Davidoff Cool Water have joined forces with National Geographic’s Pristine Seas Mission this summer to launch their “Love the Ocean” campaign. Davidoff Cool Water is the quintessential ocean fragrance, launched in 1988 it introduced a new wave of freshness to the world and is still a best seller today.

The limited edition sleeve on the Davidoff Cool Water bottles will offer a unique access code; enabling buyers to use a geo-localisation application to follow Enric Sala’s (Nat. Geo. explorer) latest expedition  to the Pitcairn Islands, online.

The Pristine Seas mission aims to work in collaboration with local communities to conserve ocean’s beauty and create protected marine areas.

From Enric Sala

“In the last 3 weeks we visited the four islands and atolls in the Pitcairn Archipelago (Pitcairn, Ducie, Henderson, and Oeno). We conducted 384 individual dives, spending a total of over 450 person-hours underwater. We counted and measured underwater 40,210 fishes, 5000 sea urchins, 6300 coral colonies, and 14,500 algae. We had a handful of sunny days and calm seas, and many days with big swells, wind and rain. We observed extraordinary things, from the pristine reef at Ducie Atoll formed by pale blue corals looking like giant roses, to the sharks moving elegantly, like synchronized swimmers, over a sandy patch at Henderson Island. We found species never reported before for the Pitcairn Islands, including algae, corals, reef fishes, and some deep sea sharks that we still need to identify. All in all, it was an extraordinary experience.

Pitcairn was rough, windy and rainy, surrounded by a halo of murky water. Yet, we saw schools of hundreds of rudderfish grazing on the rocky bottom. And we discovered a previously unreported deep coral reef. Most important, we found a welcoming community of Pitcairners who made us feel at home on that big rock in the middle of the South Pacific.

Ducie was paradise: a coral ring surrounded by crystal clear waters, luxurious coral reefs, and healthy fish communities dominated by top predators such as sharks. Ducie was the most pristine of the four islands.

Henderson was mysterious, with the edges of a green thick forest hanging from dark limestone cliffs. Underwater, we found curious sharks that followed us during our re-breather dives.

Oeno was the atoll that did not want to reveal its secrets – because of rough seas. With persistence and patience we found very abundant carnivores of small to medium sizes, including ubiquitous groupers – red and yellow, white and brown, and with all the colors of a peacock.

Now our team will spend a few months analyzing all the data we collected, selecting from the footage we took and editing a National Geographic documentary. The most fun is past, and now the tedious work of data analysis and writing begins. However, the memories of this expedition will be with us forever.

I cannot think of enough words of acknowledgement for the institutions that collaborated in this expedition and made it successful: National Geographic Society, Pew Environment Group, Spain’s National Research Council, US Geological Survey, University of Hawaii, US National Park Service, University of California Santa Barbara, and the phenomenal crew of the Claymore II, who made our work possible in safety. We are very grateful to the Pitcairners at large, who hosted us in their homes and showed to us the secrets of their island. Thanks to the Pitcairn Council and the office of the Governor of Pitcairn, Ducie, Oeno and Henderson for authorizing our stay and providing research permits. And last but not least, we are indebted to our mission partners that made the expedition possible: Blancpain and Davidoff-Cool Water.

Supporting this partnership is Hollywood actor Paul Walker, the face of Davidoff Cool Water. Paul has studied marine biology and is known for his passion for the ocean. Learn more about the Pristine Seas Mission and the partnership with National Geographic visit www.love-the-ocean.com

Davidoff Cool Water have joined forces with National Geographic’s Pristine Seas Mission this summer to launch their “Love the Ocean” campaign. Davidoff Cool Water is the quintessential ocean fragrance, launched in 1988 it introduced a new wave of freshness to the world and is still a best seller today.

The limited edition sleeve on the Davidoff Cool Water bottles will offer a unique access code; enabling buyers to use a geo-localisation application to follow Enric Sala’s (Nat. Geo. explorer) latest expedition  to the Pitcairn Islands, online.

The Pristine Seas mission aims to work in collaboration with local communities to conserve ocean’s beauty and create protected marine areas.

Enric Sala and his team of scientists have recently returned to the Southern Line Islands, a province of the Republic of Kiribati, situated 2,000 miles south of Hawaii.

The team spent six weeks visiting Flint, Vostok, Millennium, Starbuck, and Malden islands which are some of the most remote and isolated on Earth.

The scientists observed and documented water quality, fish populations, predator populations and the health and variety of the coral reef itself.

The expedition was the first study of its kind and is set to be used by researchers with the aim to create a baseline model for healthy coral reefs, to measure the effects of human activity on these ecosystems, and to devise a scheme for the preservation of degraded reefs.

The southern Line Islands are currently unprotected, and while remote, they are not safe from human impacts. Vostok, Starbuck, Millennium, and the other southern Line Islands, are home to gorgeous coral reefs that are among the most pristine on the planet. But at Malden the team found sharks with hooks hanging from their mouths and thinned shark populations at Flint.

These are the first symptoms of encroaching human pressure on this remote paradise. Sharks could be eliminated from the southern Line Islands by long-liners within months, but it would take decades for them to recover. We don’t have the luxury of losing the sharks of the southern Line Islands, like we’ve lost them almost everywhere else. Sharks are the first to disappear because of humans, and this is only the first step in a path to destruction that ends with dead corals, abundant microbes, and stinging jellyfish. Sharks and other large predators are good; they keep the reef healthy. They have to be in the ocean, not in shark-fin soup.

There is a lot of work to do, but there is hope.

Supporting this partnership is Hollywood actor Paul Walker, the face of Davidoff Cool Water. Paul has studied marine biology and is known for his passion for the ocean. Learn more about the Pristine Seas Mission and the partnership with National Geographic visit www.love-the-ocean.com

Davidoff Cool Water have joined forces with National Geographic’s Pristine Seas Mission this summer to launch their “Love the Ocean” campaign. Davidoff Cool Water is the quintessential ocean fragrance, launched in 1988 it introduced a new wave of freshness to the world and is still a best seller today.
The limited edition sleeve on the Davidoff Cool Water bottles will offer a unique access code; enabling buyers to use a geo-localisation application to follow Enric Sala’s (Nat. Geo. explorer) latest expedition  to the Pitcairn Islands, online.
The Pristine Seas mission aims to work in collaboration with local communities to conserve ocean’s beauty and create protected marine areas.
National Geographic travelled to the isolated Salas y Gómez Island, 200 miles east of Easter Island, Chile, to discover what is beneath these largely unseen waters.
The team, which consisted of 18 people, looked at everything from algae to corals to fish and sharks.
Scientists satellite-tagged sharks for long-term tracking to visualise where they go over the coming months. Robots were also used to go down hundreds of meters in the ocean to see what’s there and learn more about untouched coral reefs.
Their report highlights that both Salas y Gómez and Easter Island have one of the highest endemic fish populations for oceanic islands in the world.
“Our work in Chile provides us with considerable information in terms of understanding ocean life in the Motu Motiro Hiva Marine Park and its surroundings. It is the first quantitative study conducted in Motu Motiro Hiva and Rapa Nui, and data collected here reveal that both islands are a biodiversity hotspot for reef fish,” said Dr. Enric Sala, marine ecologist and National Geographic Ocean Fellow.

The report reveals that 77 percent of individual fish species in Easter Island and 73 percent in Salas y Gómez are endemic. The expedition also confirmed that 53 percent of the seabed in Easter Island and 44 percent in Salas y Gómez contains live corals, with an excellent conservation status, that serve as habitat for several species of fish and invertebrates. Oceana staff recently met with local decision-makers and stakeholders in Easter Island to share the report and discuss the next steps required for the protection of the marine resources of the Rapa Nui community. At the end of April, representatives from Oceana and National Geographic met with Chilean President Sebastián Piñera and shared the most relevant findings of the scientific study, expressing the need to extend the area of the Motu Motiro Hiva Marine Park.
Supporting this partnership is Hollywood actor Paul Walker, the face of Davidoff Cool Water. Paul has studied marine biology and is known for his passion for the ocean. To learn more about the Pristine Seas Mission and the partnership with National Geographic visit www.love-the-ocean.com

The Pristine Seas mission aims to work in collaboration with local communities to conserve ocean’s beauty and create protected marine areas.
Supporting this partnership is Hollywood actor Paul Walker, the face of Davidoff Cool Water. Paul has studied marine biology and is known for his passion for the ocean.
To learn more about the Pristine Seas Mission and the partnership with National Geographic visit www.love-the-ocean.com.

Filmed on location in West Cornwall, Swami’s short film profiles multiple British and European longboard champion Sam Bleakley: surfer, explorer and writer.
An insightful glimpse into a surfer’s state of mind, travel wonder lust and the ultimate draw back home.

www.swamis.com

A bespoke tour for 28 of the best surfers in the UK (including Relentless Energy Rider Jayce Robinson), the Relentless Energy Drink Super Series will be unique among surf tours. The Super Series is taking place in three top UK locations (Thurso, Lynmouth and Newquay) cherry picked by the pro’s themselves and the UKPST.

Just because we can, and because this is how the future will be/already is, here’s the whole session (some of it in reverse) as edited by photographer Kirstin Prisk.

Sam Boex | GoPro Surf Hero HD from Kirstin Prisk on Vimeo.

By the way, Prisk is a true Cornish original – a real solid surfer, former pro bodyboarder who pioneered many now-well-known death slabs, and these days, a commercial photographer. He’s currently one of the most sought after wedding photographers in the region but he still keeps his chops wet when conditions allow. Pay him a visit to find out more at http://www.kirstinprisk.co.uk/

March 7, 2010, Pichilemu/Curanipe, Chile – Save The Waves Coalition’s Chile relief ground teams have begun to distribute initial relief supplies to towns and villages that were hardest hit by the recent 8.8-magnitued earthquake and following tsunami. Teams have been traveling south from Pichilemu through the remote coastal areas and inland, reaching as far south as Duao in the northern part of Region VII, and supplying aid in small hard to reach towns along the way.

Save The Waves surf ambassador Ramon Navarro is leading the way in these efforts, and with his local knowledge of the region has already helped to supply initial water filters to provide clean drinking water, a crucial necessity right now, to those in need. Volunteers have also helped to clean up a school in Boyeruca that has suffered major damage. While more supplies arrive, water filters will continue to be dispersed over the coming days to help the many displaced families that are still without clean drinking water. Professional surfers Greg Long and Kohl Cristensen also arrived in Chile on Saturday with major supplies, including more water filters, and met up to support Navarro and others out of Pichilemu.

Further south, in the coastal town of Curanipe, which sits just 5km from the quake epicenter, Save The Waves’ Josh Berry arrived Saturday with a team of medics and truckloads of relief supplies, to distribute in the region. Berry and team also rendezvoused with Save The Waves’ local Coastkeeper program manager and Curanipe resident, Rodrigo de la O, who is directing a large portion of the relief efforts in the area.

Save The Waves has been working with nonprofit Waves for Water to supply water filters for clean drinking water to devastated communities where homes, restaurants, and entire fishing fleets have been completely destroyed. There are currently 1,000 filters now either in or en route to Chile, for distribution to coastal regions, in addition to other supplies. While initial relief effort progress has been significant, much more support and assistance will be necessary in the coming weeks as Chile continues to recover from this massive disaster.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

International support:

Save The Waves Coalition:

· Online donations: http://www.savethewaves.org/

· Donations by check: Save The Waves Coalition

PO Box 183, Davenport, CA 95017, USA; +1-831-426-6169

· Mark “Chile Earthquake” in comments/memo fields

· Save The Waves Nonprofit Tax ID # 36-4515216

· Contact: Lindsey Davis, +1-831-426-6169, lindsey@savethewaves.org

Local support, Pichilemu (supplies & other donations):

· Polanco’s Supermercado, Calle Principal, Pichilemu, Chile

· The Pichilemu Institute of Language Studies: www.pichilemulanguage.com

· Local contact: Quinn Campbell, +1-714-293-0620 cell, quinn.campbell@quiksilver.com

Local support, Curanipe (supplies & other donations):

· Local contact: Josh Berry, +1-415-578-8388, josh@savethewaves.org

Mark Healey overcame his big-wave brothers to take gold at the low-key, high quality Todos Santos Big Wave event. Photo by Eggers

Top professional big wave surfers from around the world gathered at Todos Santos Island last week to compete for the glory at the Todos Santos Big Wave Event. An unruly swell and full moon tides delivered challenging 40-45 foot faces all day, culminating in an action-packed final.

Veteran charger Shane Dorian, who was virtually unstoppable from his first heat on, met his match in a close contest against fellow Hawaiian Mark Healey. In a wave-for-wave challenge, Healey scored a perfect 10 and a 9.5 to take his first ever big wave title. Meanwhile, Chilean Ramon Navarro, who made it to the event despite his country’s devastating earthquake the day before, took third place honors after scoring two impressive nine-point waves. South Africans Grant “Twiggy” Baker, Brazilian Carlos Burle, and Californian Grant Washburn rounded out the final with impressive performances throughout the day.

Among the highlights:

Peruvian Gabriel Vallaran, surfing Killers for the first time, grabbed the Biggest Wave Award after dominating his first round heat with a perfect 45-foot bomb, the second ten-point wave of the day. (Greg Long received the first.)

Todos local Rusty Long proved his unwavering commitment to charging with the Worst Wipe Out Award.

In the semi-final, Healey edged out Greg Long by a mere 0.5 margin to advance to the final.

And Baker and Burle embodied the event’s spirit of cooperation by riding the same 45-foot face in the final; Burle crisscrossed over the top for a 9.0, while Twiggy thrashed the inside to earn a 9.5.

Shane Dorian expressed the sentiment of everyone involved. “There will never be another event like this, that’s this grassroots, where everyone comes together to do what they love.”

This year’s Todos Santos Big Wave Event truly is unlike any other, in that it brought together the world’s most accomplished big wave riders without the promise of prize money. Everyone who participated yesterday was doing it for the sport. As Event Director and big wave rider Gary Linden said of the DIY spirit, “The only things we need are the waves and the surfers.”

“Even if I had won a zillion dollars, I couldn’t be happier,” declared an ecstatic Mark Healey after being drenched in Mexican beer and tequila by his fellow competitors. The awards banquet then erupted into an organized chaos, with surfers, crew and a few lucky spectators hyped on a day full of adrenaline.

Stay tuned: Rogue Wave Events will announce the first ever Big Wave World Champion at the end of the 2009-10 season (April 09 to March 10).