blogs

On October 28, Oceana, Nautica, and actor Adrian Grenier joined GQ to honor OCYC Commodore Kristen Berry at the GQ Gentlemen's Ball. We were delighted for Kristen to receive recognition for his advocacy work and for being a true steward for the oceans.

Additionally, ticket sale proceeds for the ball generated thousands of dollars in donations for Oceana and three other worthwhile charities - UNICEF, The Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation and The Pat Tillman Foundation.

Check out the video below to hear in Kristen's words why we should care about the oceans >>

Science Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash By LINDSEY HOSHAW Published: November 10, 2009 A garbage patch in the Pacific is one of five that may be caught in giant gyres scattered in the world’s oceans.

 Passionate sailor, cameraman, editor, technician, producer, director, author, linguist, musician, loving husband and father…Hans La Cour Andersen has finally lost his long and typically courageous battle with cancer. The 54 year old Danish Kiwi was known to top racing sailors around the world, the world being his “patch.” He covered virtually every major international regatta - from the America’s Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race to the Fastnet and MedCup - and to many he was the ultimate renaissance man.

Brad Van Liew has confirmed his entry in the VELUX 5 OCEANS 2010-11 race. Van
Liew's new ocean racing campaign targets the popular and exciting Eco 60
Class, and constitutes the first United States entry in the race. The move
represents a return to the race he famously won in 2003 as the skipper of the
Class II Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America.

"This race has had a massive impact on my life over the past decade," said the
41-year old ocean racer. "During the 1998-99 Around Alone, the predecessor to
the VELUX, my family and I fell in love with Charleston, the start/finish port

One week from today, OCYC Commodore Kristen Berry will represent Oceana as its honoree for the GQ Gentlemen's Ball. The event brings together Adrian Grenier, Ashton Kutcher, Mark Wahlberg and Josh Duhamel as ambassadors for Oceana, UNICEF, The Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation and the Pat Tillman Foundation, respectively. In addition, Nautica, HP, Gillette and Ketel One support one of the four pillars that represents each charity: conservation, education, leadership and integrity.

The 2009 Nautica Malibu Triathlon is just one month away and Oceana still has available spots for our race team for the Olympic distance race (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run) on September 12 and the Classic distance race (.5mi swim, 18mi bike, 4mi run) on September 13.

OCYC Commodore Kristen Berry was the first OCYC member to race for Team Oceana last month in New York, but you can join his distinguished company by signing up to race for Oceana before Monday, August 17. »

I'll be racing this year, but last year I attended as a spectator and was excited to see all the celebs that did the Pacific swim, the Pacific Coast Highway bike ride and the run down the pavement and blacktop along Zuma Beach. Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey, William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman and Cindy Crawford were just some of the famous faces to grace the beach in 2008 and I know many will be there in 2009 too.

Swim. Bike. Run. Those were the only three actions on the minds of thousands of participants in Sunday’s Nautica New York City Triathlon. Thanks to a generous invitation from Nautica - an Oceana corporate sponsor – Kevin Connor and I arrived in the Big Apple on Thursday for three days of information sharing with these tremendous athletes (and their entourages!)

Regardless of whether we met someone from Western Australia or the Upper West Side, there was a definite connection between the triathletes and the well being of our blue planet. Scuba divers, recreational fisherman and surfers were among the crowd, and they all enjoyed relating their experiences from the Hudson River to Lake Placid to Kailua Bay. With the help of an energetic and passionate volunteer corps, we generated hundreds of new Wavemakers for Oceana’s eNewsletter and spread the word about protecting the oceans to hundreds more.

I’m sure that many of you have visited or crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA at some point in your life. Maybe even sailed near it. But imagine rowing to it. From Japan. But that is what Chris Martin and Mick Dawson are attempting to do in their Golden Gate Endeavour: be the first to row across the North Pacific Ocean without assistance. The two incredibly experienced rowers set off on May 8 and are currently 70 days and just over 2300 miles into the trip.

Chris and Mick departed from Choshi in Japan with everything necessary for the journey, including all food and supplies, a water desalinator, and solar panels to power the communication and video systems. They also specifically designed and constructed their boat, christened “Bojangles,” for this trip. Twenty-three feet long and six feet wide, it is the most advanced ocean rowing vessel ever built. Which is a good thing, considering what they are facing.

Training update!

Today I did my second brick workout.  According to the training website this should have occurred about week 16 of training.  Let's just for the sake of conversation say that I have not been training for 16 weeks.  Anyway - did it.  Loved it.  Felt pretty good.

Today was a ride/run brick. 

Oh yeah, Wait... "What the heck is a brick?" 

Well besides what I feel like, it is a workout that consists of doing two of the three disciplines back to back in the same workout.  So today I rode (1 hour about 18 miles) and then ran 40 minutes (don't ask... it wasn't fast).

Hey there!  Happy Summer.  I hope this note finds you tan, happy and well.  Have you been boating much?  I hope so.

I have been a bad commodore lately.  Not enough blogging and too much working.  Well I have found a good reason to switch that up for a bit - and with luck forever.

On July 26th I am competing, for Oceana and the OCYC, in the New York City Triathlon.   Never one to let an opportunity slide by, I am raising some funds for ocean conservation via this event. 

Oceana has helped me to set up a really slick website so that kind, giving, ocean loving folks like you can make a tax deductible charitable donation to the cause.  The funds I raise go directly to help protect species, improve fish stocks, reduce pollution, and fight bad guys.

Here is the link to my Oceana Fundraising Page.