in 2012."
The shrinking of the Arctic sea ice has also opened the door to increased commercial travel. Arctic shipping routes are growing and staying open longer, says Andrew Fleming, from the British Antarctic Survey. Captains can "shave off a considerable amount of travel time" by following the iceberg-studded Northern Sea Route, rather than heading south along the much lengthier Suez Canal route, he says. "Just because the ice is shrinking doesn't mean that it's completely ice free, so you're still going to get ice around those areas. Therefore, there's still a risk, especially if you're going to put lots of ships through it," Fleming says.
The "onus" is on captains and shipping companies to weigh an Arctic shortcut with the increased chance of hitting an iceberg, according to Hill. "If the Ice Patrol delineates the area within which there is ice, then somehow you have to persuade the captain. The shipping company is still very reluctant to go around the ice; this could add another 100 or 1,000 miles to the transit of the vessel and increase the fuel costs and time. "That's a chance to take, but by taking the shortcut through the ice they're living with that risk of hitting something," he says.
Ships are also spending more time in the iceberg-infested waters around Greenland and the Arctic in search of natural resources, such as minerals, oil and gas, Fleming says "Even if you don't increase the number of icebergs in the ocean, if you add more ships to the equation, then inevitably mathematics tells you the risk is going to increase.
Ships will have to contend with more ice coming off the coast of Greenland, according to Peter Wadhams, head of Cambridge University's Polar Ocean Physics Group. The country's glaciers are an Arctic iceberg factory, and they're speeding up - producing more icebergs and smaller, more dangerous ones, at that, he adds.
These smaller icebergs, called "bergy bits", are small enough to escape radar and low enough in the water to overlook. But they can still pack a punch. "Ice is one tonne per cubic meter, so something that doesn't look like very much can weigh thousands of tonnes and be enough to hole a ship," Wadhams says.
Fleming would agree that the size of icebergs can present a challenge, especially when it comes to monitoring them. "Icebergs can range from the size of Jamaica down to the size of a small car or the size of a piano, and you just can't see those smaller bits that are floating around in the water," he says. "You're never going to be able to see every iceberg. It's just an absolute impossibility." Then there's the issue of sorting out the sea ice, which is frozen sea water, from icebergs, the bits of glacier or ice shelf that "knackered the Titanic", Fleming adds.
For Captain David Snider, an ice pilot and navigator, the difference can be pivotal. "If you were to hit an iceberg with a ship it's like hitting a brick wall as opposed to hitting a bowl of porridge," he says. "So we try and avoid icebergs at all costs."
Details the work of the U.S. Coast Guard in the international sea lanes of the Northern Pacific, where icebergs are a constant threat to passenger and cargo ships. USCG patrol vessels track ice formations, assisted by B-17 aircraft. Features footage of the famed liner Queen Mary and USCGC Mendota (WHEC-69), an Owasco class high endurance cutter. Mendota was scrapped in 1974.
Helping ships steer clear of icebergs has been a priority of the International Ice Patrol since it was formed in 1913. Originally relying on reconnaissance ships, the IIP refined its methods over the subsequent decades to include radar, call-ins from passing ships and surveillance flights. But captains aren't required to heed the IIP's iceberg warnings, and human error can override even the most precise instruments. "If you've got a careless captain, then you can have an accident no matter how many technical aids you have," Wadhams says. "In theory there's not as much danger from icebergs now because of radar and an International Ice Patrol to warn ships of iceberg-infested waters, but human stupidity remains the same, so it's likely there will still be losses," he says.
Even before the Titanic, the maritime community was keenly aware of the limitations of their technology, according to Hill. "A lot of editorials and the shipping newspapers were decrying this foolishness of charging across the North Atlantic in winter full speed ahead, regardless of fog and ice. They were just waiting for an accident to happen, so in a sense there's no surprise," he says.
Thanks to radar technology, better education for mariners and iceberg monitoring systems, ship collisions with icebergs are generally avoidable, but the results can still be disastrous when they occur. "These things are very rare. It's one of those risks that are low frequency but high impact. So if it does go wrong, it goes badly wrong," Fleming says
7573 M'CLINTOCK CHANNEL LARSEN SOUND AND FRANKLIN STRAIT
So 790 charts (1677 including sub-charts) are available in the Canada CHS layer. (see coverage)
Note : don't forget to visit 'Notices to Mariners' published monthly and available from the Canadian Coast Guard both online or through a free hardcopy subscription service. This essential publication provides the latest information on changes to the aids to navigation system, as well as updates from CHS regarding CHS charts and publications. See also written Notices to Shipping and Navarea warnings : NOTSHIP
While information provided by this Web site is intended to provide updated nautical charts, it must not be used as a substitute for the United States Coast Guard, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or Canadian Coast Guard Notice to Mariner publications
In the deepest, darkest parts of the oceans are ecosystems with more diversity than a tropical rainforest. Taking us on a voyage into the ocean -- from the deepest trenches to the remains of the Titanic -- marine biologist David Gallo explores the wonder and beauty of marine life.
David Gallo works to push the bounds of oceanic discovery. Active in undersea exploration (sometimes in partnership with legendary Titanic-hunter Robert Ballard), he was one of the first oceanographers to use a combination of manned submersibles and robots to map the ocean world with unprecedented clarity and detail. He was a co-expedition leader during an exploration of the RMS Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck, using Russian Mir subs. On behalf of the Woods Hole labs, he appears around the country speaking on ocean and water issues, and leading tours of the deep-ocean submersible Alvin.
A new online site called Surging Seas from Climate Central maps the impact of climate change and sea level rise in coastal areas of the United States.
This map shows the odds of floods at least as high as historic once-a-century levels, occurring by 2030, based on Climate Central research. The two bars extending from each study point contrast odds estimates incorporating past and projected sea level rise from global warming (red bars), and odds estimates not incorporating this rise (blue bars). The century flood heights used for reference in these calculations are based on historic records, and expressed relative to sea level in 2009 to account for continually rising seas.
The online and interactive map displays the potential impacts of 2 to 7 more feet of sea level rise that is possible this century, which will impact the nearly 5 million people that live at less than 4 feet above high tide.
The map accompanies a report that looks at the impact of sea level rise and the risk from storm surges, with an estimate of the land, housing and population that are vulnerable.
A few shocking statistics from the report include:
In 285 municipalities, more than half the population lives below the 4-foot mark
In 676 towns and cities more than 10% of the population lives below the 4-foot mark
The Surging Seas website includes maps, reports, fact sheets, as well as downloadable data for all the cities, counties and states studied and links to dozens of local, state and national planning documents for coping with rising seas.
Links :
LiveScience : 4 Million Americans threatened by rising seas
NYTimes : Rising sea levels seen as threat to coastal U.S.
An extraordinary journey to the top of the world, "To The Arctic 3D" tells the ultimate tale of survival.
Narrated by Oscar® winner Meryl Streep, the film takes audiences on a never-before-experienced journey into the lives of a mother polar bear and her twin seven-month-old cubs as they navigate the changing Arctic wilderness they call home.
Captivating, adventurous and intimate footage brings moviegoers up close and personal with this family's struggle to survive in a frigid environment of melting ice, immense glaciers, spectacular waterfalls, and majestic snow-bound peaks.
The film explores the history and progression of the sport of bodysurfing and the pureness that comes from riding a wave.
