WhalePower fan blades are inspired by the bumps on the fins of a humpback whale

WhalePower’s catchy marketing slogan has got lots of mileage in technical trade publications: “A Million Years Of Field Tests.”

Now the Toronto company’s first product is coming to market. And its claim is a 20 percent boost in wind turbine performance. It also reduces turbine noise.

WhalePower’s Tubercle technology is the company’s ambitious bid to redesign the blades used in turbines, fans, pumps and compressors. It is inspired by the bumps on a humpback whale’s flippers, which increase its ability to power through water and correspondingly the ability of a blade to spin quicker in the air.

The first Tubercle product will be marketed through Envira-North Systems Limited for a high-efficiency ceiling fan. Envira’s claim is the blades can reduce the cost of a ceiling fan by 93 percent

The market reception will be an interesting test the wind industry should be watching closely.

FORTY years ago conservationists feared that humpback whales were being hunted to extinction.

Now numbers have returned to such a level that they have been taken off the danger list.

The latest count stands at 40,000 mature individuals, meaning that, for now at least, the humpback is safe from the threat of extinction.

Several other whales, such as the blue whale, the biggest animal on earth, and the sei and southern right whales, are also growing in number after similar scares.

The populations of several smaller species of whales and other cetaceans are still falling, however, and it is feared that some may be close to disappearing, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The vaquita, Phocoena sinus, a porpoise found in the Gulf of California, Mexico, is now thought to be down to the last 150 individuals and has been named by the union as the cetacean mostly likely to become extinct next.

Here is the video containing said footage for the BBC “Life” series, narrated by David Attenborough (one of my favorite people, really):

I’ll let the BBC news article do the excellent job og explaning this:

It is the greatest animal battle on the planet, and it has finally been caught on camera.

A BBC natural history crew has filmed the “humpback whale heat run”, where 15m long, 40 tonne male whales fight it out to mate with even larger females.

During the first complete sequence of this behaviour ever captured, the male humpbacks swim at high speed behind the female, violently jostling for access.

The collisions between the males can be violent enough to kill.

The footage was recorded for the BBC natural history series Life.

“Even though this is one of the most common of the large whales, very little is known about its actual sexual behaviour,” says Life producer Dr Ted Oakes.

“One of the most interesting things is that humpbacks have never been seen to mate.”

But what has been filmed is the epic battle between males to get mating access to the female whales.

Up to 40 males swim behind a single female at speeds of up to ten knots, each jostling to obtain a dominant position.

“It’s the closest we’re ever going to get to dinosaurs fighting. It’s the largest battle in the animal kingdom and it feels like something out of Jurassic Park,” says Dr Oakes.

Uma matéria publicada na BBC Earth News semana passada trouxe um registro raro e belo das baleias jubarte: uma batalha entre 40 machos que disputam o privilégio de acasalar com uma fêmea.

As baleias jubarte (Megaptera novaeangliae) podem ser facilmente diferenciadas das demais baleias que ocorrem no litoral brasileiro pelas nadadeiras peitorais (observe nos vídeos abaixo). Outra característica marcante é sua vocalização, também chamada de “canto” (no verbete da Wikipedia há 3 gravações).

Na costa brasileira, o local mais propício para avistá-las é o Parque Nacional Marinho dos Abrolhos (BA) no período de julho a setembro. Nessa época, os grupos de jubarte do Atlântico Sul concentram-se nessa região para acasalamento e amamentação dos filhotes. Quem tiver chance de conferir, não perca! O mar de Abrolhos é um verdadeiro espetáculo para o mergulho. E acompanhar as baleias bem de pertinho foi das sensações mais deliciosas que já experimentei.

Mais informações sobre Abrolhos, a biologia das baleias jubarte e projetos de conservação das mesmas podem ser obtidas no site do Instituto Baleia Jubarte. E agora… boa diversão com o material da BBC!

O primeiro vídeo mostra a perseguição a uma fêmea protagonizada por 40 machos que literalmente se digladiam entre si enquanto nadam em alta velocidade atrás da fêmea. [há uma propagandinha básica no começo que eu não soube tirar. Mas tenha paciência, ela é curta e o vídeo de interesse entra em seguida]

Na matéria há ainda um segundo vídeo, que mostra como a equipe da BBC conseguiu esse belo registro. O acasalamento propriamente dito não foi filmado pela BBC. Mas um turista privilegiado conseguiu registrar um desses eventos em Puerto Vallarta, México. Confira abaixo:

Por fim, se você ficar interessado em conhecer um pouco mais sobre o comportamento sexual das baleias, não deixe de visitar o post campeão de audiência aqui no blog:  então aquilo era… um pênis?

Outra dica é a leitura do artigo Da terra à água: a origem das baleias, golfinhos e botos, em português na tradução de Roberto Takata (sem as figuras) ou no original em inglês (com as figuras).

The greatest of all animal battles is filmed in its entirety for the first time by a BBC crew.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8318000/8318182.stm

TCP Presenter Dave Rastovich Halfway to Bondi Beach

From http://www.surfinglife.com.au/news/asl-news/2367-dave-rastovich-transparentsea:

After 19 days of surfing, paddling and sailing their way down the NSW coast, the environmental awareness group led by Dave Rastovich has successfully passed the halfway point of their intended 700km, 36 day voyage from Byron Bay to Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

Titled “Transparentsea” the initiative, which began on October 1st, aims to draw attention to the plight of the migrating humpback whales as the team follows their path south and to highlight issues of environmental concern to do with Australia’s East Coast.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/1Kr0sM

RT from @ClimateProject

Oil on Rives BFK Paper, 22 x 30″, 2009

In only a few weeks, Josee Migneault, the Health, Safety and Environmental Systems Manager, will celebrate fifteen years in our industry. It’s clear she is where she
wants and needs to be.

Her area of responsibility is ensuring compliance with health, safety and environmental regulations company-wide, including at the Port Hardy Processing Plant and with MHC’s main contractors. Her main goal and passion, however is to keep all employees free of injuries.

“Born and raised on the ocean” in Sept-Iles, Quebec, Josee remains strongly connected to her parents. “We talk every day,” she said, adding that’s important to maintain a family connection and to “help them (her parents) realize they still matter to me.” Josee’s path to the industry was, in her words, “one of karma”. After joining the military in 1979, she was transferred to Comox two years later. One day she read her horoscope that said she’d become a “fish keeper”. Josee mentioned this to Diana Pickwick, current manager at Pott’s Bay. Josee spent a weekend at Sargeaunt’s Pass, where Diana was working at the time for Stolt Sea Farm. Consequently, Josee “fell in love” with the work and the industry.

“I had to be here,” she said.

Upon returning to dry land, Josee handed in her resignation at Realty World, presented a resume to Stolt, and received a phone call two weeks later. She began as a fish tech, later became an Assistant Manager, and moved into compliance in 1998, an area that energizes her and “makes me want to be here every day.”

Away from work, Josee has a passion for riding her motor bike and wood working. Her current project is a four foot humpback whale that will welcome visitors to her home in Fanny Bay. Her home is in a perfect location to indulge in the kayaking she loves so much because it connects her to nature.

By Gina Forsyth

Whales aren’t supposed to be in the river near where I live. But, a dead humpback whale was found on a beach near my house.  It’s a mystery why it’s there. Experts are trying to find transport for humpback whales…LOL, there’s not even a bus or train in my town! I imagine they might have to let mother nature do her job and bio-degrade the whale bit by bit. EWWW…I bet it stinks!

Ha Ha Happy Hump Day!

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Last verse we discussed that every human knows that there is a God because there is a conscience within them that tells them this is the truth.

This verse lets us know a second reason why every human knows that there is a God: creation.

The invisible things of God: His power, His nature, His goodness are clearly seen in the creation of the world.

If you can see the creation of the world, you can see what God is like. It is not a perfect picture because creation is fallen since Adam sinned, but it is a picture that is good enough for any single human to know there is a God.

You can tell that God is powerful from the creation of the world. Anyone claiming to believe in evolution is a fool, because you can tell from creation that it was designed and made.

The phrase in this verse “things that were made” is simply one word in the Greek: poiēma. It means craftsmanship, design, creative work. If you cannot see craftmanship and design and creativity in this world you must be blind.

A wonderfully appropriately named marine biologist called Frank Fish was once looking at the sculpture of a humpback whale fin. He was amazed at the bobbled edge and assumed the sculptor had made a mistake. He found out the sculptor was right and that humpback whales have a bumpy leading edge. Up until then conventional wisdom was that smooth leading edges are far more streamlined.

Frank Fish, together with a team of scientists from Harvard, did some tests and found out that the bumps on the leading edge meant that the humpback whale creates vertices and is 8% more efficient than any human designed system.

Frank has developed the design and started a business selling the design to appropriate companies that develop turbines and fans. There is now a ceiling fan based on his research, and the technology might be utilized on helicopters! Frank is hailed as a great designer – but you would have to be a fool not to realize that God is the super designers and Frank is just smart enough to copy God.

A whale fin is better designed than the most intelligent scientists in the world have ever been able to design! This was not the result of random process, but proof that there is a genius of a designer behind it.

This is why everyone is without excuse when God holds them accountable for their sin. They know there is a God because their conscience and creation lets them know there is a God.

You should this week learn some things like Frank Fish’s research. I recommend this week learning three stories like this. Use a website like www.answersingenesis.org (Frank’s story is at http://www.answersingenesis.org/arti…2/whale-design) and find out a couple of things to point out to people.

When you find out your three stories about the wonder of creation, practise with a friend telling them quickly in a way that can easily be understood. This will increase your confidence and make you bolder in witnessing.

Give the Holy Spirit things to work with! Telling stories like this aid in awakening someone’s conscience and making them think about the God of this universe.
If you have any more stories like this why not add them to the bottom of this blog post as comments…

Glory and freedom,
Benjamin

Sunday morning after the big party, we went out on our final guided whale watching trip – as it turns out saving the best for last. Our guide this time was Allan from Whale Watch Vava’u, based out of his Mounu Island Resort and the pioneer of commercial whale watching in Vava’u. He picked us up off Raven from our anchorage near the Full Moon Party, picked up the rest of the swimmers from the resort, and headed confidently out to connect with a trio of whales.

We had an exhilarating day swimming with whales and were very fortunate to have had the opportunity. Most of the whale watching operations are booked solid at the moment, many with their boats taken up by private charters, and we have been scrambling to find space for ourselves. This boat was actually on charter by a Scot named Colin Baxter who therefore had exclusive rights to the boat and was extremely kind in allowing us to come aboard. Colin is an acclaimed professional landscape photographer and serious humpback whale aficionado who has been to all around the world building a portfolio of humpback photos for an eventual book.

Allan took us straight to a mother, calf and escort and we played with them for hours – sharing time with the resort’s other boat, and giving the whales some time to themselves as well. His skill at predicting their behavior without harassing them made every swim a success. In addition he educated us with information about whale behavior. Mother and escort would lie quietly 10-20 meters below the surface while the baby made multiple trips to the surface to breathe and to play, checking us out on each pass. Later in the day he got very playful and started breaching repeatedly. Occasionally the group would move on and relocate, at which point the boat would pick us up and reposition for another whale encounter in a new location.

The Tongan humpback whales have migrated here some 6,000 miles from the Antarctica, spending June through November in tropical waters calving, mating, and raising their offspring until the youngsters are strong enough to make the long trek back to their southern feeding grounds. While here the adults do not eat at all. A mother whale will lose some ten tons, one third of her body weight, during her tropical sojourn. Humpbacks are the most acrobatic of whales, exhibiting exuberant breaching, tail lobbing, and pectoral slapping behavior. They are also noted for their vocalizations and whalesong. Distinctively colored with white markings on the underside, they can be individually identified by the pattern of the markings on their tail flukes.

Late in the day Allan spotted the blow of another whale in the distance, so we said good-bye to our family of three and went off to see what new experiences awaited us. This whale was solitary, quietly lying on the bottom in some 10 meters of water near shore. While we swam above him he lay quietly for up to 20 minutes, then would rise with no apparent effort to the surface, take four breaths, and sink down again for another nap. Allan explained that whales sleep with half of their brain, one eye closed, while the other half remains awake. Because they breathe by conscious effort, unlike our automatic respiration, they need to be partially awake at all times.

Here are a few of the photos of the day, although I look forward to refining them with Photoshop when I get home. One photo, not particularly a good one, shows Mike snorkeling behind the trio of whales – giving you an idea of the contrast in size between a human and a combined total of some 60-70 tons of whale flesh!

PHOTO TIP:  DOUBLE CLICK ON ANY PHOTO FOR AN ENLARGEMENT

We’re back in Vava’u after a not very fun sail from Niuatoputapu. We left Monday morning as the forecast indicated that was our best window for wind direction and strength in a weeklong forecast of continuing windy conditions. Beating into the wind, choppy swells, wind consistently between 25-30 knots – Mike compares the ride to being in a washing machine. After our bouncy but uneventful 18 hour overnight passage we pulled into Port Maurelle in the early morning for a lazy day anchored in quiet waters, catching up on our sleep, washing the salt water off the boat, and going for a snorkel.

Wednesday Mike and I went out again with Dive Vava’u, a first rate diving and whale watching operation. Windy as usual – same 25 knots stirring up the chop. We made 4 or 5 attempts to swim with the whales, donning our snorkel gear and waiting on the swim platform at the aft end of the boat, then sliding in (no splashing allowed – scares the whales away) and taking off in a 50 yard sprint to close with the whales. Four or five repeats of that scenario is good aerobic exercise in the rough water! On our first attempt we did see the whales for a moment – a mother and calf who would have been happy to hang around except for their male escort who rounded them up each time and drove them off.

Eventually we gave up the swim attempts and went looking for surface activity with a great deal more success. Good views of a female and calf – she laying on her side waving a flipper in the air and splashing it down on the water’s surface – according to our guide that is female behavior to attract a male. Flippers (pectoral fins) on a humpback whale are exceptionally long, up to 17 feet or about 1/3 the length of the whale’s entire body, therefore often referred to as wings.

We also had really good luck with breaching whales – I missed seeing the pair that breached in tandem – only saw the resulting huge splash. Another whale breached one time not too far from the boat, and then we lucked on an exuberant performer who breached 7-8 times, affording good photo ops. It’s a bit of a challenge to photograph breaching whales as they erupt quite unexpectedly out of the water – but when they repeat it ups the odds of pointing the camera in the right direction at the right time.

The whale in the breaching photos has a yellow patch under his throat – it is a colony of barnacles. One theory about why whales breach is that it is an attempt to dislodge parasites like those barnacles.

We plan to continue to go out whale watching on the premise that the more opportunity, the better the odds of success. However today (Friday) is socked in gray and drizzly – no wind and calm water for a change, but not very inviting. So I think we’ll just stay on Raven catching up with the internet and other mundane matters.

Photo Tip:  Double-clicking on any photo will open it up as an enlargement.

Our flight to Vava’u was uneventful except for the two-hour delay departing Tucson. Made us a bit nervous as the LAX-Tonga flight only goes once a week, so if we missed our connection we were in for some creative rescheduling or a week long vacation in Los Angeles! There was a noticeable number of underwater photographers aboard the flight as I could tell from both overheard conversation and the type of luggage on the baggage carousel.

It always feels wonderful to step off the airplane and take in the clean humid air of the tropics, low flying clouds, and palm trees lining the runway. And Rod waiting with the dinghy at the dock to load up our suitcases and ourselves for a quick ride to Raven and the start of our alternative lifestyle. Off come the shoes, on go the shorts and T-shirts, and we are back into Raven mode.

Yesterday we signed up to go out with Whale Watch Vava’u, one of several whale watching tour boats that pursue the humpback whales in season. We were out on the water some eight hours tracking down a friendly whale. The first half of the day was only moderately successful, doing what our guides called “hit and run”. It was easy to locate whales – they are everywhere, but the ones we located were on the move and not inclined to play. Eventually when the boat got into good position, we’d slip into the water in our snorkel gear and kick off quickly to try to get a glimpse of the whales underwater as they glided by. Often they are in groups of 3, a mother and her baby escorted by a hopeful male suitor.

Our second hit and run encounter was a single male who dove down below us – we could just barely make out his tail in the blue gloom, but he was singing. Even those aboard the boat could hear the song, but in the water with our heads submerged it was an amazing experience to be immersed in whale song – as much a feeling as a sound as it echoed through the water.

Finally late in the day we got a radio tip that a swimmer-friendly whale and calf were hanging out near shore. We gave up on the random hit and runs and motored over to wait our turn to swim with the whale. Whale watching etiquette requires that only one boat works with a whale at a time, but must give up its place to another boat after 45 minutes, so we bided our time.

Well worth the wait! Mama whale was quietly suspended motionless in shallow water only about 6-7 meters deep. Her calf was only a few weeks old and he was playing around close to her body. On first view he was upright in the water, tail pointed down to the ocean floor, head peeking above his mother’s back, balanced by his flukes on her head and watching us watch him. However he swam loops around and about, quietly entertaining himself while mother never moved – just hung there, all 40 tons of her, while we floated at a respectful distance and enjoyed the experience.

No camera and photographs for me as I really hadn’t had enough time to assemble the housing and be sure that it was secure and flood-proof. Very easy to make a mistake and ruin several thousand dollars worth of equipment so I made the decision to leave it behind for our first outing. However I don’t know if we’ll have this kind of opportunity again – it was very special! Fingers crossed! And camera at hand from now on!

We had met up with friends from Tongatapu who were vacationing in Vava’u. They went whale watching along with us aboard the same boat, and after a nice hot shower to warm up we met again for a wonderful dinner at the best restaurant in town – The Dancing Rooster. Delicious food, great company, swimming with whales – a wonderful first day in Tonga!

Today we sail out of Neiafu Harbor and head for Port Morelle, a pleasant anchorage not too far away where there’s good snorkeling including some limestone sea caves for variety. Swallows Cave extends above and below water and can be entered by dinghy before diving up and down the vertical columnar space filled with fish. Mariner’s Cave has an underwater entrance – dive down to swim through the entrance, then rise to the surface and air space inside the cave. As the water level inside the cave rises and falls with wave action, the air fogs up and clears again from compression and condensation.

We plan to spend the weekend there, come back into the harbor to top off our diesel, then head north to the Niua Group some 160 nm from here. Very remote and beautiful, a population of only some 300 Tongans, and lots of whales.

Last weekend, I decided to take advantage of living in Santa Barbara and went whale watching.  I decided to go due to reports of numerous Humpback and Blue whale sightings on the previous weekend.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any Blue whales, mostly as a result of the fog that refused to burn off.    However, we did see a lone Fin whale which is not commonly found in the channel.  There were many Humpback whales and they were not shy about approaching the boat.  Additionally, we saw large numbers of Common and Risso’s dolphins.

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“Humpback Whale I”  -  Santa Barbara Channel, CA

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“Humpback Whale II”  -  Santa Barbara Channel, CA

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“Common Dolphin”  -  Santa Barbara Channel, CA

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“Common Dolphin and Calf”  -  Santa Barbara Channel, CA

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“Risso’s Dolphin and Calf”  -  Santa Barbara Channel, CA

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About Tonga in general

Malo e lelei (“Greetings” in Tongan)

Our bags are packed and Tuesday afternoon we board our plane(s) for the long flight back to Raven, currently anchored in Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga.  Why?  See photo (and no, I didn’t take it – hope I’m lucky enough to get something nearly as good)! It is humpback whale season and I’m super excited about the rare opportunity to swim with and photograph the humpbacks and their babies in Tonga’s clear waters.

Coincidentally this article about photographing whales showed up in my inbox just yesterday. Talk about timely!  As well I’ve inserted a link to a recording of humpback whale song, also a link to the excellent Dive Vava’u website about diving in Tonga and Tonga in general.

This is our last cruise aboard Raven; at its conclusion she sails for New Zealand to be sold. However the trip Rod has outlined for us sounds terrific. Spend several days in Vava’u, taking advantage of the commercial whale watching outfits there. Then cruise some 160nm north to the very remote Niuatoputapu Island for a week. Then back to Vava’u, down to the Ha’apai Group and finishing in Nuku’alofa mid-September.  Tonga consists of some 170 islands sprinkled over some 700,000 square km of ocean, and divided into four main island “groups”. On this voyage we plan to visit all four groups, from the Niuas in the far north to Tongatapu in the south, with the Ha’apai Group and the Vava’u Group between.

En route back to Tucson we plan to detour to New Zealand for a couple of days to check in with Circa Marine and see the latest progress on the FPB64.

An Underwater Photographer’s Guide to Humpback Whales in Tonga

Whale Song Recording

Dive Vava’u Website

Hallo allemaal,

Het is al weer drie dagen geleden dat we wat van ons hebben laten horen, maar hier zijn we weer!! We zijn dinsdag met de auto naar Cape Scott geweest, een route of een off road pad van ruim 60 km enkele reis, de auto ziet er echt niet meer uit. Het was erg gaaf daar, erg rustig en lekker midden in het bos lopen. Verder hebben we die dag weinig gedaan (maar het was ook laat toen we terug kwamen in het hotel) en we zijn vroeg naar bed gegaan.

Woensdag moesten we namelijk om half vijf(!!) op om met de veerpont de Inside Passage te doen. Dit is een boottocht van 15 uur langs de kust naar het noorden (tot de hoogte van Alaska). Het was een erg fraaie tocht, na een kwartier zagen we een orca en een paar keer hebben we walvissen gezien. Dit was op een redelijke afstand van de boot, dus dit keer geen jaloersmakende foto’s. Om half twaalf ’s avonds zijn we in ons hotel aangekomen en zijn we gaan slapen.

Vandaag onze eerste tocht over het vasteland van Canada. En dit was ontzettend gaaf. Nog steeds veel door het bos, maar nu hebben we een extra ingrediënten: Bergen en Sneeuw. Het was echt schitterend om de hele dag door heen te rijden. Ook vandaag weer wat wildlife gezien. Een Bambi liep verdwaald rond midden in de stad van Prince Rupert waar we begonnen en in de laatste 100 km van de route stak er een zwarte BEER over. Hij was al bijna helemaal overgestoken en snelde vlug het bos in, dus helaas geen foto, maar wel weer de ervaring. Dus vandaag maar een fotootje van wat we onder andere gezien hebben:

Landschap met berg en sneeuw

Morgen weer een lange route naar Prince George, de laatste stop voordat we de Nationale Parken van de Rocky Mountains gaan bezoeken. Dit belooft nog veel mooier te worden dan we vandaag gezien hebben, dus het wordt weer genieten!!

Groetjes,

Arjen & Marloes

Yesterday we took the road to nowhere, driving for 8 hours in our tropical island weather. I saw a lot of things but since Rogier has terrible eye sight he probably only saw the first few hours, and maybe a little of the last hour after a pit stop where he dropped his lenses on the urine soaked floor of a gas station washroom.

After some very sobering news from the home front it’s been a challenge seeing the fun side of things, so we decided to forcefully make some normal things funny:

Trying to have fun after a few cups of coffee

Rogier pushed over a lighthouse in Heart’s Content, posed in the small Newfoundland town called ‘Dildo’, and found a road sign in Old Perlican pin pointing his medical condition. After returning home we spent our evening in Flatrock where we saw a large pod of Humpback Whales feeding on fish for hours and hours, which was awesome.

Yesterday we had 2 days for the price of one. The first day was spent on Cape Spear seeing the sun rise on the whales, it was nice and quiet and basically it was just us and the Humpbacks.

Sunrise fluke - Cape Spear

After returning to Torbay exhausted, we fell asleep again and woke up in the afternoon. After this second awakening we saw a few crazy movies and took a taxi to the George Steet Festival. This Festival was an eye opener for Rogier, as he could actually see over the heads of most people. He’s not that tall at all for Dutch standards but a lot taller than most Newfoundlanders for sure, so we both got a good view of the impromptu Michael Jackson tribute band and had a good time.

George Street Festival - St. John's

Just wanted to share some photos of our daytrip to Middle Cove beach and Bay Bulls, for Rogier’s girlfriend who misses him so very much:

My shoes are soaked! - Middle Cove beach

Taking a trip - Bay Bulls

There she blows! - Witless Bay

Nesting Puffin - Gull Island

Kittiwake nestling - Gull Island

Captain Rogier - Witless Bay