Monday, August 20, 2012 8:52am PDT
Blue whale impersonates large shark, sighting reminiscent of 'Jaws'
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com
Passengers aboard the Ocean Adventures catamaran were not going to need a bigger boat, it turned out,
because what looked like the fin of a gigantic shark belonged to a blue whale.
The unusual sighting on Sunday off Dana Point, Calif., was thanks to a large blue whale that turned on its side, allowing a portion of its tail fluke to slice through the water for an extended period alongside the vessel.
Donna Kalez, manager of Dana Wharf Whale Watching, said her captains have seen blue whales quickly roll over, briefly revealing a section of their fluke in this manner. But in this instance the whale remained in a sideways position for an extended period, allowing its tail fin to slice through the water looking strikingly like a fin belong to a certain member of the 1970s thriller, "Jaws."
Viewers of the video can hear the clicking of camera shutters during this event, and one passenger can even be heard saying, "He's doing his 'Jaws' impersonation."
Endangered blue whales are the largest creatures on the planet, reaching lengths of nearly 100 feet and weights of up to 150 tons. About 2,000 of blue whales spend the summer and early fall off the West Coast, gorging on shrimp-like krill.
Viewers of the video can hear the clicking of camera shutters during this event, and one passenger can even be heard saying, "He's doing his 'Jaws' impersonation."
Endangered blue whales are the largest creatures on the planet, reaching lengths of nearly 100 feet and weights of up to 150 tons. About 2,000 of blue whales spend the summer and early fall off the West Coast, gorging on shrimp-like krill.
Blue whales have been spotted off Dana Point, in Orange County, every day for more than a month.
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Thursday, July 26, 2012 5:17pm PDT
First look at "Chasing Mavericks" -- the Jay Moriarty story
By: Chris Mauro, GrindTV.com
Hollywood has been on a little bit of a win streak with movies like "Surf's Up" and "Soul Surfer" actually delivering profits at the 
box office. But unfortunately, Tinsel Town has a long history of horror when it comes to the genre. As a result, surfers always brace for the worst whenever they hear somebody's taking another swipe at the big screen.
box office. But unfortunately, Tinsel Town has a long history of horror when it comes to the genre. As a result, surfers always brace for the worst whenever they hear somebody's taking another swipe at the big screen.
This was especially true for "Chasing Mavericks," which is based on the very true life of the late Jay Moriarty, one of the sport's most beloved characters.
Moriarty, for those who don't remember, was 16 years old when he took to the Mavericks lineup back during the massive winter storms of 1994. He shocked everyone in the water with his gutsy performance, but he shocked the world with his famous Surfer Magazine cover, which showed Moriarty hanging 30 feet in the air, ab
out to take a wipeout that looked (at least at the time) unsurvivable.
The impact of the shot was significant, as it vaulted Mavericks' status in the big-wave arena to the very top. One year earlier, when Mavericks became public, the consensus was, "That's a really heavy wave." After the winter of 1994, and the Moriarty cover shot, it evolved into, "Y'know, this could be the world's heaviest wave."
But what separated Moriarty from the rest of the chest-thumping big-wave egos was how he handled the fleeting nature of his fame. The more he earned praise, the more humble he became, making him all the more likeable. As a result, his tragic death during a 2001 diving accident was especially tough to take. We lost a true role model.
For Hollywood to grasp, fully obtain, and then deliver on the essence of "Living like Jay" was always impossible from the start, and anyone who knew Jay understood that. All they could do was make sure his story didn't become a punch line.
To that end, many who knew Jay well worked closely with the filmmakers. And judging from the footage in this trailer, they've kept a close eye on keeping as much as they could authentic. The surf shots are all real. There are no glaring flops of film or inexplicable cutaways. Granted, we heard all about the dangerous stunts during filming, and the Hollywood thespians taking their lumps, and we loved that because it felt like Jay was poking fun at the whole thing.
Now it's gut check time. Time to butter the popcorn and settle into a chair and try to hold all my food in. I'll save my acting reviews for later, but rest assured I'm not counting on any Oscar nominations. That said, I will proudly take my young son to go see this, find the good in it like Jay found the good in everything he saw, and regardless of how I feel when it's over, I'll tell my kid what I think it really means to "Live like Jay."Photos: (Top) The SURFER Magazine cover of Jay Moriarty; (Above) Greg Long makes his acting debut in this film as Mavericks' legend Jeff Clark, while Gerard Butler plays Moriarty's mentor, Frosty.
For Hollywood to grasp, fully obtain, and then deliver on the essence of "Living like Jay" was always impossible from the start, and anyone who knew Jay understood that. All they could do was make sure his story didn't become a punch line.
To that end, many who knew Jay well worked closely with the filmmakers. And judging from the footage in this trailer, they've kept a close eye on keeping as much as they could authentic. The surf shots are all real. There are no glaring flops of film or inexplicable cutaways. Granted, we heard all about the dangerous stunts during filming, and the Hollywood thespians taking their lumps, and we loved that because it felt like Jay was poking fun at the whole thing.
Now it's gut check time. Time to butter the popcorn and settle into a chair and try to hold all my food in. I'll save my acting reviews for later, but rest assured I'm not counting on any Oscar nominations. That said, I will proudly take my young son to go see this, find the good in it like Jay found the good in everything he saw, and regardless of how I feel when it's over, I'll tell my kid what I think it really means to "Live like Jay."Photos: (Top) The SURFER Magazine cover of Jay Moriarty; (Above) Greg Long makes his acting debut in this film as Mavericks' legend Jeff Clark, while Gerard Butler plays Moriarty's mentor, Frosty.
Tags: Chasing Mavericks, Jay Moriarty
Saturday, July 14, 2012 11:59pm PDT
Boaters escape massive wall of water caused by crashing iceberg
Saturday, July 14, 2012 11:59pm PDT
By: Chris Mauro, GrindTV.com
There's one major issue with getting an up close view of collapsing icebergs crashing into the sea off the coast of Greenland, and that's keeping your pants dry when the angry wall of water that forms comes rushing toward you at high speeds. Jens Moller learned that lesson the hard way last week.
Moller held his camera steady on the iceberg after hearing it crack. The 23-year-old mechanical engineer was on board his uncle's boat with an Australian tourist. Luckily, Moller's uncle was wise enough to hit the accelerator and outrun the oncoming wall of whitewater before it rolled them...but it was close.
"I've never been this close to dying," Moller said afterward.
Needless to say, we don't recommend anyone try this, and Moller isn't likely to again, but remarkably, he kept the camera directly on the subject even while his life was in danger, giving us the opportunity to grasp nature's fury and his horror.
Moller told CNN in a phone conversation that he wasn't all that scared, because the wave didn't look all that big in the viewfinder. Given that's not the first time we've heard that explanation, perhaps those viewfinders should come with "Objects are bigger and closer than they appear" labels.
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PHOTOS - Breathtaking images from the World Bird Photo Contest
Moller held his camera steady on the iceberg after hearing it crack. The 23-year-old mechanical engineer was on board his uncle's boat with an Australian tourist. Luckily, Moller's uncle was wise enough to hit the accelerator and outrun the oncoming wall of whitewater before it rolled them...but it was close.
"I've never been this close to dying," Moller said afterward.
Needless to say, we don't recommend anyone try this, and Moller isn't likely to again, but remarkably, he kept the camera directly on the subject even while his life was in danger, giving us the opportunity to grasp nature's fury and his horror.
Moller told CNN in a phone conversation that he wasn't all that scared, because the wave didn't look all that big in the viewfinder. Given that's not the first time we've heard that explanation, perhaps those viewfinders should come with "Objects are bigger and closer than they appear" labels.
More on GrindTV
VIDEO - Trees snap like twigs in Canadian mudslide video
NATURE - Photographer defends amazing whale shark image as real
PHOTOS - Breathtaking images from the World Bird Photo Contest
Channels: Outdoor
Tags: boaters escape crashing iceberg
Western Australia's fifth fatal shark attack victim in 10 months stirs debate
By: Chris Mauro, GrindTV.com
Australia's latest fatal shark attack has scientists pondering the causes and remedies. On Sunday, Police in Western Australia confirmed the surfer fatally attacked while surfing near Wedge Island on Saturday was 24-year-old Ben Linden, of Osborne Park, a suburb of Perth. Linden (see photos) was Western Australia's fifth shark fatality in the past 10 months. He made the 100 mile trip north with his 
friend to surf some more remote breaks in the beautiful Wanagarren Nature Reserve for the day.
The horrifying attack occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday morning, and was witnessed by Matt Holmes, another surfer who was towing a friend into nearby waves with his jetski. Holmes told 10 News in Australia the shark looked "like it was eating a seal. It just threw its body out of the water for this guy. I turned and looked back at my mate, and I just thought, 'is this real?'"
After Holmes rushed his own friend to safety, he raced back out into the surf with Linden's buddy, whom he'd never met. They spotted Linden's body in the bloody water, and tried to retrieve it, but the massive shark was still circling, and turned on them, even bumping the ski. Holmes told reporters, "I don't know if it was trying to knock me off, or just keep me from the body...but I did another loop, and when I came back to the body, the shark took it."
Holmes emphatically identified the shark as a white pointer, AKA great white, and estimated its size to be 12-feet-long.
The spike in fatal shark attacks makes Western Australia the most dangerous place for surfers in the world. The surfing community has long considered the Indian Ocean the most dangerous because its undeveloped coastlines along Western Australia and Africa. With far fewer big cities lining the coasts, sea life is much more abundant.
On the other side of the Indian Ocean, in Durban, South Africa, city officials installed an elaborate shark net system as early as 1952 to put an end to the high number of fatal attacks they were suffering. The nets have had the desired effect in Durban, but attacks are still common in more rural stretches of coast.
On Sunday, Western Australia Fisheries Minister Norman Moore expressed concern at the trend of fatalities, telling the press, "We have allocated some Aus$14 million ($14 million) extra to get a better understanding of the great white sharks and the reasons why the fatalities are occurring."
"I wonder if research might tell us that there are now much greater number of great whites than ever before, and maybe we should look at whether they should remain a protected species.
Meanwhile, Dr Rory McAuley, a shark research scientist with the W.A Fisheries Department, has suggested the higher number of attacks could simply be due to the human population expanding. "Not only is it getting larger, it's getting more dispersed," he toldCoastal Watch. "So people are getting into the water over a greater area of the shark's range."
Moore told reporters he was open to "any suggestions from anybody as to where we go to now, because we seriously have got a problem."
In the past, culling programs have been ruled out by state premier Colin Barnett, who said it was impossible to protect all people at all times. After the last fatal attack in March, Barnett declared, "The ocean is the domain of the shark and we go there with a risk always."
Perth is Western Australia's largest city (the fourth largest in Australia), and home to 74% of state's population. Though Australia's mining boom in WA has contributed to a significant amount of urban sprawl over the past decade, it's easy to escape the bustle and find beaches that look the same way they did thousands of years ago, and more people are doing exactly that.
With perfect surfing conditions on tap Saturday morning, the Wedge Island portion of the Wanagarren Reserve was crowded with other surfers who'd made the trek north for a weekend beach getaway. The exact break where the incident occurred is called Dolphins, a popular spot for surfers.
After emergency crews arrived on scene, they spent the remainder of Saturday looking for Linden's body in vain.
Linden was a devoted surfer, talented musician, and cherished friend of many. When he wasn't at work making cabinets, he was busy surfing or playing with his band, Fools Rush In. His Facebook page was flooded with touching tributes, none more moving than Alana Noakes', his girlfriend of eight years.
"I'm devastated to let everyone know that my beautiful man, Ben Linden, was the surfer who was taken by the shark at Wedge this morning...
"Ben was the most amazing man, he lit up the lives of all who knew him.
He was the most talented, good-natured, beautiful person I've ever met.
"He was the love of my life, my best friend, my rock and my soul mate.
"I, like everyone who knew him, absolutely cherish every moment of the last 8 years I spent with him.
"He has helped me to be a better person, to learn to 'ride the waves' of life.
"Let's remember that he was doing something that meant the world to him. Surfing was his soul, his life, his culture and his passion.
"He loved mother nature in all her glory and is now in her arms eternally. Let's rejoice in that."
Photos of Ben Linden (top and bottom) are from his Facebook page. Search crew photo courtesy The West Australian.
friend to surf some more remote breaks in the beautiful Wanagarren Nature Reserve for the day.The horrifying attack occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday morning, and was witnessed by Matt Holmes, another surfer who was towing a friend into nearby waves with his jetski. Holmes told 10 News in Australia the shark looked "like it was eating a seal. It just threw its body out of the water for this guy. I turned and looked back at my mate, and I just thought, 'is this real?'"
After Holmes rushed his own friend to safety, he raced back out into the surf with Linden's buddy, whom he'd never met. They spotted Linden's body in the bloody water, and tried to retrieve it, but the massive shark was still circling, and turned on them, even bumping the ski. Holmes told reporters, "I don't know if it was trying to knock me off, or just keep me from the body...but I did another loop, and when I came back to the body, the shark took it."
Holmes emphatically identified the shark as a white pointer, AKA great white, and estimated its size to be 12-feet-long.
The spike in fatal shark attacks makes Western Australia the most dangerous place for surfers in the world. The surfing community has long considered the Indian Ocean the most dangerous because its undeveloped coastlines along Western Australia and Africa. With far fewer big cities lining the coasts, sea life is much more abundant.
On the other side of the Indian Ocean, in Durban, South Africa, city officials installed an elaborate shark net system as early as 1952 to put an end to the high number of fatal attacks they were suffering. The nets have had the desired effect in Durban, but attacks are still common in more rural stretches of coast.
On Sunday, Western Australia Fisheries Minister Norman Moore expressed concern at the trend of fatalities, telling the press, "We have allocated some Aus$14 million ($14 million) extra to get a better understanding of the great white sharks and the reasons why the fatalities are occurring."
"I wonder if research might tell us that there are now much greater number of great whites than ever before, and maybe we should look at whether they should remain a protected species.
Meanwhile, Dr Rory McAuley, a shark research scientist with the W.A Fisheries Department, has suggested the higher number of attacks could simply be due to the human population expanding. "Not only is it getting larger, it's getting more dispersed," he toldCoastal Watch. "So people are getting into the water over a greater area of the shark's range."
Moore told reporters he was open to "any suggestions from anybody as to where we go to now, because we seriously have got a problem."
In the past, culling programs have been ruled out by state premier Colin Barnett, who said it was impossible to protect all people at all times. After the last fatal attack in March, Barnett declared, "The ocean is the domain of the shark and we go there with a risk always."
Perth is Western Australia's largest city (the fourth largest in Australia), and home to 74% of state's population. Though Australia's mining boom in WA has contributed to a significant amount of urban sprawl over the past decade, it's easy to escape the bustle and find beaches that look the same way they did thousands of years ago, and more people are doing exactly that.
With perfect surfing conditions on tap Saturday morning, the Wedge Island portion of the Wanagarren Reserve was crowded with other surfers who'd made the trek north for a weekend beach getaway. The exact break where the incident occurred is called Dolphins, a popular spot for surfers.
After emergency crews arrived on scene, they spent the remainder of Saturday looking for Linden's body in vain.
Linden was a devoted surfer, talented musician, and cherished friend of many. When he wasn't at work making cabinets, he was busy surfing or playing with his band, Fools Rush In. His Facebook page was flooded with touching tributes, none more moving than Alana Noakes', his girlfriend of eight years.
"I'm devastated to let everyone know that my beautiful man, Ben Linden, was the surfer who was taken by the shark at Wedge this morning...
"Ben was the most amazing man, he lit up the lives of all who knew him.
He was the most talented, good-natured, beautiful person I've ever met.
"He was the love of my life, my best friend, my rock and my soul mate.
"I, like everyone who knew him, absolutely cherish every moment of the last 8 years I spent with him.
"He has helped me to be a better person, to learn to 'ride the waves' of life.
"Let's remember that he was doing something that meant the world to him. Surfing was his soul, his life, his culture and his passion.
"He loved mother nature in all her glory and is now in her arms eternally. Let's rejoice in that."
Photos of Ben Linden (top and bottom) are from his Facebook page. Search crew photo courtesy The West Australian.
Channels: Surf, Outdoor
Tags: Ben Linden, Shark Attack Western Australia
Saturday, July 7, 2012 12:17am PDT
New video offers a remarkable space trip for those grounded by reality
By: Chris Mauro, GrindTV.com
If you've been seriously considering a space tourism trip, but the sputtering economy has left you a bit shy of the $25 million needed for a ticket out of our atmosphere, fret no more. You no longer need to be part of the .0001 percent, or wait another decade for "spaceline" prices to drop in order to get that stunning view of earth. Thanks to Tomislav Safundzic, an 18-year-old video editor from Croatia, you can save yourself millions, avoid the huge hassle of finding a space suit, and pass on the barf bag.
With the help of images from NASA's Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, Safundzic created this incredible time-lapse video of earthly flyovers using shots taken from the International Space Station. The two minute journey includes incredible vistas of our gorgeous marble. Along with incredible flyovers of land and sea, some of the sights worth marveling include high-voltage thunderclouds, the neon glow of the Aurora Borealis, and night-time lights of every continent. Everyone can appreciate this perspective.
More on GrindTV.com
HIKING: America's 11 best day-hikes offer incredible scenery and adventure
NATURE: Endangered blue whales are flocking to Monterey
NEWS: Young bald eagle made famous by web is found electrocuted
With the help of images from NASA's Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, Safundzic created this incredible time-lapse video of earthly flyovers using shots taken from the International Space Station. The two minute journey includes incredible vistas of our gorgeous marble. Along with incredible flyovers of land and sea, some of the sights worth marveling include high-voltage thunderclouds, the neon glow of the Aurora Borealis, and night-time lights of every continent. Everyone can appreciate this perspective.
More on GrindTV.com
HIKING: America's 11 best day-hikes offer incredible scenery and adventure
NATURE: Endangered blue whales are flocking to Monterey
NEWS: Young bald eagle made famous by web is found electrocuted
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