The sport’s best athletes love riding bigger and bigger waves, but they’re worried about the change they’re seeing in the oceans.
Warming oceans have created a golden age for surfing, but the sport’s athletes worry about what the changes mean.
“I feel like our eyes are starting to open up to all these new frontiers of what we can do,” Lenny says. In November, Lenny was entered in a big-wave contest at Peʻahi, home of the famous Jaws surf break, but the day’s competition was postponed because the waves werestrong. Conditions were dangerous — like tossing a feather into a washing machine — but Lenny went out anyway. With all eyes — and cameras — focused on him, he tamed the menacing monsters, carving his way through walls of water, dropping at one point 20 feet on a wave that appeared to be eight stories high.
Lenny, one of the biggest stars in the sport, signs posters for students at the Kalama Intermediate School on Maui. “It’s a way for us to reconnect with nature, it’s a way for us to stay healthy, and it’s also a great equalizer,” said Sen. Brian Schatz , a recreational surfer himself. “Nobody knows if you’re a doctor or a lawyer or unemployed or a student or even a U.S. senator in the water. There’s something really important about how the ocean humbles everybody.”
As it nears the shore, the swell experiences friction along the sea floor, which John Marra, the Honolulu-based regional climate services director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, likens to tripping. “They’re hitting the reef or a knob of rocks and just turning over,” he said.
“From a big-wave surfer’s perspective, we are entering sort of a golden age,” explained Mark Sponsler, the respected surf forecaster who founded the site, “in the fact that the warmer the oceans are, the more evaporation there is. The more evaporation there is, the more energy gets sent into the atmosphere. The more energy in the atmosphere — specifically, in the jet stream — the stronger storms are, and storms are what govern the whole big-wave thing.
By virtue of their chosen pursuit, the world’s best wave chasers are some of the most studied weather watchers. They use a variety of websites and smartphone apps that rely on algorithms, satellite readings and projection models. They’re peering into the future, studying the middle of the ocean to determine what waves will look like three or four days later when they reach the shore.
“There’s going to be parts of the world where people are getting absolutely destroyed — homes lost, people dying,” Lenny says, “and then on the other side, that same storm that just destroyed all of Japan is sending us perfect, big waves. And I love riding big waves.” The best big-wave riders are spontaneous and drop everything when conditions line up. Lenny recalls surfing on Maui’s southern shore in knee-high waves last May.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
The Future That Never Was: Angie's List Reimagines The Golden Age Of Futuristic Home DesignsAngie’s List took seven of the past’s most eccentric future-home ideas and brought them to life in a series of photorealistic renderings.
Lire la suite »
‘Anthem’ Leads Moving To ‘Dragon Age 4’ Both Is And Isn’t A Big DealAnthem is still in rough shape but many of its old project leads are moving on. This is industry standard, but Anthem is not a standard release.
Lire la suite »
Macquarie Gets a Foothold in U.S.-Asia Ocean TradeThe Australian investment group’s purchase of a multiyear concession to run the Long Beach Container Terminal in California comes with a guaranteed $9 billion in revenue.
Lire la suite »
In Israel-Gaza conflict, an airstrike response to a cyberattack will be closely watched by expertsIsrael conducted an airstrike on a Hamas facility it said was used to launch cyberattacks against the country from Gaza.
Lire la suite »
Jailed Kurdish militant exhorts SDF to avoid conflict in SyriaJailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan issued a rare statement on Monday...
Lire la suite »