Police apologise to Irish over kayak-on-car incident

  

Waikato police have apologised to 'persons of Irish descent' after assuming a driver stopped by police with a kayak tied crossways across his roof was Irish.

A man claiming to be the driver, Jonathan Waters, has taken to Facebook to vent his frustration at police calling him an Irish tourist caught driving irresponsibly.

Yesterday Inspector Freda Grace said the "visitor from Ireland" was stopped on State Highway 25A between Kopu and Hikuai on Sunday afternoon by another officer.

Mr Waters posted his side of the story on his page today.

"So apparently I am an Irish tourist who ...more

Sharks have feeding frenzy in NC surf

 

A video showing a group of sharks chowing down on a school of fish just yards away from beachgoers is going viral on YouTube.
The video, posted Tuesday by Brian Recker, shows dozens of sharks splashing in the surf on North Carolina's Outer Banks.
According to the video's description, it was shot Oct. 8 at Cape Lookout National Seashore. The photographer, Donnie Griggs, was with a ...more

This Sichuan 'ferry man' has voluntarily rafted kids to school for the past 27 years

 

A man in Yibing city, Sichuan province has reportedly spent 27 years helping dozens of kids cross the river to get to and from school every day.

Numerous mountains along with the winding Erjia River have brought about many 

inconveniences for the residents who attempt to leave Xingshan village, contributing to its remote and underdeveloped condition.

Luo Guanglin, dubbed the "ferry man", has been voluntarily rafting local kids 

across the Erjia River to get to school for years.

If Luo isn't there to take the kids across, they ...more

Sharks and protection

      

For many years the experience of a close touch with a dolphin or a wale

was and still is something amazing.

Creatures who lives totally in the water and mostly the dolphins are a very happy

companion for boat - cruise travelers or even  kayak lovers as well!

Although in the sea creatures as sharks are from ancient years a fear for the humanity...

Books as  "The Devil's Teeth" or movies as "Jaws" have been made

cause of that fear and interest of the people.

On the other hand, those animals(members of the Phylum Vertebrata in Kingdom Animalia)

are very interesting in a biological and scientistic way.

As we may love sharks but we fear them too there must be a way to

keep our selves safe when we share the ocean with those hunters.

This is the  reason  that the "SharkStopper" could be useful  and

lifesaving in some cases for those who love the sea and the sea sports.

If you want to know more about  "SharkStopper

visit  kickstarter.com

Rough surf halts dolphin rescue off Pensacola Beach

 

While a NOAA-led dolphin rescue operation waits for better water conditions to resume, the agency along with Southeast Marine Mammal Stranding Network have launched a "don't feed dolphins" campaign.

Sea World and a number of other marine mammal agencies tried to mount a rescue operation Wednesday to remove fishing line and gear from a juvenile bottlenose dolphin that has been hanging out at the Pensacola Beach Gulf Fishing Pier.

Strong winds and rough waves, however, halted the rescue led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"The weather did not cooperate," said Blair Mase, NOAA Southeast regional marine mammal stranding coordinator. "It was not ...more

A history lesson on Gauley Season

 

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — There’s been plenty of response to my piece earlier this week regarding gripes about Gauley Season. Some anglers who enjoy Summersville Lake for fall fishing groused about the annual drawdown in September.  They believe the drop of the level so early, as opposed to other West Virginia lakes where the winter drawdown happens later, kills good fishing. 

However, Dave Arnold at Adventures on the Gorge reminded me the early drawdown wasn’t created to benefit the whitewater rafting industry. The drawdown pre-dates Gauley Season and even pre-dates the whitewater industry.

Since the lake and dam were dedicated in 1966, with then first lady Ladybird Johnson on hand for the ribbon cutting, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has prescribed the early drawdown as measure of pollution abatement and preservation of aquatic life downstream.  Although much cleaner now, the Kanawha River was lined with chemical plants and raw sewage discharges in 1966. The early water release was aimed at mitigating the level of pollution on the Kanawha and reducing the chance of a massive fish ...more

Whitewater boaters flock to Tieton River flip-flop

WATERSPORTS — Whitewater enthusiasts are expecting a warm welcome from Washington's Tieton River along US 12 west of Yakima this weekend.
A large gathering of rafters and kayakers — private and commercial — is gearing up from across the region to take advantage of the annual “flip-flop.”
The annual September release of water that's been warming all summer in Rimrock Lake has begun in order to feed water to downstream crop irrigation needs as well as to boost salmon spawning.
The “flip-flop” term comes from the fact that the increased water down the Tieton helps make up for the reduction of flows in the Yakima River.
The result is an opportunity for ...more

Grand Rapids Whitewater leaders to unveil economic impact of restoring the rapids downtown

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Restoring the rapids to the Grand River as it flows through downtown will be expensive, costing about $30 million or more, according estimates put together by Grand Rapids Whitewater.
But will it be worth it?
A study by the Anderson Economic Group to be released Monday, Sept. 8, suggests the economic benefits will be there, according to Chris Muller and Chip Richards, the co-founders of the Grand Rapids Whitewater project.
“It sets out exactly what we had hoped,” said Muller in an interview with MLive and The Grand Rapids Press prior to the ...more

Hundreds paddle board to support HEAL

 

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Not everyone on the First Coast was at the beach working on their tan this Labor Day.

About 200 people participated in the third annual Great Ponte Vedra Paddle at Mickler's Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach.

It's a fundraiser for HEAL, Healing Every Autistic Life, which supports local children and individuals living with autism and their families.

Related: HEAL Foundation help families with autism

"Stand-up paddle boarding has become the biggest water sport all over the country. So, it's a different type of event," said the ...more

James Windsor repeats victory at the Red Bull Harbour Reach 2014

 

The Australian wakeboarder secured a back-to-back victory in British waters, in front of more than 10,000 people. The Red Bull Harbour Reach is the biggest wakeboarding event in the United Kingdom.

Windsor impressed the judges with an arsenal of incredible tricks thrown, and a flawless performance at the 100ft Pool Gap. Oli Derome and Brenton Priestley could only settle with a runner-up and third place.

"I'm so happy to win Red Bull Harbour Reach again and it's a great ...more

Colorado River at Gore Canyon is the stuff dreams are made of

 

Editor's note: Third of a four-part series focusing on some of Colorado's best wilderness areas and the conservation efforts to maintain them against potential threats.
GRAND COUNTY — From above and below, it's easy to imagine how the rapids known as "Fisherman's Nightmare" got their nickname.
The chaotic jumble of rocks and water (also known as "Applesauce") that serves as sentinel to the Colorado River's Gore Canyon drops precipitously from the placid, pastoral flats surrounding the Blue River confluence at Kremmling and marks the start of the steepest and most technically challenging whitewater of the entire Colorado River. An unwary angler drifting into the Class V canyon can expect a frightening wake-up call.
Beneath soaring cliffs up to 1,000 feet tall, the river's gradient shifts radically from a flatwater nature float to an adrenaline-soaked plummet of some 115 feet per mile over the next 4 miles.
It's a little-known secret that the remote ravine shrouds some of finest fishing along the Upper Colorado, since access is largely limited to ...more

Annual irrigation operation gives rafters 12-17 miles of rapids

 

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s annual flip-flop in reservoir water releases is again making the Tieton River in Yakima County a popular whitewater river rafting destination for the next month.
The operation in the Yakima River Basin gradually reduces flows out of the Lake Cle Elum Reservoir into the Yakima River in Upper Kittitas County and increases flows from Rimrock Reservoir, in the Yakima River’s lower arm going into the ...more

Body of missing Univ. of Montana student found

 

CUSTER COUNTY, Idaho -- The body of a University of Montana 

student missing since Aug. 19 has been found, reports CBS affiliate KBOI. 

Officials said he died after crashing his car.

Lucius Robbi, 21, vanished on a two-day drive from his 

summer job at a river rafting company in Horseshoe Bend, Idaho, 

to the Missoula school, where he was expected to attend student orientation Aug. 20.

He never arrived.

After a massive search that spanned more than a week, 

Robbi's body was discovered inside his car off route 21 in 

Custer County, Idaho, near Stanley Lake. A coroner said he died on impact when his ...more