Video: Surfing HUGE Waves Off Tahiti

In the surfing world, Tahiti's Teahupoos (pronounced cho-po) are amongst the most legendary and coveted waves on the planet. This past August, they reached epic sizes while the Billabong Pro surfers were on hand, and the results can be seen in the video below. The waves on display are immense walls of water that look as deadly as they are beautiful.

The video was shot by filmmaker Chris Bryan, who captured the dramatic action perfectly. Amazing stuff!



BIGGEST TEAHUPOO EVER, SHOT ON THE PHANTOM CAMERA. from Chris Bryan on Vimeo.

Australian Rower Hopes To Become Youngest Across The Pacific

While we're on the topic of ocean rowing today, here's another story of interest. Australian Ben Turner hopes to become the youngest person to row solo and non-stop across the Pacific Ocean when he sets out from Peru next year. He'll also undertake the journey to raise funds and awareness for a cure for Cystic Fibrosis as well.

Ben expects his voyage to take approximately 275 days to complete, covering 13,000 km (8077 miles) in the process. He'll start at Lima Peru and make is way towards the Marquesas Islands, before turning in a more southerly direction, traveling to Fiji, and then on to Australia, eventually rowing home to Sydney. He intends to make this a non-stop journey however, which means that while he will pass within a short distance of a number of South Pacific islands, he won't be pulling into shore on any of them.

No word on exactly when he'll set out, but this will certainly be an impressive journey. The Pacific is the largest ocean on Earth and to row across it non-stop and solo will be an amazing feat. Stay tuned for updates as Ben gets closer to his departure.

Missing Sailor Feared Eaten By Cannibals

Here's your "What century is again?" story of the day.

A 40-year old German sailor, named Stefan Ramin, has gone missing in French Polynesia, and is believed to have been eaten by cannibals. Ramin and his girlfriend Heike Dorsch, have been sailing around the world over the past three years, and stopped on the island of Nuku Hiva, where they planned to spends some time off the ocean.

A few weeks back, Ramin went for a hike on the island with a local goat hunter by the name of Henri Haiti. Later in the day, Haiti returned alone and told Dorsch that there had been an accident and that her boyfriend needed help. When Dorsh attempted to call the police for assistance however, Haiti tied her to a tree and sexually assaulted her, before disappearing into the jungle.

Later, Dorsh was able to free herself and alert authorities, who immediately began searching the area for signs of Ramin. Last Saturday, after a week of searching, they believe they discovered his remains in the ashes left over from a fire, where they found a human jawbone and teeth that are believed to have belonged to the German man.

According to the story linked to above, Nuku Hiva was the setting of two novels by Herman Melville and has had a history of cannibalism in the past. That said, there have been no reported cases in more than a century, and the island's 2000 residents are said to be baffled by what happened to the missing sailor. The one man who can actually tell the whole story, Henri Haiti, is still missing as well.

This is certainly a strange story to say the least. I know that there are a lot of remote places on the planet, some with indigenous people who live much the same way as they have done for centuries. But it has been a long time since I've heard anything about cannibals. While it certainly is still a possibility I suppose, but I think it's probably more likely that something happened between Haiti and Ramin, and Haiti tried to cover it up by burning his remains. After all, its pretty evident that Haiti isn't the most respectable of men to begin with.

Ramin and Dorsch were planning on sailing to New Zealand in a few weeks time, where they were also planning on ending their three-year voyage. Sad that it had to finish like this.

Thanks to Outside magazine for sharing this story.