Pete Thomas Outdoors

Twelve surfers fall from ASP World Tour roster in Tahiti

The Billabong Pro Tahiti required less than three rounds to shed the ASP World Tour of 12 surfers who are part of an historic mid-season cut designed to streamline the roster from 45 to 32, not counting wildcards, for future events. A thirteenth surfer will be sent packing before the contest at Teahupoo concludes.

It should be noted that World Tour ratings leader Jordy Smith was eliminated in the third round, by Tahiti's Manoa Drollet, in three- to five-foot surf at Teahupoo, providing nine-time world champion Kelly Slater, who is ranked No. 3, an easier opportunity to claim the top spot as he guns for title No. 10.

But the big story is the unprecedented roster cut, a positive step for the ASP as it strives to speed up future competitions and make them more competitive. But that doesn't make those who missed the cut feel any better.

They include San Clemente's Tanner Gudauskas and Nate Yeomans, two of four Southern California rookies who did not make the grade.

"Today wasn’t my day," said Gudauskas, whose older brother Patrick is still in contention in the Billabong Pro and is hoping to remain on the World Tour roster for at least the remainder of the season. "[Being on tour] has made us push as hard as we can. No easy days. We’ve gone as best we can and we’ll just keep trying to go."

The 12 surfers missing the cut by losing in the second or third round of the Tahiti competition are Drew Courtney (AUS), 31; Neco Padaratz (BRA), 34; Tanner Gudauskas (USA), 22;  Mick Campbell (AUS), 34; Kieren Perrow (AUS), 33; Tom Whitaker (AUS), 30; Kekoa Bacalso (HAW), 25; Blake Thornton (AUS), 25; Dean Morrison (AUS), 29; Jay Thompson (AUS), 28; Yeomans (USA), 29, and Ben Dunn (AUS), 24.

When competition resumes, reigning world champion Mick Fanning, who is currently ranked sixth, will face Tahitian wildcard Tamaroa McComb in the thirteenth heat of the third round.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Hawaii's Fredrick Patacchia in action during a third-round victory at the Billabong Pro Tahiti.
Credit: © ASP / SCHOLTZ

Hurricane Earl ominous even for East Coast surfers

While most people on the East Coast express concern whenever a major hurricane approaches, surfers typically become excited about the prospects of thrilling rides on huge waves.

They should not get too excited about Hurricane Earl, a powerful storm that will be moving too swiftly toward shore and remain too close to shore to allow for clean conditions with the swells it produces.

"It's not a good scenario at all and it's downright dangerous," said Mike Watson, a Florida-based forecaster for Surfline, which monitors surfing conditions around the world. "Surfers should be more concerned about safety."

Hurricane Earl, as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, was a Category 4 storm packing 135-mph winds, located along the fringe of the Caribbean. It's churning to the west-northwest at 14 mph but will pick up speed and could strengthen to a Category 5 storm before arriving just off North Carolina late Thursday.

The National Hurricane Center predicts it will turn to the north instead of making landfall and essentially skirt the coast as it plots to the north, remaining at hurricane strength through at last Saturday and perhaps forcing large-scale evacuations.

Hurricane Earl will be much closer to shore than its predecessor, Hurricane Danielle, which generated large surf and strong rip currents that led to hundreds of rescues and was blamed for the death of a surfer off Satellite Beach, Fla.

Lifeguards expect more perilous conditions to be created by Earl, with high surf arriving on parts of the East Coast as early as Wednesday.

Watson, who said Florida is the only state that might get clean surf, being far enough south and west of the storm's track, explained that part of the danger associated with Hurricane Earl is its swift shoreward direction. It will follow closely behind the swells it generates, so surfers who are tempted to paddle out in what they perceive to be clean conditions can expect conditions to deteriorate rapidly.

"It's just too close to the coast," Watson said of the storm. "We like to see them out toward Bermuda, where we get the swell but we don't get the weather with it. Danielle was a good swell producer but for the most part with Earl, surfers should be home getting prepared [for the storm's arrival], just like everyone else."

  -- Top image shows Hurricane Earl from space, courtesy of NASA. Bottom graphic showing the storm's projected path courtesy of the National Hurricane Center.

-- Editor's note: This post also apears on the GrindTV.com surf and outdoors blogs

Hurricane Earl likely to spoil holiday weekend on East Coast

Hurricane Earl is gaining strength and barring a dramatic change in its predicted course, it will make for a tumultuous Labor Day weekend for residents and tourists on the Atlantic Seaboard.

The accompanying image, courtesy of NOAA, shows Earl as a Category 3 storm barreling along the outer fringes of the Caribbean.

The storm is packing 125-mph winds and the National Hurricane Center in Miami expects some strengthening as Earl churns to the northwest in a line toward North Carolina. The storm is expected to bend more toward the north near North Carolina and skirt virtually the entire East Coast, remaining at hurricane strength into the weekend.

It has already disrupted cruise-ship schedules and delivered torrential rain in parts of the Caribbean. Hopefully it won't score a direct hit on North Carolina.

At 1 p.m. (EDT) Monday, a Hurricane Watch was in effect for Puerto Rico and a Tropical Storm Watch was in effect for Turks and Caicos Islands.

-- Pete Thomas

 

Lull is over for world's top surfers at Billabong Pro Tahiti

After seven consecutive postponements caused by lack of surf, the Billabong Pro Tahiti at Teahupoo will begin today in three- to four-foot surf.

All of the first round and part of the second round will be run today, if the surf holds up.

The mid-season contest is pivotal for surfers close to the No. 32 spot in the ASP World Tour rankings, because the roster will be reduced from 45 to 32 surfers after the competition.

For those who might have forgotten after so long a wait, Jordy Smith sits atop the rankings in the race for the world title. He's followed by Taj Burrow, Kelly Slater, Dane Reynolds and Adriano de Souza.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo courtesy of © ASP / Kirstin

 

Teen sailor Laura Dekker tackling world one step at a time

The best way to describe Laura Dekker's solo-sail around the world?

Baby steps.

The 14-year-old Dutch sailor might take up to two years in an attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the planet in a sailboat.

She recently navigated the short distance from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands but will remain there until the end of what is a very active storm season in the Atlantic.

She'll then make the short trip to the Cape Verde Islands off western Africa, and then cross the Atlantic toward the Caribbean and the Panama Canal.

Her teen predecessors, Australia's Jessica Watson and Southern California's Abby Sunderland, took more dangerous Southern Ocean routes and had planned to sail nonstop around the world.

Watson succeeded after seven months, completing her journey just days before turning 17. Sunderland, 16, had to be rescued after her boat was crippled by a rogue wave in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean.

Dekker is supposed to be keeping up with her schoolwork -- "It has to be done and really isn't that bad," she wrote on her blog -- but she also wants to and undoubtedly will explore the Canary Islands.

As was the case with her predecessors, most of the education she receives throughout her odyssey will be from the sea and, in her case, the people she meets along the way.

-- Pete Thomas

Fishing continues as Cabo San Lucas eyes weakening storm

Hurricane Frank was downgraded to a tropical storm Friday afternoon and is expected to further weaken as it approaches the southern portion of the Baja California peninsula.

So far Frank, which at 2 p.m. was located 290 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, has delivered only smothering humidity and large swells to the resort destination. There are unconfirmed reports that a person drowned in the surf on Thursday.

The storm is expected to turn toward the peninsula as it tracks to the north, so parts of Baja California Sur will receive significant rainfall over the next few days. There are no advisories in effect, however, and Frank is expected to become a tropical depression by late Saturday.

Fishing operations are not expected to be interrupted but rough seas will be on tap this weekend on the Pacific side of the peninsula.

Eric Brictson, owner of Gordo Banks Pangas on the Sea of Cortez, said seas are already diminishing. Brictson emailed both photos accompanying this post. Of image to the right, he said, "In the same spot early this morning we had seen some 10-foot sets."

Brictson, who sent four charters out Friday, added that tuna fishing remains good for mostly 30- to 40-pound fish (see top photo).

His captains reported losing two large marlin. "Also a couple of big tuna hooked and lost," Brictson said. "One reel got spooled and another tuna that perhaps was in the 300-pound class ended up coming unbuttoned."

-- Pete Thomas

Photos courtesy of Eric Brictson

Tiger cub found inside suitcase at Thailand airport doing OK

What looked like a beating heart was the tip-off for X-ray scanners at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. Inside an over-sized suitcase being checked in by a 31-year-old Thai national was a sedated tiger cub packed alongside a stuffed toy tiger, presumably to try to fool authorities manning the scanner.

Piyawan Palasarn claimed she was carrying the animal for someone else when she was arrested Sunday. She had been booked on a Mahan Air flight to Iran but it remains unclear if that was her final destination.

Details of the incident weren't revealed until Thursday. The wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC stated on its website that an investigation is being conducted to determine whether the cub was caught in the wild or captive-bred, and its place of origin.

The cub is being cared for at a Bangkok wildlife care facility and it's hoped DNA will help determine to which subspecies it belongs. It arrived at the facility dehydrated and exhausted but is doing much better and has begun to walk.

 "I was a bit shocked because an animal isn't supposed to be treated like this," Nirath Nipanant, chief of the airport's wildlife checkpoint, told the Associated Press. "Had the animal passed the oversize baggage check and gone through four to five hours of travel, its chances of survival would have been slim."

Tiger populations throughout Asia are critically threatened because of widespread poaching and black-market trading operations. Tigers are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Chris Shepherd, the Southeast Asia regional director for TRAFFIC, applauded the way authorities handled the situation but added: "If people are trying to smuggle live tigers in their check-in luggage, the obviously think wildlife smuggling is something easy to get away with and do not fear reprimand.

"Only sustained pressure on wildlife traffickers and serious penalties can change that."

Palasarn, who was charged with two smuggling-related charges, faces up to four years in prison and a $1,300 fine.

-- Pete Thomas

-- Top image courtesy of TRAFFIC. Bottom image courtesy of Suvarnabhumi Airport Wildlife Checkpoint of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation

-- Editor's note: A slightly different version of this post appears on the GrindTV.com outdoors blog

Yosemite raid unearths major pot-growing operation

Yosemite National Park rangers this week raided a vast marijuana farm and seized 3,657 plants worth more than $14 million on land inside the park and the Sierra National Forest.

The raid Tuesday in El Portal occurred after a joint investigation by the U.S. Forest Service and Mariposa County Sheriff's Office. Two Mexican nationals, who were in the U.S. illegally, were apprehended in a raid that also involved officers from other agencies.

One of the men was armed with a loaded .45-caliber pistol, park officials said.

The cultivation site was extensive. Some of the plants were 10 feet tall and several pounds of processed marijuana also were confiscated. The workers had destroyed native vegetation to make room for the cultivation site.

In a news release announcing the bust, park superintendent Don Neubacher said: "We want these growers to know that we will not tolerate this type of activity on public lands and we will continue to aggressively seek out and eradicate illegal marijuana growing operations."

The raid was carried out safely, park officials said.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of pot plants that were seized during a raid in Yosemite National Park courtesy of National Park Service

Blue whale season one of best ever off Southern California

Summertime blues don't get any more enjoyable for marine mammal enthusiasts.

Blue whales, graceful and gargantuan, are so abundant off Southern California that it seems the entire population has taken up residence between Santa Barbara and Dana Point.

That's not true, of course. About 2,000 blue whales utilize California waters each summer -- part of a global population of about 10,000 -- and not all of them are in Southland waters.

But there are perhaps hundreds of the world's largest mammals gorging on shrimp-like krill in what represents the most impressive local showing of the great leviathans in recent history.

Alisa Schulman-Janiger, an American Cetacean Society researcher, said blue whales are being spotted in unusually large numbers from the Palos Verdes Peninsula. On Wednesday one of her whale-watching volunteers told her she saw the tall blows of at least 30 blue whales from White Point on the peninsula.

"She was hysterical," recalled Schulman-Janiger, who arrived at the point at dusk and saw 10 blue whales before sunset.

(Schulman-Janiger will be part of a three-hour excursion Sunday beginning at 9 a.m. aboard the 90-foot Spirit out of San Pedro. She says those interested in joining the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium trip, for $30, can reserve a spot by calling 310-548-7562.)

Passengers aboard whale-watch boats out of Long Beach, Newport Beach and Dana Point have experienced close encounters with the mammals as they feed at or close to the surface on krill, which abounds in dense concentrations thanks partly to the unusually cold water off the Southland coast. (A single blue whale can consume four tons of krill per day.)

Passengers aboard the Christopher out of Harbor Cruises in Long Beach on Wednesday saw 28 blue whales on the morning trip and 33 on the afternoon excursion. Such numbers are hard to believe but they're true.

Dana Wharf Whale-watching logged a count of 64 blue whales last week, along with 12 fin whales and two minke whales. Since Monday passengers from the Dana Point landing have seen 17 blue whales and five fin whales.

The Dana Wharf operation is one of only a few Southland sportfishing businesses devoting some of its effort to full-time whale-watching. With fishing so poor and blue whales having become regular summertime visitors to Southland waters these past few years, it's a wonder more landings aren't following suit.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Blue whale feeds on krill in front of passengers aboard the Ocean Adventures catamaran off Dana Point. Credit: Brian Hamilton

 

Two fires prompt trail closures inside Yosemite National Park

Two fires caused by lightning have prompted trail closures in the northern portion of Yosemite National Park.

A fire near Lake Vernon has grown to 230 acres while the so-called Slope Fire near Harden Lake has burned 688 acres.

Because of the fires, all trails to Pate Valley from White Wolf are closed until further notice. The trail from the Tiltill Valley Trail Junction to Lake Vernon also is closed.

The Tiltill Valley trail to Tiltill Mountain remains open, park officials said.

Smoke from both fires is visible in the Hetch Hetchy area and from Tioga Road near White Wolf. The wilderness fires do not pose a threat to park facilities.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of Half Dome at sunset courtesy of Kenny Karst