The Earthist Chronicles

So here’s the idiot who clipped Ellen’s tri. Nice that he got a bumper right onto her bow…

“Hey, Buddy! Put that bottle down and get your ass out here…”

It’s a double feature today (see below). When I’ve got ’em, I post ’em. So we know all about the French Trench, where our man Finian Maynard and his merry band of boardsailors has been busting up the sailing speed record book. But what would it be like to sail something elese on that speed track, say a Hobie Tiger. The answer is: it would be fantastic and exciting, except that you have to be very, very careful. Just check out this video, and see if you can get through it without saying “Holy sh*t!” at least once…

“Ha-ha! I may be flying through the air, but at least the boat is still in the water…”

When you jump out of planes with a parachute on your back, it’s very, very important that you don’t, ummm, well watch the video…

Could Be Worse, Though: “Damn. I think I’d rather be that guy in the video…”

Today, I have words and pictures, if you are interested in following this beach cat stage race in nose-hair detail. The Catsailor website has the words, with leg reports here, and forum discussion here. And Adventure Online TV (which is an incredible site) has the videos, here. Also, our buddies over at SailMax are doing extensive updates, and note that ol’ Tad at Team Velocity suffered a capsize. Tad? Details?…

“Dude, keep the spin trim on. I’m tired and I’d like to sail all the way to the trailer…”

Capo di capo photog Carlo Borlenghi was in Brazil to catch the Volvo Open 70 Telefonica Movistar as it loped into Rio. And Melendy Britt from the PR office was kind enough to pass them right along. Very sweet. Suddenly, I’m having trouble sitting quietly at my desk…

What’s more ominous than a Great White shark cruising just below the surface? A Great White that is willing to get big air to eat. Check out these incredible photographs from South African photographer Chris Fallows’ Apex Predators website. Full gallery is here. Duh-duh. Duh-duh. Duh-duh…

“Okay. Let’s loosen up a bit…”

“Yeah, now I’m feeling limber. Warm-up time is over…”

“Hellooo, little seal. Meet my mouth…”

The vaunted Offshore Challenges machine can manage sailing careers, record attempts and sponsorship bonanzas. But even they can’t account for idiots in powerboats. And on Sunday one such idiot smacked directly into B&Q’s middle bow, while the boat was sitting at her slip in Cowes. You can read all about it here. But here’s Ellen on the incident: “It’s a busy river here and these things can happen. The main thing is no one was hurt. The focus is now getting her repaired and back in the water.” Hmmm, she’s being a lot more polite than I would be (or she was in private, I’m betting)…


B&Q’s Battered Bow: “Hey, it’s a good thing we’re sponsored by a hardware conglomerate…”

Ed Viesturs and his team are in Camp 3 at 23,000 feet, waiting for howling winds to die down so they can storm the summit in the next day or two. You can read about how they got there here. The most interesting part, though, is Lindsay Yaw’s account of all the running around photographer Jimmy Chin does to take his photos:

Ed and Veikka were quiet, focused on their day’s objective, making each step deliberate so as not to falter on the rocky terrain. Do I fire a question and break the silence? I asked myself. After all, I am a journalist, I am here to do just that: Ask questions. I waited a bit for the steep trail to slack off, but couldn’t get enough air to ask anything interesting, and was afraid to break their meditative state, anyway.

Jimmy, on the other hand, was doing wind sprints, constantly jogging ahead then waiting, breathing overtime as Veikka and Ed strode past quietly in their logo-clad clothing. Jimmy does this all day, as I’ve seen it on other assignments we’ve done together. He runs ahead, lingers in a spot with the perfect backdrop, lighting or composition, then shoots stills, film, and sometimes both before running ahead again, always expending triple the energy to “get the shot.” I can barely spit out questions between gasps as I try to stay glued to Ed and Veikka’s heels—and Jimmy’s doing laps around us.

Chin is a great photographer (go here for a good profile), and now you know why. So when will the push come? Here’s an update of what’s going on at Camp 3, on Explorer’s Web.

Annapurna Dawn: “Jimmy? Jimmy! Wake up…!”

It’s media mad Monday, so let’s keep the clips rolling. Check out this sequence of a surfer who almost gets his head taken off by a Jetski. Great video from Surfline, even though they try to overhype the event with a ridiculous after-action interview. These guys talk as if they’ve been in combat. Pssst. Dude. It’s just surfing…

“Oops. This is going to be interesting…”

It’s certainly good to be Philippe Kahn, internet billionaire and the impresario behind the Pegasus racing franchise. Kahn loves sailing, and he’s into everything from transpac sleds to Farr 40s, to Melges 24s (his son, Shark, won a world championship), to 505s and Finns. Two themes run through his choice of craft: world-class competition and, speed, speed and more speed (though he’s not into the multihulls yet). Anyhow, Kahn can go out sailing from his training bases in California and Hawaii whenever he likes (well, almost). And he can have a coach boat along, and that coach boat can film him. He recently found himself in a 505 and some monster winds and waves. So here, on film, is what it is like to be Philippe Kahn.

Clip 1

Clip 2

Clip 3

Looks like fun. Bastard…

“Hey, Philippe! Stop playing with your Blackberry, and drive the boat…”!