Daily Archives: February 9, 2022

You're invited to the 'Board Meeting' - Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival by Vans

Surfers and ocean lovers, get ready for the ultimate Board Meeting a multi-day festival beaming with events surrounding the seascape.

The Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival presented by Vans will be held from 1-11 March 2022, and will comprise a diverse lineup of ocean-minded events, including film screenings, talks, art exhibitions, a charity auction, a lecture, community upliftment days, ocean expo, live music, a photographic competition and a public mural.

Festival Director Shani Judes said: We are excited to announce that we have moved from December 2021 to March 2022. Our reasons are to mitigate against the continued threat posed by COVID-19, to grow festival attendance during a less busy time of the year, and of course, the weather in Cape Town is generally kinder to us late in the summer!

We are pleased that all our core events will return, with an outdoor screening at The Galileo Open Air Cinema to replace Clifton, which is the only casualty to COVID. We have a bumper lineup, with cool new additions such as The Board Meeting expo, surfboard swop and surf party, the Ocean Photographic Competition, and two new venues for film screenings: one up the West Coast and one in the deep south of the Cape Peninsula, she said.

The Film Festival component includes five days of film screenings at four venues the Shred in Paarden Eiland, the Labia Theatre in town, the Galileo at Kirstenbosch and one in Kommetjie.

The Board Meeting takes place at Jack Blacks Taproom, and will feature an exhibition by leading sustainable ocean eco-brands and conservation organisations, a surfboard swop and childrens activities, topped off by a DJ and band.

Wavescape has teamed up with Orms, Canon and SJ Artists to curate the Ocean Photographic Exhibition, which features the best ocean photographs in South Africa. The competition opens for submissions in early December and runs until 15 January 2022. Judges will choose 20 images for an exhibition along the Sea Point Promenade from 1 March. There will be a NSRI panel with information and donation information for people to easily donate to the NSRI.

Wavescape returns with the famous Artboard Project, when handcrafted surfboards are the canvas for SAs top artists that go on exhibition and are auctioned for ocean organisations and youth development program 9Miles. Wavescape will also run the Wesgro Blue Ocean Master Class for aspirant environmental filmmakers, the Save Our Seas Foundation Beach Reach on Dalebrook beach in front of the SOSF-Shark Education Center in Kalk Bay, and Spikes Swell Course, an evening of surf forecasting and wave science.

Slide Night returns to the Centre for the Book with some of the worlds best creative and scientific minds advocating social and environmental change, from scientists to artists, authors to activists, as well as salty tales of adventure and scientific curiosity from the high seas.

Wavescape again hosts Oceans Alive at the Two Oceans Aquarium, an evening of surfing, activism and conservation. This year, they join Cape Town-based NPO Protect the West Coast to shed light on the effects of illegal heavy mineral sand mining along this pristine wilderness to the North.

With the support of the Wesgro Film and Promotion Unit, the Blue Ocean Masterclass focuses on film techniques in and on the ocean, and includes top cinematographers and underwater camera experts sharing thoughts and expertise on the technology and skill of this burgeoning area.

Wavescape welcomes its partners on board for another epic year together. Vans takes the title, with the following partners: the Save Our Seas Foundation, The PET Recycling Company NPC (PETCO), Jack Black Beer, Wesgro, Cefas (UK Government), WILDOCEANS & Gone. Born from a love for the ocean, Wavescape is proud of the work done by its amazing partners who work so tirelessly to protect the worlds oceans and their creatures.

2022: Line Up

Also read:

NSRI rescues three men on the Karbonkelberg hiking trail

Picture: Supplied

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You're invited to the 'Board Meeting' - Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival by Vans - CapeTown ETC

Cruises: Holidays on the high seas

Cruises: Holidays on the high seas

Every year more tourists set sail. Cruises are becoming increasingly popular around the world. More and more Germans are also vacationing on the high seas.

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Not dreamy cruise

Huge trouble for Aida vacationers! Because instead of anticipation and tingling in the stomach, there is one cruise suddenly on the brink and the holidaymakers there all alone! Our partner portal MOIN.de reports on this.

On Facebook, an Aida vacationer reports on her terrible shock experience. She had been looking forward to the cruise so much, imagining how nice it would be on deck and how delicious the food in the restaurants would be.

This is the Aida:

But then her partner cancels shortly before the start of the trip! What should she do? rebook? Cancel? Or just start the cruise alone?

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Aida vacationers are suddenly alone!

Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Soren Stache

As MOIN.de reports, the answer among Aida fans is quite divided. One side thinks that you should drive anyway. The other, on the other hand, that instead of cruising, you might have to fight for the relationship first.

More cruise news:

But the majority is of the opinion that if your partner has health problems, you should rather stay with him.

Other top topics:

You can read about what the Aida vacationer finally decides on and how THAT is received by the community at MOIN.de. (mg)

Source

See the rest here:

Cruise: Aida vacationer is suddenly alone before the start of the journey desperation is spreading - Then24.com

The wonders of the Weddell Sea in Antarctica are multiple and awe inspiring. Its depth averages 500m, its clarity is that of distilled water. The temperature is zero degrees on the sea floor but it teems with life. Outweighing all other is krill, its biomass being far greater than any other: Antarctic krill are thought to have the largest population of any species on the planet.

The US passed legislation to conserve Pacific krill in 1976, soon after Japan and Russia began exploratory fishing in Antarctica. Since then, krill harvesting has become a huge industry and, while conservation measures have been put in place in some sea areas krill are a transglobal species the quantities harvested are increasing and, in some regions, threatening other creatures in the ecosystems. An example is the Adlie penguins, which along with Emperor penguins live farther south than any others.

Most marine species in the Southern Ocean including whales, seals, penguins, albatrosses, petrels, squid and many others feed on this small shrimp-like organism. The great pity is, of course, that while the krill shoals are the staff of life for these and numerous other, less iconic species, the humans who harvest them do not use them (or rely on them) for human food but to feed farmed fish, or create nutritional and fish oil supplements, currently a vexed issue for conservationists, and rightly so. Not for essential nutritional needs but for convenience and vanity, the krill-fishing competes with creatures upon which one of the last undamaged ecologies on earth depends.

Krill famously feeds whales, ironically the mammoths of the ocean being sustained by the mice. Now that whales in most marine jurisdictions are no longer targets for explosive harpoons, they face the hazard of entanglement in nets and death by drowning. That a 60ft-long whale can be entangled gives us some idea of the size and weight of nets.

A recent example was a juvenile humpback spotted in Antarctic waters entangled in fishing gear. Its dorsal fin was missing, and it was trailing nets, ropes and buoys that had wrapped around the tail cutting deep into the skin. It was probably a youngster on its first solo migration and had likely carried the gear thousands of kilometres down the South American coast. It was labouring to swim and was likely to drown as it lost the power to enable it to forage, and starved. Conservationists are demanding better protections as changing sea temperatures bring migrating whales nearer to intensely-fished areas.

A recently observed high-seas incident revealed orca behaviour rarely, if ever before, seen. A humpback in bad condition was spotted so entangled in heavy nets that it couldnt surface to breathe. Then, a pod of orcas, killer whales, happened along. Instead of attacking and killing the whale, they moseyed about until the Mother Orca arrived and investigated the entangling ropes. Her family followed. Observers noted that they appeared to drag the hawsers from the humpbacks body so that, freed of the weight, it could more easily reach the surface to breathe. The rescuers then left.

Orcas are wary of attacking adult baleen whales for fear of a lethal blow from their tails. However, part of an orca pod will distract the mother of an infant calf so that companions can drown it. Also, a teenage humpback separated from its mother is in danger of orcas grabbing its flukes to roll it onto its back and keep it there long enough to drown. Killers are killers. It may have been sheer chance rather than cetacean solidarity that the orcas freed the ailing whale.

To end, I consider again the wonders of the Antarctic ocean as unbeknown to and unimagined by our intrepid Kildare-born explorer Ernest Shackleton. Last year, a colony of approximately 60 million Jonahs icefish nests were found on the floor of the crystal clear waters of the Wendell Sea he and his brave companions crossed in 1908. The colony covers some 240sq km with 60m nests, each containing 1,500 to 2,000 eggs guarded by the parent fish. The total biomass comprises 60,000 tonnes (132,000,000 lb) of fish, average length 50cm. The largest icefish colony previously observed numbered fewer than 100 nests.

Now that weve found this wealth, should we not seek licences to extract it? After all, apart from feeding Adlie penguins, also useless to humans, what good are icefish? Theyre unpalatable for our species and presently of no commercial interest but surely some use can be found for them? Fishmeal fertiliser? Also, they do eat krill and, hey!, sooner or later may compete with krill harvesting. Meanwhile, theyve converted a wasteland into a living ecosystem. Unfortunately, uncontrolled fishing would soon turn it into a wasteland again.

Read the original here:

Damien Enright: The thrill of krill and the fight for survival in Antarctica - Irish Examiner

Whats bold and gold? Not a piece of jewelry, but a superyacht thats no less. With nearly 160 feet, this carbon composite-built Palmer Johnson is a head-turning, statement-making masterpiece gliding on the open seas. Its not every day even yacht owners come across something this glamorous, which is why we want to delve deep into the majestic marvel. What makes this sparkling gold supersport Khalilah an exceptional cruising vessel thats undoubtedly a lot more than an eye-catching color? Read on to find out :All that glitters is the Khalilah Superyacht:The Russians sure love to indulge in ultra-luxury yachts. They have them all from an ultra-extravagant superyacht, as seen with Russian billionaire Roman Abramovichs $610M megayacht Solaris or Dmitry Rybolovlevs $250 million modern masterpiece, the 361 ft long superyacht Anna; they truly have the best examples. Joining the ranks of some exceptional water vessels is oil tycoon Alexei Gulobovichs glistening stunner Khailiah. Dont let the opulent exterior fool you. This pretty thing is rated very high on performance.

Khalilah is the largest private yacht built entirely in carbon composite, lighter than its counterparts. It also gives her an impressive top speed of 30 knots. Part of the SuperSport series, the ship is sleek and sporty, with a long foredeck ending in what appears to be a reverse bow.

On the broadest part of the hull sits the 110 square meters aft main deck. The 11m beam provides extraordinary interior volume that accommodates a magnificent master suite sprawling full-beam forward on the main deck. It looks incredibly inviting with a lovely circular table for al fresco dining and many seating arrangements.

The lower deck is where you will find guest cabins, including a comfortable VIP, each with a unique color scheme and providing enough room for 11 guests. What also stands out in Khalilah superyacht is its brilliant use of color. From the striking gold exterior to the collection of eclectic artwork and kaleidoscopic fabrics and even the colorful mosaics spotted in the showers of the cabins, there is no shortage of spunk onboard. In addition to colors, there is an evident use of glass almost everywhere.

This abundant use of the material ensures the view is never out f your sight, whether seated or sleeping. They are the biggest glass panels aside from Steve Jobss boat, said Timur Mohamed, owner of the iconic American boatbuilder Palmer Johnson. They are the largest windows installed on a superyacht in the United States, said Andrew Forrest, who heads the Glasshape North America office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Boat International.

Khalilah boasts a matching gold tender, in addition to a wide selection of water toys, kept inside two garages one with a fueling station. Amongst her excellent crew of nine is a two-star Michelin-trained chef. With all these niceties, it wouldnt be easy for Russian millionaire Alexei Gulobovich to part ways with this ship, even for a whopping $32 million.

His ex-wife Nataliya GolubovichThe Russian oil baron came into the limelight for a divorce battle with his business tycoon ex-wife over their $9 million former marital home in London. His ex-wife is chairman of Russki Product, Russias most significant domestic producer of grocery goods.

Read this article:

This Russian oil barons' 160-feet superyacht with a glistening gold exterior is the shiniest vessel on the high seas - The cruiser comes with a...

This will not sit comfortably with many. But there is a powerful argument to say Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar was due, at least in part, by French design.

Because more than half of the fleet of warships he led to attack the Spanish and French in his remarkable victory of 1805, were modelled on a vessel created by our Continental near neighbours.

L'Invincible was a new breed of French warship - designed and crafted to not only out-gun its rivals but out manoeuvre them both in terms of speed and agility on the high seas too.

And her remarkable story - and premature, chaotic demise - will be told at a special exhibition opening at Chatham Historic Dockyard this month which provides a fascinating insight into one of the most historically significant vessels in the Royal Navy's long history.

She has, for more than 260 years, lay on the floor of the Channel - after being accidentally rediscovered by a fisherman near Portsmouth in 1979.

Yet her story is remarkable and one which genuinely altered the course of history.

First launched by the French in 1744, three years later L'Invincible took part in the First Battle of Cape Finisterre during the War of the Austrian Succession.

But as she escorted a convoy of merchant ships, the British fleet gave chase. After attempting to hold off the attacking forces she was forced to surrender and captured by the British.

And the Navy's top brass were in for a surprise.

Because after 50 years of naval supremacy, the British had become somewhat complacent. Its fleet had developed little over the decades. The French, on the other hand, with a need to combat the British might, had gone back to the drawing board.

Using the latest scientific principles to their designs, they embarked on building the next generation of warships where speed and fighting ability were key.

L'Invincible was wider at the front and narrower in the stern, allowing her to cut through the water quicker, her rudder was designed to allow her to turn without slowing and more accurately.

She was more heavily armed too - boasting 74 guns; more than any British vessel. Its main gun deck was six foot above the waterline - allowing it to defeat bigger ships where lower gun ports could be submerged in rough seas. In short, it was revolutionary. And the British knew it.

Explains Nick Ball, collections, galleries and interpretation manager at the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust: "Originally, a nippy French warship, when LInvincible was captured by the Royal Navy every inch of her hull and form were studied and then replicated to form a new fleet that would go on to defeat the French.

"She was a game-changer who even influenced the subsequent design of the worlds most famous warship - Admiral Nelson's HMS Victory, built here at Chatham.

When Nelson defeated the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar, nearly two-thirds of his ships had been based on the design of the vessel seized 58 years earlier.

After her capture, the Navy took L'Invincible, sailed her into Portsmouth, and improved upon her. They enhanced her guns - swapping out the 18-pound guns for 24-pounders capable of firing larger, slower shot which, rather than just passing through its target would crash into it, sending lethal wooden splinters flying inside.

The British also tried out 'gunlocks' on her - effectively a trigger to fire the guns which was both quicker and more accurate - while gun ports were enlarged to provide a wider range of sight.

But for all its advances - and the inspiration for those which came after her - its pioneering presence within the Navy's ranks would be shortlived.

On February 19, 1758, a decade after its capture, it was to be one of the key vessels sailing to North America to help repel, ironically, the French, from the early settler colonies. It would fail to even leave British waters.

The captain on that fateful morning was Deal-born John Bentley. He had spent his life climbing up the rigging of the Navy's pyramid of power.

Having joined the Navy as a 14-year-old, he had moved up through the ranks eventually laying claim to the rank of captain. February 19 was not a day that would he would look back on with any affection.

At around 2.30am, as the crew of 700 readied the vessel for its long journey - its hold packed with ammunition, army supplies, food and spirits - the signal was given to raise anchor from Portsmouth and head across the Atlantic.

However, the crew struggled to lift the anchor and it took 90 minutes to finally free it - only for it then to get caught up under the ship. As efforts were made to raise it out of the water, the boat started to drift dangerous towards the shallow waters of the Solent.

The rudder becomes jammed and despite frantic attempts to save them from humiliation the boat found itself grounded on a sandbank.

Water started flooding into the vessel prompting desperate efforts to unload her in order for her to be refloated. All, however, was in vain, and as she toppled on to her side, the Invincible's life on the ocean came to a rather ignominious end.

She still sits on the sandbank today on which she became stranded all those years ago.

How the HMS Invincible sank in 1758

Captain Bentley was court marshalled by a fuming Royal Navy who had been left red-faced after news of the ship's calamity had been widely reported on.

He would be acquitted - much to the frustration of the Admiralty. It didn't damage his career too much, however, as he would go on to become Vice Admiral Sir John Bentley before his death in 1772. He is buried in St Andrew's Church near Dover. His epitaph reads "esteemed and favoured by his King, beloved and honoured by his country".

It would not be until 1979 that the Invincible would be headline news again.

On May 5, Arthur Mack, from Portsmouth, and his friend were out fishing in the Solent when their net snagged on something below the surface. Hauling up the nets, they found large pieces of timber with wooden pegs.

Returning with a couple of friends who were divers, they realised they had stumbled upon something - although, at first, they thought it the remains of an old pier. Alerting the authorities, archaeologists took over and, eventually, discovered that the remains were those of the Invincible - untouched since 1758. Obscured by the sands in which it had floundered all those years before.

In 1980, a team of experienced marine archaeological volunteers set about excavating the underwater site with a second taking place between 2017-2019, led by Dr Daniel Pascoe and Professor Dave Parham at Bournemouth University.

Explains Dr Pascoe: "Shipwrecks provide a brilliant opportunity to travel back in time - they enable us to learn about the people, and when you find objects in their original context, we can learn something of their lives and how they operated. We can form a connection with the people who were on board those ships. We try to understand the naval culture; the details on the objects tell us about the people who made them - and thats whats interesting.

Ive worked on shipwrecks from the Mary Rose period upwards and I can see how the culture of the navy has changed. The Invincible was a lot more organised than the century before.

"The gun equipment on the Invincible are standard, and unlike the modified equipment of the century before, means that everything was made for purpose. Everything is labelled, the gun carriage axels have the calibre of the gun and whether theyre front or rear axel and the inside of the ship is clad with reverse clinker pine cladding - on purpose - so that any moisture thats leaking in, goes behind the cladding and keeps the inside of the ship dry.

"Its clear the Invincible was part of a new navy - a more reliable and invincible organisation. "The Invincible provides the physical evidence of this progression and change in history. "Historical documents describe these artefacts but the physical objects and their position on board ship is the evidence of the challenges the people had to overcome - these things were so normal to the shipmen and they wouldnt have been written down, so the archaeology forms this connection with the individuals.

"By understanding the problems they overcome, you being to think about the broader culture of the navy and how they overcame obstacles and challenges.

"With Invincible, its so big and so much of it had survived. When we opened it up we could swim along the deck and some areas of the ship were completely untouched so we saw the artefacts in the original places when she went down. Youre able to interpret what youre seeing and that provides an insight into exactly what it was like at the time when the ship was wrecked.

"The master gunner had a store - this was emptied in the 1980s - but we learned that there was a hatchway in the very bow of the ship and this led to the overflow of the gunners store where he kept bulkier items like junk rope and gun wads made from junk, used in the loading process of the guns to keep a seal around the charge and stop the round shot rolling out of the barrel of the gun.

"It hadnt moved. It was untouched and unexcavated and showed something of the gunners life and his equipment.

"The rope was in great condition and when we brought it to the surface we could smell the tar. When we took away the junk rope we could see the white lime wash on the beams - paint doesnt normally survive."

The exhibition at Chatham - Diving Deep: HMS Invincible 1744 - is on loan to the Historic Dockyard from the National Museum of the Royal Navy and runs until November. It provides a fascinating insight - not only allowing visitors to see items recovered from the wreck, but also extensive video footage filmed by divers exploring the remains of the vessel

Jane Maddocks was a volunteer diver and marine archaeologist who dived on both the 20th and 21st century excavations.

She explained: "It was the early '80s and we used a motorised fishing vessel with dredges and lifts, and we went down and drew the items we found.

"The very first time I dived I found trays of grenades packed 12 to a tray and underneath the tray were little flints so you could strike the fuse and it was all there. I think that was the thing that excited me the most at the time. The downside was that it was gun powder and very smelly after so much time underwater. On the last day of the dive I tried to get a taxi home and I had to put my jacket in the boot because the smell of rotten eggs was too much.

"The big difference between the 1980s and now, is the variety of techniques available to the professional team from the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust."

Key to that is using what is known as photogrammetry which allows 3D images to be built up by taking a number of images of the wreck.

Adds Jane: "It allows so much of the detail to be recorded very quickly and with the utmost accuracy. It can take an age to draw accurately to scale underwater, but photogrammetry delivers excellent results over a large area."

Nick Ball at the dockyard adds: The maritime archaeology project to excavate the famous ship was probably one of the most important of its kind since the raising of the Mary Rose. The story of the excavation itself is extraordinary as it was a race against time and tides.

And the dockyard has been involved since the wreck was first discovered.

Explains Bournemouth University's Dr Pascoe: Chatham has been involved with Invincible since the 1980s since the first excavation where they took artefacts and held part of the collection. To have them involved in the second dive added extra strength to the project.

For me, it was always a dream to share it wider. When I first took over the licence for the wreck (it is a protected site), my aim was to investigate the wreck, excavate it and display it for everyone to see. I was determined that we would do something and continue John Bingemans work (Bingeman had held the original licence in the 1980s). We managed to do it in good time from 2010, raising the funding, and achieving what we set out to do.

"The exhibition is an opportunity to share what we were seeing on the seabed with the wider world and it makes me feel proud for everyone who has been involved - they can see that all their efforts have contributed to this incredible exhibition.

"The project has been a huge effort from everyone involved from the person who drove the boat, divers, the people who filmed it, the volunteers who researched the stories behind the artefacts, the curators.

The exhibition has travelled from Portsmouth to Chatham and the project was made possible by a collaboration with the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust (MAST), Bournemouth University, the National Museum of the Royal Navy and Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

After a year at its initial site in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the immersive experience goes live to the public in Chatham on Saturday, February 12, and runs until November.

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The warship which changed British history - Kent Online