Filmed for the upcoming TV documentary Britains Sharks the video shows up to 200 blue sharks tucking into a dead humpback whale in an area called The Celtic Deeps between Cornwall, Wales and Ireland.
Dr Nicholas Higgs, a research fellow at Plymouth University’s Marine Institute, set up the experiment with Ben Fogle during the filming in the Celtic Deeps, a deep water trench between the coasts of Cornwall, Wales and Ireland.
Dr Higgs said: “When a whale dies it can float for weeks, and be carried along by the current for miles while being fed on by scavengers. Elsewhere in the world, we know that a huge range of animals will come in to feed, everything from great white sharks to tiny worms. But we’ve never had the opportunity to study one in the UK because when a whale washes up, it is taken to landfill.
“We had no idea what might come along to the feast. I would never have predicted that you’d have this many sharks eating this much of the whale at the surface,” he said.
“If you’d asked me six months ago about what was likely to happen to this whale, I would have said that you might get ‘a few nibbles here and there’, but most of that whale would end up on the seabed. What we’re seeing here is a huge proportion of it just being eaten and taken away by these sharks.
Britain’s Sharks is broadcast on ITV Friday, March 25, at 9pm.
Sharks spotted off the UK and Ireland include mako’s porbeagles, blues and baskers. Although the water is perfect for great whites there have been no corroborated sightings even tough scientists have been trying to find them for years and conditions are ideal.
Carve’s oceanography department however issue a warning for weavers which are about to come back to haunt the beaches.
So Big OW has been back into sea after recouping from his head injuries suffered at Pipe. He is still in the early days of getting back on his feet, so he is right back to basics, from elite Chopes charging pro to foamy king, just like that. It must be a huge source of frustration as you can imagine. Not being able to surf sucks at anytime but at least we can surf.
And this is the point. Owen’s latest Instagam post below (www.instagram.com/owright if you want to follow) highlights why we all love surfing. Sure we beat ourselves up for being so kooky, we all want to rip like Owen, pull big airs, get barrelled but at the of the end of the day, when we forget all around and immerse ourselves in the ocean, and just go surfing, it is then we have the most fun.
No hooters, no points, there may not even be any spectators or anyone else around, or you could just snag one in the middle of a metropolitan crowd. It could be one foot, it could be ten, onshore, or offshore, 30 degrees or minus 10. You may have a Firewire Tomo or the latest custom sled, you could just as easily be in rag tag third-hand board shorts riding a piece of wood until your belly drags on the sand on some far flung corner of the earth. But you are, gliding along a wave, performing the greatest activity, art or sport on earth – surfing.
And in that moment nothing else matters, you are lost in the stoke.
Those long hours being battered, practising, hoping, dreaming all coming to fruition in one heady mix of adrenalin and endorphins. And there lays the truth in surfing, on any given day any surfer of any ability can feel gloriously victorious. You can hoot, scream, high, five or just smile but at the one minute moment in time you feel you are invincible…
Of course five minutes later you could be face planting, chewing sand, or pulling the nose of your board out of your ass which can generally make you feel like an inglorious bastard for a week. And this is where the genius of Owen Wright’s observation lays, “…self improvement is necessary but to focus on comparison of what used to be, what others can do or why you’re not good enough is detrimental to the now; negative emotion in your self will hinder improvement and happiness.”
Wise words. Just go surfing. Get stoked. Live in the now.
Get well Owen, you are legend whether you can surf one foot or ten.
Surf Snowdonia has reopened it doors after a £1 million refit. The world’s first operational Wavegarden had to close for the winter eight weeks early in October due to mechanical faults. The wave was booked at an average of 97 percent occupancy during its first operational season. The attraction has also added a “Crash and Splash” obstacle course and a water based catapult called “Blob” !
The 2016 Welsh Junior Squad got the ball rolling under the watchful eye of Jo Dennison (Current Welsh Women’s champion and Head of Surf Snowdonia’s Surf Academy) . The groms all made the most of the new Wipeout Assault Course.
Roving wild haired mini reporter Jo Morris was there…
How did you rate the wave?
It was such a great wave, really fun and fast.
Had they made any changes to it since last year?
I was one of the unlucky ones that it broke the day me and Stan (Norman) were going to surf it so we never got the chance. It looks amazing though and Jo (Dennison) said they have been testing and training on it ready to open this year.
How did you rate it for a training wave?
It takes a wave or two to get used to it but you have the same wave everytime so to prefect a turn, an hour session would be perfect. Jo told us to stay by the wall and really paddle to get the wave, and then we were off.
How long did you have on it?
There were lots of us there and we only had the morning so we had a few waves each.
Did you go on the other stuff? Was it fun?
In the afternoon we got to try their wipe out assault course which was so good and great team building. They have another inflatable attraction but it wasn’t quite ready so will definitely go on that next time. We also had a hard but good fitness session by Coaches Gwen, Sam and Bangor university students in the afternoon.
How cold was it? Was it colder than the sea?
It is North Wales, so the air was cold but the pool temp was the same as the sea now really.
Would you go again?
I would love to go up for the weekend, when we have one of our flat spells to use all the attractions, a wave pool session and visit the famous zip wire attraction down the road on the way home!! It would be a great stop off on the way home from a surf trip to Thurso or somewhere up North also.
An English board builder and artist have produced the world’s first 24 carat surfboard “The Aureus”.
Ellie Miller ( The only female professional board maker in Europe, produces handmade bespoke surfboards under her own label Miller Surfboards.) and Danni Bradford ( An artist and freelance surface designer specialising in verre-eglomise – the gilding of glass ) hand-built the board using traditional techniques in a small studio in North Devon, England as part of their Lux brand.
“Each surfboard produced in the LUX series is a totally unique work of art. Inspiration for each shape is drawn from key eras within surfboard design. By combining the skills and understanding of their respective art forms, the creators of LUX aspire to move forward in brave and innovative ways, making surfboards of striking beauty and unrivalled elegance to be enjoyed for their graceful aesthetic as well as their performance as contemporary wave riding craft.”
“Not only beautiful, the Aureus remains a fully functional surfboard, hand-built to the highest standards of traditional craftsmanship. The incorporation of 24 Karat gold throughout the board’s construction marks a world first in surfboard manufacturing techniques.”
The board is 6’8” x 20½” x 3” “inspired by the single fin surfboards of the 1970’s – It is finished in typical styling of the era with a triple 24 Kt gold leaf elliptical pinline design, 24 Kt gold gilded fiberglass fin, and 24 Kt gold gilded LUX icon.”
Built on the latest technology from Google’s Android Wear™ smartwatch platform and the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ Wear 2100 system-on-chip (SoC), The Mission features a suite of custom applications and 10-ATM (100 meter) water-resistance. In addition to the full capabilities of the Android Wear™ platform and apps, the smartwatch introduces Nixon’s custom Mission app powered by Surfline.
The Mission displays live surf conditions at a glance of the wrist and features a custom activity-tracking application developed in partnership with Trace, the leader in action sports activity tracking.
Preloaded with the Nixon exclusive Mission and Trace apps, The Mission brings your world to your wrist. Powered in partnership by Surfline, The Mission app keeps surfers updated in real-time on surf conditions worldwide. The Nixon Trace app pairs with Trace and allows users to track their sessions and easily view their stats and session details during activity.
Following its ethos of Team-Designed, Custom-Built, Nixon will offer customization options for The Mission through its Nixon.com e-commerce platform. Customers will be able to select between case finishes, custom bezel colors and a variety of band colors to create their own “1 of 1” special-edition model.
Bezel options will include a variety of finishes such as solid stainless steel, IP plated steel and Cerakote™ pop colors. Bands will feature custom silicone colors in a durable dual-layer silicone band. Finally, the full-color digital display can also be set to mirror the face of Nixon’s leading watch models, including: The 51-30, The Sentry, The Player, The Ranger and The Unit.
The Mission smartwatch will be available later this year at select retailers, Nixon stores and online at www.nixon.com.
Dreamy points check, fun ramps check, tropical water…Hmm…*checks Skyscanner
Let Jordan Oueslati take you around the Caribbean paradise the Frenchies have been keeping quiet for years…
