Indonesia issued a Tsunami alert after a quake of 7.2 magnitude struck near Manokwari on the island on Papua in eastern Indonesia.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong earthquake in remote eastern Indonesia cut power lines, cracked building walls and sent panicked residents running out of their homes toward higher ground Sunday, authorities and witnesses said.
The Indonesian Meteorology and Seismology Agency warned that with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 it was strong enough to cause a tsunami. However, there were no immediate reports of giant waves and the warning was lifted within an hour.
The tremor struck at 2:43 a.m. local time, around 85 miles off the coast of Manokwari, Papua, at a depth of 6 miles.
The U.S. Geological Survey put the strength at a more powerful 7.6 magnitude and nearly three times the depth. Shallow earthquakes generally cause more damage than deeper ones.
Transworld Surf reports on an Oregon State Study of wave heights that measures Pacific wave heights from buoy data and finds that waves are increasing by an average of 7 cm per year. Surfers are likely to the only people rejoicing over this information as larger wave also result in more coastal erosion among other problems.
“Unlike sea level, the current data suggests that wave heights are not increasing uniformly across the globe. However, many regions lack the right data to do proper analysis. Bigger wave heights off the coast of Oregon were first discovered just a few years ago by other OSU scientists. They had the advantage of working with the unique dataset created by the Pacific coast’s longest-floating buoy; it’s been gathering data on wave heights for over 30 years.
“This is high quality data and you didn’t have enough data to do this kind of analysis until very recently,” Ruggiero said.
Despite the clear wave-height increase in the data, particularly of the largest waves, Ruggiero and his colleagues still can’t explain it.”
Read this to your non-surfing friends and ask them if they have a clue what’s he’s talking about. From Cloud Broken by Derek Dunfee, Transworld Surf, February 2009. He writing an account of surfing Cloud Break on Tavarua, Fiji and breaking his leg.
“I had been out for about an hour before the bigger sets started rolling in. After catching a mushier outside wave that pushed me into the channel, I spotted a perfect inside west bowl. The inside waves that have more of a west-swell direction thend to barrel over a heavy ledge through the Shishkabobs section, and this one looked to be a drainer, so I paddled hard to make it to the takeoff zone. It stacked up to around eight to ten feet, and paddling into it I could tell I was going to be a little deep on the A-frame, but I went anyway. Off the drop it had a foamy chandelier-type section that I had to break through to make it into the heaving Shishkabob section up ahead where it would open up. I grabbed my rail with all my weight and tried to huck myself through the foamy part and into the clean section of the barrel. When I tried to punch through the foam, the lip of the wave struck me in the back of the head and top of my back. I was so determined that I was going to make it into the barrel that I didn’t even anticipate getting lipped in the head.”
Yeti, a new slab was discovered in Oregon and surfed by Mark Healey, Greg Long, and crew. Check out the photos and story in Surfer Mag. Story via Surfing Stoke Blog. Photos by Jason Murray.
I’m not sure there’s anything that needs to said here. He blew away the field, winning 6 contests and 5 of the first 7 contests. It was never a contest, there was no race in points, it was just a matter of when he would close the deal, which he did in Mundaka, Spain. Unless the top 10 on the tour step up huge next year, there doesn’t look like anything is getting in the way of Kelly winning his 10th world title next year. Final ASP Rankings.
2) AI implodes on tour, takes 2009 off.
Photo: ASP/Cestari
Andy Irons put up a disappointing performance on WCT tour in 2008. He highest finish was 5th place. He failed to show up for his heat at the Quicksilver Pro France and skipped the Brazil contest leading to speculation about his troubles. Andy announced that he was taking 2009 off from the tour, and may be following the path of free surfer of his brother, Bruce Irons.While I respect any athletes decision to do what he pleases with his career, A.I. has shown to be the best competitor to Kelly Slater (no disrepect to Taj, Mick, Parko, Bede, and others in the top 10). When he’s on top form, he’s one of the most exciting surfers to watch on tour. So while a year free surfing the best barrels of the world will no doubt be the time of his life, he will be missed on the 2009 WCT tour and his absence removes one more hurdle to Kelly Slater clinching his 10th world title.
Kelly looked unstoppable all year and the Pipeline Masters was no exception. He beat Chris Ward in the final heat while riding a 5’11” in 8-10 ft Pipeline. Adding a final flourish to his epic year. Well done, Kelly. Looking forward to see what you can do next year.
The future of the big-wave Mavericks Surf Competition (Half Moon Bay, CA) was in doubt when previous sponsors pulled out this year (article SFGate). Jim Beam bourbon and benefactors Moose Guen and Jane Sutherland of the private equity firm MVision couldn’t pass on the opportunity to support the chance of the best big wave surfers in the world hucking themselves over 50 ft. ledges at the famed Northern California big wave surf spot. The total purse is $75,000 with $30,000 going to the winner. More at the official website Maverickssurf.com, including the list of invitees.
Highlights of Kelly Slater in his 2008 WCT Championship year includes footage from Bell’s Beach, Padang Padang, Pipeline, J-Bay, Trestles, and other events on the 2008 Tour.
Flickr is a great photo sharing site with incredible amateur and pro photos. Surf photography has been a burgeoning category on Flickr with some incredible photography. Check out the surf photography groups on Flickr for more: Surfing Group, “Surf Photography” Group, “Wave Porn” Group, and the “Surfer” Group. Check out some of my favorite photos and photographers below:
You’ve probably heard the news by now that Kelly Slater won his sixth Pipeline Masters (adding to his 9 world titles). The finals were Slater vs. Chris Ward. The surf pumped for most of the contest and Slater, deciding the push the limits of the reason in board size, surfed a 5’11” Channel Islands “Deep Six” board throughout the contest in 8-10 ft. Hawaiian Surf (Transworld Surf story). That’s the size surf at Pipeline that most of us wouldn’t consider paddling out in, let alone on a 5’11” board.
