Around the world in 42 days: French sailor smashes solo record

Yahoo – AFP, December 17, 2017

Francois Gabart's MACIF trimaran nearing the finish line on Saturday (AFP Photo/HO)

Brest (France) (AFP) - Frenchman Francois Gabart smashed the world record for the fastest non-stop solo navigation of the globe on Sunday, completing the mammoth feat in 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds.

The 34-year-old sailor crossed a virtual finish line drawn between the island of Ushant off France's northwest tip and Lizard Point in southwest England at 0145 GMT, comfortably beating the previous record set by compatriot Thomas Coville last year by six days and 10 hours.

The race time was announced by an observer from the World Sailing Speed Council but will be subject to checks of the boat's black box and its GPS data before final confirmation.

Father-of-two Gabart becomes just the fourth title-holder for a world record of sailing the globe solo without stopping.

Since the record was first set in 2004, nearly 30 days have been shaved off.

French sailor Francois Gabart has become just the fourth title-holder for a world 

record of sailing the globe solo since it was first set in 2004 (AFP Photo/DON EMMERT)

The debut record holder was Frenchman Francis Joyon who completed the odyssey in 72 days and 22 hours.

British female sailor Ellen MacArthur took to the seas a year later, racing against the clock to break that record by just a day and a half (71 days, 14 hours).

She remained undefeated until 2016 when Coville set a new record of 49 days and three hours which many predicted would be difficult to topple.

Gabart's 30 metre (98 foot) long new generation maxi-trimaran was helped by good weather throughout much of the voyage, particularly during the long and arduous Pacific section.

He set a number of new solo race records along the way, including the fastest navigation of the Pacific (7 days, 15 hours, 15 minutes) and the longest distance covered in 24 hours (851 miles or 1,576 kilometres).

French sailor François Gabart shatters the around the world record pic.twitter.com/cV8CadFbkJ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 17, 2017

Migrant rescuers, island mayor win UNESCO peace prize

Yahoo – AFP, Ella IDE, April 19, 2017

Migrants are rescued off the coast of Libya by SOS Mediterranee's Aquarius
vessel in May 2016 (AFP Photo/GABRIEL BOUYS)

Rome (AFP) - UNESCO awarded its prestigious peace prize on Wednesday to migrant rescue association SOS Mediterranee and the mayor of Lampedusa, the tiny Italian island on the frontline of the refugee crisis.

The Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize goes to the European NGO and mayor Giuseppina Nicolini "for their work to save the lives of refugees and migrants and welcome them with dignity," the UN cultural body said in a statement.

The plight of migrants constitutes "one of the crucial issues of our day, notably in the Mediterranean where nearly 13,000 men, women and children have perished in shipwrecks since 2013," said acting jury head Joaquim Chissano, former president of Mozambique.

Lampedusa, Italy's most southerly outpost, was the first port of arrival for thousands of migrants setting off from North Africa in the first years of the crisis, which began in 2011 and has developed into the worst since World War II.

SOS Mediterranee, founded in 2015, rescues hundreds of men, women and children each week from flimsy dinghies and boats in the Mediterranean, along with other NGOs.

Nicolini was recognised for "her boundless humanity and unwavering commitment to refugee crisis management and integration in response to the arrival of thousands of refugees on the shores of Lampedusa and elsewhere in Italy".

The mayor of Lampedusa, Giuseppina Nicolini, has been recognised for her

work at the frontline of the refugee crisis (AFP Photo/ANDREAS SOLARO)

'Watery grave'

"I dedicate this prize to all those who did not make it across the sea because they were swallowed up, and also to Gabriele Del Grande," said Nicolini, referring to an Italian journalist arrested in Turkey this month while researching the lives of Syrian refugees.

"He was the first to count the Mediterranean's dead on a website, back when nobody even knew people were dying in the Mediterranean. He is now a prisoner in Turkey," she said, calling on the government to "bring him home".

The jury said SOS Mediterranee's Aquarius vessel, co-run by Doctors Without Borders, had saved more than 11,000 lives since it began search and rescue missions off Lampedusa in early 2016.

"We're so happy to be given this award together with Nicolini. We visited her when we were starting up and she said 'you are crazy but I am with you, because this is what we need after the failures of the EU'," said Sophie Beau, SOS Mediterranee co-founder.

The jury appealed to the international community "to ensure that the Mediterranean sea becomes, once again, a place where solidarity and intercultural dialogue hold sway, and that it ceases to serve as a watery grave".

Private rescue vessels sounded the alarm this weekend over the "unprecedented mass rescues" of people fleeing horrors in conflict-torn Libya, recovering seven bodies including that of an eight-year-old, and warning more migrants risked drowning without EU action.

Close to 37,000 people have been brought to safety in Italy so far this year, a 45 percent increase on the same period in 2016.

Migrants waiting to disembark from the Aquarius which has saved more than

11,000 lives since early 2016, the jury said (AFP Photo/Giovanni ISOLINO)

Solidarity

The EU's border control agency Frontex has accused donor-funded vessels of doing more harm than good by acting "like taxis" off Libya and tempting human traffickers to put as many people as possible out to sea in flimsy vessels.

Italian prosecutors have suggested they may have links with traffickers and in March named SOS Mediterranee's activity as being of interest to investigators, along with other private rescue vessels.

Their charges have been fiercely rejected by the NGOs, with SOS Mediterranee saying Wednesday it had "never, not once" been put in contact with migrants via smugglers.

"European governments need to show more solidarity to the humanitarian organisations that are working on the front line of this humanitarian crisis. Border control is not the solution," said Regina Catrambone, the director of MOAS rescue service.

UNESCO's Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize, created in 1989 to honour those making a significant contribution to peace, has gone in the past to Nelson Mandela, Israel's Shimon Peres and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, King Juan Carlos of Spain and former US president Jimmy Carter.

British man first to row non-stop across Pacific Ocean

British adventurer John Beeden has become the first person to row solo and non-stop across the Pacific Ocean, landing in northern Australia on December 27. He previously rowed across the Atlantic in 2011.

Deutsche Welle, 27 December 2015

The 53-year-old embarked on his journey from San Francisco on June 1 in his six-meter (20-foot) boat named Socks II, and landing in Cairns, Australia, on December 27. During the 7,400-nautical-mile journey he averaged 15 hours rowing for 209 days.

Thank you Cairns for the brilliant reception, I was overwhelmed, it made the last 209 days worth while. Wow it's over! #solopacificrow

— John Beeden (@solopacificrow) December 27, 2015

"To be the first person to achieve something like this on this scale is incredible really, and I haven't processed it yet," Beeden told Australian national broadcaster ABC.

His wife Cheryl and two teenage daughters greeted him at the dock in Cairns when he pulled in escorted by a string of local vessels.

4 miles to go! Just met up with family for the last little bit #solopacificrow #cairns #australia pic.twitter.com/OPddfN0bOb

— John Beeden (@solopacificrow) December 26, 2015

Pacific 'much harder' than Atlantic

Beeden missed his planned date of arrival by about a month because of weather conditions slowing him down. He repeatedly tweeted that the journey was proving far more difficult than he had thought.

Trying 2 recover lost milage, going for it, looking 4 the magical #50nm 2day. #OceanRowing #SanFranto #Australia pic.twitter.com/JbB5Hbj5KC

— John Beeden (@solopacificrow) October 8, 2015

A seasoned rower, Beeden had already rowed 2,600 nautical miles across the Atlantic Ocean solo in 53 days in 2011, but said that the Pacific was much harder to tackle.

I'm exhausted, heat & humidity horrible 2day. Have received some brilliant messages of support which will help get me to the finish line.

— John Beeden (@solopacificrow) December 25, 2015

Along his way, Beeden was met by a series of support boats as he passed islands and was given supplies. After seven months on his own at sea Beeden said he found it "strange" to be back among people and noise. For some of his time out on the Pacific, the nearest human beings were the crew of the space station 250 kilometers (150 miles) above him.

"It's strange, but it's good to be back, but it was kind of good to be out there as well," Beeden said.

Rower lost at sea during previous attempt in 1996

In 1983, British rower Peter Bird almost made the solo row from San Francisco to Australia, but was rescued near the Barrier Reef just 33 miles from the mainland by the Australian navy, after 294 days at sea.

Bird made several more attempts but was lost at sea in 1996.

ss/bk (dpa)

This 15-year-old won $25,000 for devising a genius way to harvest energy from the ocean

Business Insider, Tanya Lewis,  Oct. 14, 2015

Hannah Herbst wants to bring renewable energy to the developing world.

The 15-year-old from Boca Raton, Florida, won this year's Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge for designing a probe to generate power and fresh water for developing countries by harvesting it from ocean currents.

She was awarded $25,000 and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist" at a competition at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Herbst told Business Insider she was inspired by her 9-year-old pen pal in Ethiopia who has limited access to electricity. "I cant even imagine a day without electricity," said Herbst.

How the device works

Herbst's energy probe is made of recycled materials and costs just $12.

It consists of a 3D-printed propeller, connected by a pulley inside a plastic PVC pipe to a hydroelectric generator, which converts the mechanical movement of ocean currents to usable electricity. She tested her device in the Boca Raton Intracoastal Waterway, where the current coming in from the Altantic Ocean produces a large amount of untapped energy.

Using her device, she was able to power a set of LED lights.

She calculated that if her design were scaled up, she could generate enough electricity to charge three car batteries at once in less than an hour. That's enough energy to power saltwater desalinization pumps to provide a source of fresh water for developing countries. It could also power blood centrifuges for medical use, or coastal beacons for ship navigation.

The competitors

Herbst was one of nine finalists.

Over the past three months, each of them was paired with a 3M scientist as part of a summer mentoring program to take their inventions from design to prototype.

Herbst worked with 3M corporate scientist Jeffrey Emslander, whose research has helped the company reduce its emissions and produce its products using less energy. Here they are accepting the award:

The competition's second place prize went to Raghav Ganesh, an eighth grader from San Jose, California, for an invention that monitors physiological and environmental factors that can trigger meltdowns in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Third place went to Amulya Garimella, a seventh grader from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who created a system that monitors EEG brainwaves and alerts the user when he or she is distracted.

Iris Gupta, a seventh grader from North Potomac, Maryland, won fourth place for her project to stop allergies at their source by inhalation or injection of nanoparticles that block particles that trigger allergies.

As for Herbst, she plans to donate some of her winnings to her Ethiopian pen pal, and a new building at her school. The rest will go into her college fund, she said.

She also plans to keep working with her 3M mentor to improve her ocean energy device, and eventually deploy it in developing countries.

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

Canadian wins Swedish prize for fight for Inuit rights

Yahoo – AFP, 1 October 2015

The Inuit culture in the Arctic is acutely threatened by climate change," according

to the Right Livelihood jury (AFP Photo)

Stockholm (AFP) - Inuit and Arctic activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier of Canada on Thursday won the 2015 Right Livelihood Award, the jury for the Swedish human rights prize announced.

Watt-Cloutier was honoured for her "lifelong work to protect the Inuit of the Arctic and defend their right to maintain their livelihoods and culture, which are acutely threatened by climate change," the jury said in a statement.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier addresses the 

2007 Women Leaders Global
Security meeting in New York 
(AFP Photo/Don Emmert)

She shared the prize with two other laureates: Ugandan activist Kasha Jacqueline Nabageserales, who fights for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersexual (LGBTI) communities, and Italian doctor Gino Strada who founded the medical charity Emergency that helps rehabilitate war victims.

The three laureates will share the 3.0-million-kronor (320,00-euro, $358,000) prize sum.

The foreign minister of the Marshall Islands, Tony de Brum, and the islands' entire population meanwhile won the Right Livelihood Honorary Award for their "their vision and courage to take legal action against the nuclear powers for failing to honour their disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."

Swedish-German philatelist Jakob von Uexkull founded the donor-funded prize in 1980 after the Nobel Foundation behind the Nobel Prizes refused to create awards honouring efforts in the fields of the environment and international development.

They were introduced "to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today," according to the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, which oftens calls its distinction the "alternative Nobel prize."

Related Article:

Marshall Islands sues nine nuclear powers over failure to disarm

Spiritual energy draws Prana to preservation

The Jakarta Post, By Alit Kertarahardja, Thu, 06/07/2012

Living long: The Pemuteran Coral Protection Foundation, started by I
Gusti Agung Prana and Pemuteran locals, recently received a prestigious
 environmental award — the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
Equator Prize.

More than 20 years ago, I Gusti Agung Prana was spiritually amazed when visiting the sacred temples and beautiful coastal areas in faraway Pemuteran village in Buleleng regency, North Bali.

Located on the northwest coast of Bali, around 55 kilometers west of Singaraja and 30 kilometers from Gilimanuk in Jembrana, Pemuteran lies between a cluster of hills and the sea.

A number of old temples like Pura Pulaki, Pura Kerta Kawat and Pura Melanting are the island’s important worship places in the North.

“This place is called Nyegara-Gunung in Balinese language meaning the combination of sea and mountain areas,” Prana explained.

The Balinese believe that such places have extraordinary spiritual energy that brings harmony to the earth, the sea and to the people living there.

Prana said a decisive moment in his life was when he started to open a small-scale hotel for tourists, who, at that time, preferred to spend their holidays in the southern part of Bali like Kuta, Sanur or Ubud.

“Nobody wanted to come to this remote place, quite faraway from the glittering tourist hubs of Kuta,” he remembered.

But Prana was convinced that he received a kind of “spiritual call” to continue his venture.

A businessman by nature, Prana decided to do business in Pemutaran. “I was wondering if I could do more to help local people and to preserve this pristine environment by doing something useful,” he said.

Starting from the community, Prana encouraged local fishermen to alter their destructive fishing methods with more sustainable fishing techniques.

His fatherly approaches worked really well. “I always convince these fishermen to jointly preserve our precious marine habitat by practicing sustainable fishing. Many of them used hazardous cyanide bombs to catch fish while at the same time damaging the coral reefs and underwater life.”

Coral reefs in Bali have been severely damaged in recent years due to the irresponsible use of bombs and cyanide by fishermen. Increasing seawater temperatures linked to climate change and global warming are also blamed for the damage.

The Pemuteran area has the largest shallow reefs accessible to divers and snorkelers because of its lack of extremely strong currents and waves, seen in other coastal areas in Bali.

Together with locals, Prana launched the Pemuteran Coral Protection Foundation, which has been fully supported by marine scientists Thomas Goreau and Wolf Hilbertz.

“I asked for their assistance in restoring the shore, the coral reefs and also educating fishermen and the local community how to protect and to preserve our marine assets.”

Starting with the local community, the Pemuteran Coral Protection Foundation started to embrace all stakeholders in marine businesses such as dive shops, divers, hotels, marine scientists, environmentalists and fishery agencies to do the preservation of marine habitats and coastal areas in Pemuteran and its surroundings.

“It is a bottom-up community-based restoration and preservation effort,” he said.

For more than two decades, Prana and fellow members of the project have been active in educating and developing awareness of the importance of preserving their own natural resources and their main livelihoods. Over a period of 20 years, the nearly barren and damaged coral areas have been returned into a thriving reef full of coral, fish and other marine species.

Related Article:

Fishermen Successfully Revive Coral Reefs in Bali

Hawaiian surfer breaks wave-riding record

BBC News, 11 May 2012

A 44-year-old Hawaiian surfer has entered the Guinness Book of Records for riding the biggest wave ever thought to have been ridden.

Last November Garrett McNamara caught a 78ft wave off the coast of Portugal, beating the previous 2008 record by more than a foot.

McNamara began surfing at age 11 and became professional six years later.

He has described his achievement as a stroke of luck and has used his feat to urge people to follow their passions.

The giant wave was located above an underwater canyon famous for being the world's biggest wave generator.

McNamara has said that on the day he broke the record, he at first had not wanted to take a ride but his friends urged him to catch a few waves.

"Everything came together. Everything felt right", he said.

Close scrutiny

Hundreds of thousands have viewed the video and photographs of McNamara's ride. They show his figure dwarfed by a giant wall of water.

"I knew it was big, but I didn't know how big," he said.

He later sent the footage and pictures to surfing expert Sean Collins, who guessed the wave was 85-90ft tall. Collins died in December.

Last week, McNamara was awarded $15,000 (11,600 euros) for the ride at the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards in California.

Judges for the awards examined the footage and pictures from different angles.

They also compared McNamara's height in a crouch and the length of his shin bone with the wave's top and bottom before reaching a verdict, event director Bill Sharp told the Associated Press.

Commenting on the record, McNamara said: "The world would be a much better place if everyone was doing what they wanted to do".

However, the UK Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying: "I'm not sure I want to ride that peak again".

Related Article:

Fisherman receives international award on environmental preservation

Antara News, Friday, October 15, 2010 12:50 WIB

Bandarlampung, Sumatra (ANTARA News) - Heifer International, an international research development institution, has presented an award to Ahmad Salim (30), a fisherman from Pahawang Island, Lampung, for his efforts in preserving the environment.

"I was awarded the appreciation for my role in environmental and mangrove forest conservation on Pahawang Island in the last three years," he said here Friday.

Besides receiving the award, Ahmad is also entitled to a coaching fund prize of 1.000 US dollars for developing and conservation of the environment.

Ahmad Salim is a Pahawang islander who has been trained by Mitra Bentala, a non-profit organization on environmental issues, to save the ecosystem and biota in the Pahawang Island waters.

He started the activity in leading and training the villagers in conserving mangrove forests since 2007.

He was an environmental vandal before becoming famous as environment protector.

He used to go fishing by bombing and rooting mangrove plants in his fishing operations.

"Fishing in that way could earn me Rp200 thousand per day," he said.

He had not realized at that time that his action destroyed sea biota and might cause catastrophe.

His father, who was head of Pahawang village, has even resigned because of his action destroying the environment.

"My father always advised me to keep the environment well preserved, but I was an environmental vandal," he said.

He abandoned the bad habit in 2007 when he joined an environmental sustainability training held by Mitra Bentala.

After the training, Ahmad and his friends were grouped by the NGO to be the front guard of mangrove forest conservation.

"For three years we have worked hard raise and preserve the forests ," he added.

Ahmad did not expect that he would receive the international award for his services.

The international environmental award was given directly by Heifer International officer Meredith Rolf on September 29.

"Thank you for the award, and I hope everyone can also continue growing and preserving mangrove forests," he said.