Pete Thomas Outdoors

Giant squid measuring 25 feet found off Kaikoura, New Zealand

It wasn't a large shark that created such a stir Sunday morning at Shark's Tooth point Sunday off Kaikoura, New Zealand.

It was a giant squid, measuring about 25 feet long, discovered on the surface by Jack and Sharon Osikai.

The specimen looked reasonably fresh; it's arms and tentacles were intact, making this a rare find of one of the ocean's more elusive and mysterious denizens.

"It took us about an hour to pull it in," Jack Osikai, a Christchurch builder, told Stuff.com.nz.

Part of the mantle, or head, was missing and some wondered whether the giant squid had perished during a recent battle with another squid, or some other creature.

The squid was fragile, so it was towed to shore very slowly.

--Photo is courtesy of EMMA DANGERFIELD/Fairfax NZ

 

Amateur prospector unearths massive gold nugget in Australia

 

An amateur prospector has hit the jackpot, discovering a 177-ounce gold nugget estimated to be worth at least $300,000.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, was prospecting with a metal detector Wednesday near Ballarat, in Victoria, Australia.

Cordell Kent, owner of The Mining Exchange Gold Shop in Ballarat, told ABC News that he is seeking a buyer for the massive nugget on behalf of the prospector, calling the find one of the largest in the area.

"We have 800 prospectors on our books and only a couple of those have ever found a nugget over 100 ounces," Kent said. "So there's only been one or two big pieces and they were found a long time ago."

The precise location of the discovery was not disclosed.

-- Kelly Burgess

YouTube video credit: Troy Aurum

Joel Parkinson edges Kelly Slater, wins first world surfing title

Australia's Joel Parkinson finally won a long-sought world surfing title, which he clinched Friday before winning the ASP World Championship Tour season-ending Billabong Pipe Masters.

For Parkinson, 31, a perennial high finisher on the WCT, the title was assured when Kelly Slater lost to Josh Kerr in the semifinals in four- to six-foot surf at fabled Banzai Pipeline on Oahu's North Shore.

Parkinson then defeated Kerr in the final, and was adorned with a crown that he had tried so hard to acquire over the past decade-plus.

"Consistency paid off," Parkinson said. "This is where I wanted to stand at the end of the year. This is what I’ve worked for my whole life. I can’t describe what this feels like. I’ve had runner-ups and ups-and-downs. I’ve been to hell and back and it makes this so much sweeter. All the love from Hawaii and Australia and over the world, I can’t thank you all enough for supporting me."

Since finishing 21st in his rookie season in 2001, Parkinson has finished in second place four times and in fourth place two times, and also has a fifth and a sixth.

The surfer most often standing in his way was Kelly Slater, 40, who has won 11 world titles and was Parkinson's only rival for the title entering the 1oth and final WCT contest.

Slater finished second in the rankings. Longtime veteran and former world champion Mick Fanning was third, and rising star John John Florence finished fourth.

--Images of Joel Parkinson in action and celebrating on the beach are courtesy of ©ASp/Cestari, and @ASP/Kirstin, respectively

Giant marlin jumps onto boat; wild event captured on video

 

A fishing trip off Cairns, Australia, nearly turned disastrous when a 600-pound black marlin leaped onto the boat as it was being reeled close to the stern by an angler in a fighting chair.

The wild event was captured by several cameras showing the brief but chaotic moments as the marlin leaves the water and lands briefly onto the cruiser, Little Audrey.

The man with what looks like a camera pole had to dive for cover, while a crewman on the stern was struck in the head by the back of the fighting chair.

The video edit was by Jeff Hudson, and was uploaded Thursday by a user named Offshoreterror, who stated: "The crew was lucky to escape with only minor injuries."

The fate of the marlin remains unclear.

Rare footage shows fire devil, or fire tornado, in Australia

-- Note: This is a reprint of a Pete Thomas story on the GrindTv Outdoor channel

A filmmaker in central Australia has captured rare images of a fire devil, also called a fire tornado or fire whirl, and the photos have taken the Internet by storm. Chris Tangey, 52, who manages Alice Springs Film and Television, was scouting locations and was near an old cattle station in Uluru when he encountered the blaze, which spawned several fire devils.

It was a windless, uneventful day but a blaze was burning nearby. Suddenly, a man screamed out. Tangey turned and saw a fire tornado measuring 100-plus feet and roaring like "a fighter jet." The sound carried even though Tangey was nearly 1,000 feet from the flaming twister.

Soon, other twisters formed."It was a dance of giants in front of me. I've never seen anything like it; it was awe inspiring," Tangey told 7 News Australia. "I saw a red tornado, a black one, a white one and several made of pure fire."

The images were grabbed from HD video footage, which is still under production. Tangey, however, posted a 4-minute YouTube video (see it above) on Tuesday, because of the demand.

Freedivers circled by great white shark off Australia (video)

Two Australian freedivers had hoped to spear some fish for dinner during a recent expedition near Drummond Cove, but a 12-foot great white shark changed their plans. Nathan Podmore and Dave Richards sensed danger soon after diving in, then the shark materialized and began to circle the pair.

 

"She was probably there 25 seconds before we even knew she was there — the video shows it," Prodmore told the West Australian.

Richards had a camera strapped to his head and filmed the frightening encounter.

Richards explained the beginning of the encounter to the newspaper:

"Nathan was on the top of the water getting ready to go down and I felt something moving behind me. I turned around and all I saw was the back section of the shark. Mate, it was a meter away. My heart sank and I just tried to get Nathan’s attention."

Said Prodmore: "As soon as Dave screamed my name out and I was face-to-face I knew it was a great white."

But the divers managed to remain calm, perhaps aware that panic might invite disaster. Instead of swimming toward their boat, which was 150 feet away, or shooting the shark, they stood their ground and merely poked at the shark when it swam too closely.

Ultimately, the shark swam off and the divers made a careful dash for the boat. 

Prodmore recalled: “When we got to the boat I didn’t take my head out of the water until I knew I had a three or four seconds to get on to the boat."

-- Hat tip to SharkDiver

Sharks devour whale carcass along Australian beach (video)

 

Sensible people know when to stay out of the water, usually, and that's when large sharks are present and actively feeding.

Vimeo user Rachel Campbell posted the accompanying video, which contains incredible footage from a beach in Northwest Australia.

It shows an estimated 100 sharks feeding on a whale carcass that had washed ashore while a young woman, whose sensibility might be questioned, seems intent on staying in the picture and very close to the feasting predators.

Of this raw natural display Campbell writes: "Not the most comforting when you surf the reefs that they own. Some were tiger sharks, others were reef sharks. Some as long as 4m. Reminds us why we are afraid."

-- Hat tip to Shark Diver

Sea Shepherd anti-whaling vessel damaged by rogue wave

Somewhere in Antarctic waters,  Japanese whalers are cheering their good fortune as Mother Nature has knocked one of the enemy's three ships out of its fight against the killing of whales.

The Brigitte Bardot, a scout boat for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was struck by a rogue wave in heavy seas as it pursued the whaling factory ship, Nisshin Maru.

According to Sea Shepherd, the vessel suffered a cracked hull and damaged pontoon. It will be escorted to Fremantle,  Australia, by Capt. Paul Watson aboard the Steve Irwin. There were no injuries to any of the 10 Brigitte Bardot crew members.

This temporarily leaves only one Sea Shepherd boat, the Bob Barker, to attempt to stay with the whaling fleet as the fleet bounds toward the hunting grounds.

In the accompanying Sky News video report, Watson said the Steve Irwin will return to the Antarctic after the escort mission and rejoin a campaign the group calls "Operation Divine Wind."

"It's not going to stop our attempt, but it is a setback because it takes out one of our boats," Watson told the Associated Press.

Japan annually targets more than 900 whales in what it refers to as scientific missions, thus skirting a long-standing international moratorium on commercial whaling. The wording in the moratorium allows for lethal research.

This is Sea Shepherd's eighth campaign against the effort. Last season the whalers were forced to quit early, far short of their quota, because of Sea Shepherd's harassment efforts. This season one of the Japanese harpoon boats is carrying members of the Japan Coastguard.

These hunts are expensive and Japan has been criticized not only for continuing to hunt whales, but for funding the extra security with money earmarked for relief in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunamis last March.

Japanese whalers, with beefed-up security, are off to the hunt

The Japanese whaling fleet has left for the Antarctic, its ranks reportedly bolstered by Coast Guard officers in an attempt to ensure a successful hunt amid what promises to be more determined opposition by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

So begins another Whale Wars saga, which will heat after both sides have reached the whaling grounds and confrontations begin.

How effective will Japan's secret security measures become? Will this be the season somebody gets killed or seriously injured?

A member of the Japan Coast Guard recently told the Japan Times, "We have decided to beef up security as never before."

Will Sea Shepherd, then, be as successful as it was last season, when it forced Japanese whalers to quit early after filling only one-fifth of their  kill quota of 900-plus minke whales? And are Sea Shepherd members really prepared to die, or face the prospect of death, in order save whales?

There was brief optimism among anti-whaling nations that Japan would quit its so-called scientific expeditions after last season. They're extremely costly, the science is questionable and demand for whale meat in Japan has steadily declined over the years.

Some believe, however, that Japan is continuing to hunt minke and fin whales, using a lethal research loophole in the wording of an international moratorium on commercial whaling, simply because it refuses to capitulate to Sea Shepherd pressure.

Whaling interests in Japan also believe the minke whale population is robust enough to justify killing 900 of them each year, plus a handful of endangered fin whales. (Minke whales are not endangered.)

Japan has sent three ships, led by the 720-ton Yushin Maru, to the whaling region, which includes the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The ships reportedly are carrying Coast Guard officials for only the third time since 1987, when the moratorium was put in effect. (Japan's Fishery Agency has remained secretive about specific details of this expedition.)

Sea Shepherd also is sending three ships, all of them painted black, and 88 crew members in a campaign it calls "Operation Divine Wind."

Because of beefed-up security measures, it could be the most dangerous of eight Sea Shepherd campaigns against the Antarctic whaling effort.

Capt. Paul Watson, the Sea Shepherd leader, spoke up for his crew of volunteers on the group's website:

"The men and women of my crews, past and present, have given themselves in a great enterprise to defend life, to defend the whales, and all of them for the rest of their lives will be able to look back with pride at what they have done, the adventure of it, the nobility of it, and the success and satisfaction of knowing that because they intervened – thousands of whales were spared the vicious and horrific death from the merciless harpoons of the Japanese whaling fleet."

Sea Shepherd is making final preparations in Fremantle and Hobart, Australia.

Australia and New Zealand have condemned Japan's whaling effort but have no plans to send an observation vessel to the remote and icy whaling area.

Whether a search-and-rescue effort will be required on the part of Australia, which is closest to the whaling area, is another question soon to be answered.

-- Image of the Sea Shepherd vessel Bob Barker is courtesy of Sea Shepherd

Kelly Slater beats Owen Wright to claim edge in new rivalry

Pro surfing finally boasts a fun rivalry again, featuring 10-time world champion Kelly Slater and second-year ASP World Tour competitor Owen Wright. Living legend versus rising star. U.S. versus Australia.

Slater won the first of the three finals in Tahiti. Wright got even in New York. And on Wednesday afternoon it was Slater claiming the rubber match with a  high score on the last ride of the day to win the Hurley Pro at fabled Lower Trestles in San Clemente, Calif.

Slater, 39, pulled ahead by earning a 9.00 out of a possible 10 on the final wave to prevail by a best-two-scores margin of 17.50 to 16.74, and with the dramatic victory he proved yet again that he's not quite ready to relinquish his dominance in a sport he has ruled for two-plus decades.

Conditions were ideal, with three- to four-feet waves and no wind. Both surfers unleashed aerials, vertical top turns and savage tail-slides, which pleased the judges and a large crowd that lined the remote, cobblestone beach.

Wright needed an 8.31 to take the lead when the last set rolled in, with 1:50 remaining. He earned an 8.87 on the first wave of the set, but behind him was Slater, carving up a slightly larger wave. Slater earned the 9.00 to win just before time expired.

“Owen is tough and he’s been surfing great," said Slater, who won his fifth World Tour contest at Lower Trestles. "There really are no weak points to his surfing and he’s going to be a standout in every spot. A lot of the guys tried to get him this week and I got lucky in that last exchange."

The victory, Slater's third this season, gave the Floridian a commanding lead in the race for the world title, with four competitions remaining.

The 21-year-old Wright, however, solidified his second-place spot in the rankings and made yet another statement to the rest of the tour that he should be considered the heir apparent to Slater, and the top Aussie on a roster top-heavy with Aussie talent.

"I’ve been enjoying the rivalry," Wright said. "We’ve had some great heats and the last three finals have been great. I’m glad the sets came through at the end. It was a bit of a dud final but I’m glad that last exchange came though at the end. It made it exciting."

Next up is the Quiksilver Pro France, Oct. 4-13.

-- Image showing Kelly Slater enjoying some air time in Wednesday's Hurley Pro final is courtesy of © ASP/ Kirstin