SeaWayBLOG: October 2008

Isn't there some fishy smell?

Click to enlarge

Another nice campaign for our Advertising section. In this case we're talking about "Super Lock Food Containers" which with their slogan "Lock in the right place" suggest us a solution for unpleasent smells.
The genuine idea of the agency has been replacing moustache with varied parts of fish. The result is awesome and have granted them an award in the Cannes Advertising Fetsival of 2007

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Advertising Agency: McCann Erickson
Agency Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Executive Creative Director: Philip Rowell
Creative Director: Suvit Jaturiyasajagul / Wichit Jiamsirikarn / Jureeporn Thaidumrong Copywriter: Wichit Jiamsirikarn/Jureeporn Thaidumrong
Art Director: Suvit Jaturiyasajagul
Photographer: Chub Nokkaew
Account Supervisor: Opapen Kittipanyakul
Advertiser / Client: JCP Plastic Parts
Product / Service: Super Lock Food Containers

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Close the airport, it's raining fish!

Reading the title you could think about a movie (do you remeber that famous scene of "Magnolia" when it started raining toads?) instead it's just what actually happened yesterday in Genoa, Italy. The city, one of the biggest seaport of the mediterranean sea, has been hit by a storm with winds up to 120 km/h and waves so high that passed over the barriers and flooded many part of the cities and the airport. Many witness have told that it was just like it was raining fish. The authorities were obligated to close the airport because the runways were full of fish and seagulls!

In the following wonderful pictures by LaPresse you can see the storm hitting Genoa

LaPresse

The storm has had also some more dramatic consequencies when a ferry entering the port broke an engine, and hit by a 60 knots gust of wind slanted fearfully and risked to crash against the seawall. Everything inside the "Grandi Navi Veloci" ferry was hurled to a side. 37 injured is the toll but it could go much worse considering that the ferry had 439 passengers on board and 75 crew members.

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Ericsson 4, from drama to record

Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race
Torben Grael, the famous Brazilian skipper of Ericsson 4

After 18 days of race, with the arrival of the first leg (Alicante-Capetown) getting closer we can say that Ericsson 4 has been the protagonist of the Volvo Ocean Race until now. Not just because they're actually leading the pack (Puma and Green Dragon are still close) but because they've had a strong mass-mediatic impact at least in two occasions; when Phil Jameson, the onboard medic had to put his medical skills to the test draining Tony Mutter's infected knee and yesterday when they shattered the 24h record previously set by ABN Amro 2 during the last VOR (to be precise Ericsson 4 has broken this record four times in the past 24 hours and it's still keeping a phenomenal pace right now).

Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race
A flying fish has decided to jump on board

THE RECORD
At 0355GMT Ericsson 4 reached 565 nautical miles in the previous 24 hour period, breaking the existing record by two miles, but that figure increased at 0755 GMT to 589nm and by 1145h GMT this had further increased to 590.5nm. Ericsson 4 broke through the 600-mile barrier as their historic run continued with the log reaching 602.66 nautical miles at 18:54 GMT.
The new mark established by Torben Grael’s men translates into an average speed of 25.11 knots, according to the telemetry received from the boat at Race Headquarters..

As you can easily understand from the following images Ericsson 4 and the whole VOR fleet had already faced extreme conditions in the first leg:

Oskar Kihlborg/Ericsson Racing Team
Ericsson 4 passing Lanzarote

Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race

Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race
On board with heavy sea

THE DRAMA

The following pictures are two frames taken from a video footage about draining the knee of the kiwi Tony Mutter, boat’s helm and trimmer.

here the story in the words of Phil Jameson, onboard medic:

“Tony’s knee was giving him a bit of bother so I called Dr Spike Biggs, one of the race’s medical experts, and he advised me to try and drain his knee. So with the help of Stu [Bannatyne] we gave Tony an anesthetic and proceeded to suck some of the fluid off using a syringe, then we carefully cut the infected area with a scalpel. We then bandaged him up and sent him to his bunk for 24 hours. We hope that he that he will be running around in no time!”

Mutter had been suffering from an infected knee and was receiving antibiotics but on that morning he wokee up with his knee swollen and painful, so after the draining the skipper Torben Grael took the decision to transfer him onto a fishing boat to reach the land and receive medical treatments. Actually he is already in Cape Town waiting for its team.

the difficult decision was taken by Torben Grael:

"The Race Doctor told us that Tony had to be evacuated because the leg had become significantly more swollen over night, and the uncertainty of how quick his condition will improve," said Grael. "Both he and I agreed that it would be a prudent and precautionary measure to evacuate him from the boat. He needs to get proper treatment. In addition once we have passed the Cape Verde Islands, we have a period of some 1,300 nautical miles of open ocean ahead of us.

Obviously Mutter was not happy at all...:

"It's a tough call, but given the state of the infection an easy call, bearing in mind that the conditions in which we live onboard are not ideal for dealing with infections, and add to this the increasingly hot and humid conditions as we reach the Equator and the Doldrums, this is for sure the best course of action. My priority is to get back to 150 percent fitness and rejoin Ericsson 4 in Cape Town,"

here the whole video:

The actual positions.
Ericson4 is leading the fleet:
Ericsson 4

Visit the VOLVO OCEAN RACE official site for all the news and updates

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Using Google Earth to discover an environmental disaster

Via Google Earth

This story is quite incredible and tells a lot about the power of the new technologies and the help they can give even to the environmental crisis of our planet. In Italy, a 47 years old man from Rome looking at Italy via Google Earth have discovered an unknown ship releasing huge amounts of an oily substance in the sea off the Italian city of Montalto di Castro (90 km NW of Rome). He immediately informed the Italian police that is now investigating.

Montalto di Castro via Google Earth

Via Google Earth

In the following image you can easily realize the size of the huge stain:
Montalto di Castro via Google Earth

Via Google Earth

and here it's clearly visible (click on the image to enlarge it) the proximity to the beaches and to Montalto di Castro:

Click the image to enlarge it
Via Google Earth

to see it with your own eyes put these coordinates in Google Earth:
42°18'33.61"N
11°28'0.89"E
or click here to see it in Google Maps

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Siamese Fish

By REUTERS

It's not so rare to have in an aqurium the birth of a siamese fish but it's almost impossible that they could reach the adulthood. That's why these images are so incredible. Two conjoined Nile Tilapia fish, dubbed "Siamese Twin", swimming in a small aquarium in Bangkok. They are both eight months old and share part of the skin together. The bigger fish tends to protect the smaller one from harm while the smaller one looks for food at the bottom of the aquarium.

Siamese fish

By REUTERS
Siamese fish

By REUTERS

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Panda Attack!

A nice ad by german WWF to raise funds against the whalers

Other WWF advertisments here:
WWF Anti-Pollution Campaign
Stop the global warming
and other smart environmental campaigns here:
Don't let this be our future
Water nuclear explosion
Global Warming Collection
Finally, you can find all the water related advertisments in SeaWayBLOG's ADVERTISING section

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China Cup International Regatta

© Carlo Borlenghi/China Cup International Regatta

China Cup International Regatta was first held in October 2007 as the culmination of a dream for yachting enthusiasts in China who have longed to join other nations in hosting a truly international racing event as the sport grows in popularity along the country's 14,500 km coastline and 14 "sailing cities". The 2nd edition has just finished and Carlo Borlenghi was there:

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WWF anti-pollution campaign

A single tin of paint can pollute millions of litres of water
Click the image for a larger version

This is a clever advertising campaign realized by Contrapunto for WWF. The anti-pollution message is marvellously rendered by a great Photoshop work
(Silver Award, Cannes Lions 2007).

A single can of dissolvent pollutes millions of litres of water
Click the image for a larger version

I've already posted a WWF advertising here:
Stop the global warming
and other smart environmental campaigns here:
Don't let this be our future
Water nuclear explosion
Global Warming Collection

Finally, you can find all the water related advertisings in SeaWayBLOG's ADVERTISING section

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Tofu and Fin, two new rising stars in the world of surfing mice!

Almost a year ago I've told you the story of the "Radical Rodents", a bunch of really cool surfing mice (!!!). However, reading this Daily Mail news article, it seems that new stars are now on the crest of a wave...
Tofu and Fin are two Hawaiian rats able to ride 4ft waves... and the pictures are spectacular indeed!

surfing mouse

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Autumnal Reflections

©Reuters

Reuters, in the photo section of their site have published a gallery about autumnal colors. I've been surprised about how many of the pictures feature reflections on the water.
Click here to see the whole original Reuters Gallery