Another Californian killed by a shark

A Surfer at Troncones
Originally uploaded by moiramw

Mexican newspapers are reporting that Adrián Ruiz, a 24 year old surfer from San Francisco was killed today in Mexico by what was described as a "gray shark". The man was surfing in front of at Mi Cas es su Casa in Trocones, near Ixtapa. He apparently bled to death while trying to reach a hospital. Locals gave up waiting for the ambulance and took the man in his car to the hospital, where he died upon arrival. Being local SF surfers who frequent Mexico,this one seems close to home. Yikes.

RIP Adrián Ruiz.

Fatal shark attack near San Diego this morning

Tide Beach Park in Solana Beach, site of fatal shark attack.

Details are very spotty but a 55-66 year old man was swimming off of Solana Beach this morning when he was was attacked by a shark. A group of triathaletes was training in the water with the man and said he yelled shark and screamed for help. The group towed him to shore where died from his injuries about an hour after the attack. Speculation is that this was a great white attack.

This is the first fatal attack in the San Diego area since Jun 14, 1959, when a swimmer was killed in La Jolla.

Beaches in the area are closed for 72 hours.

For more check out the local San Diego news

Sad end for the ballooning priest

The search for the ballooning priest, Adelir Antonio di Carli, was suspended today. His balloons were found floating in the sea off the coast of Brazil. De Carli was attempting to break a 19-hour cluster balloon flight record while raising money for a rest-stop for truckers.
He was known to have soared to 20k ft and was in phone contact for about 8 hours. There was no word of him landing in the sea but his last contact was from about 30 miles offshore.

Some news about the poor priest make it seem like he was less prepared than the locals said he was. The AP reports that his paragliding instructor asked that he abandoned that sport because he was too anxious and headstrong. He also warned him of contrary winds that may carry him out over the Atlantic, in the exact opposite direction he expected. (He was right). Another audio report has him calling for his ground crew asking for instructions on how to use his GPS. Nobody was able to help him on the ground apparently.
For more
In any case, rest in peace...

Priest flying party balloons missing off coast of Brazil

cluster balloon from wikipedia

A Catholic priest on a fundraising stunt is missing off the coast of Brazil. Adelir Antonio de Carl was re-creating the legendary flight of "Lawn Chair" Larry Walters who in 1982 flew a cluster of small weather balloons and an armchair into aviation history. He was well prepared and had flotation, GPS and parachute. I hope he had a cell phone too.

This writer was inspired as a child by the film The Red Balloon to attempt a similar stunt at Burning Man in 2000, with dozens of weather balloons, dozens of tanks of helium and some random climbing gear. Mother nature frowned upon the stunt that windy year. The ballons were torn away to shreds. Many others have successfully done the trick at various places around the world.

Godspeed to this man of the cloth. We hope he is found alive and well.

Biggestroom in Costa Rica

We've been down in Costa Rica doing some surfing and exploring a part of the coast we've never seen. We surfed a lot ate a lot of delicious food. We saw strange animals and plants. We were woken up by chickens and monkeys. For more pictures check out the Flickr pages.

Bjork Wanderlust - Encycolopedia Pictura

Encyclopedia Pictura was hired to create the Bjork video for Wanderlust.

So what does this have to do with the outdoors? Have a look at the inspiration for this from the creators here.

For more about my favorite motion picture creators have a look at their site.

For a high-res copy video check it out here. (though you'll have to be patient).