EpicSurf wins first place for inclusion in blooloop Innovation Awards 2024
EpicSurf was also honoured with the People’s Choice Award at Surf Park Summit for its work to enhance accessibility. “This award fuels our passion, and we can’t wait to see this creation come to life and change how people think about surfing.” “Collaborating with ADG’s EpicSurf has led to the creation of the first surf […]
EpicSurf was also honoured with the People’s Choice Award at Surf Park Summit for its work to enhance accessibility. “This award fuels our passion, and we can’t wait to see this creation come to life and change how people think about surfing.”
“Collaborating with ADG’s EpicSurf has led to the creation of the first surf lift in the world! We’re thrilled to make waves with ADG and ensure the joy and healing power of surfing is accessible to all!”
Accessibility is not just an add-on
The surf market is quickly growing, with 1 in 100 people open to trying surfing, according to industry reports. True growth, however, involves inclusivity—making sure the sport’s expansion includes everyone, especially those typically excluded because of physical barriers. This award signifies a pivotal moment: the industry’s recognition that accessibility is not just an add-on; it’s essential.
Harmony Lesch, business development specialist with Aqua Creek Products, says: “Aqua Creek is honored to have its partnership with ADG recognized by blooloop’s Festival of Innovation in the Inclusion category. As experts in aquatic accessibility, we saw an opportunity to provide equipment which would allow the inland surf industry to be accessible to all. EpicSurf, a stationary surf experience from the water park experts at Aquatic Development Group (ADG), is celebrating after winning in the inclusion category at the blooloop Innovation Awards 2024 for its collaboration with Aqua Creek to develop the world’s first standing wave access lift. This recognition underscores the growing global commitment to inclusivity in the surf industry.
Surfing for all
Julie Kline, director of sales and marketing for EpicSurf, says: “We embarked on this mission to make sure that everyone can have the opportunity to experience the joy of surf. We are so grateful to blooloop and the attractions industry for making a space to honor technology that breaks down barriers. By removing barriers, EpicSurf empowers individuals of all abilities to feel the excitement of catching a wave and discover their role within the surf community. From kids and veterans to those with physical challenges or sensory sensitivities, the joy of surfing can change lives for the better. EpicSurf has always maintained that surfing is for everyone. Winning this award confirms that others align with this vision and are committed to fostering a future where the waves’ healing power knows no bounds. This award shows how the company is working to make surfing available to everyone. It’s part of a collective movement to open the waves to all, changing the future of the sport. For a long time, surfing has represented connection and freedom, but for many people, especially those with limited mobility, this dream has often been impossible to achieve.
Mapping myths: Researchers create first milky sea database
For centuries, sailors have returned from voyages with tales of eerie, steady-glowing oceans. These episodes would sometimes last for months, atop water capable of glowing in a bucket, deep beneath a ship’s keel. While the earliest accounts were written off as tall tales, the stories are true. Named “milky seas” by the explorers who first […]
For centuries, sailors have returned from voyages with tales of eerie, steady-glowing oceans. These episodes would sometimes last for months, atop water capable of glowing in a bucket, deep beneath a ship’s keel. While the earliest accounts were written off as tall tales, the stories are true.
Named “milky seas” by the explorers who first documented it, the phenomenon is a rare event of marine bioluminescence. A new database created in collaboration between Colorado State University’s department of atmospheric science and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere has brought together historical eyewitness accounts for the first time.
“Milky seas describe very large regions of ocean that produce a sustained and widespread glow, often appearing to extend to the horizon on dark, moon-free nights,” CIRA Director and atmospheric science Professor Steven Miller wrote in an email-based interview.
The journal Advancing Earth and Space Sciences recently published an article recounting the database’s development, which drew from 415 individual observations of milky seas over the past 400 years.
“The oldest one that I was able to find goes back to 1615, and it was one of the first-ever voyages of the British East India Company,” said Justin Hudson, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of atmospheric science and the paper’s first author. “So there’s a good chance it’s actually the earliest account ever in English.”
While sorting through the historical accounts, Hudson had to differentiate the individual sightings to make sure each milky sea event was unique, rather than two separate people noting the same event. In the end, the database’s construction was guided by a defined methodology that outlined specific characteristics of a milky sea event.
Every event had to feature “a steady, nonflashing gray/white/green-blue/turquoise glow coming from the nighttime ocean surface,” the paper reads. The event also has to be widespread across the ocean’s horizon and occur within nondisturbed water. A shape line of demarcation must also occur between the glowing and nonglowing water, fade in and out of brightness and have a calm ocean surface. Lastly, the sea must return to normal, dark water once the sun or moon rises.
After categorizing the observations by the database’s criteria, Miller and Hudson were able to estimate both the rate of milky sea occurrences and the general geographic region they occur within.
“Milky seas may occur one to two times per year globally, but they are by no means a regular occurrence and there may be many years between events,” Miller wrote. “Based on historical sightings and, more recently, satellite observations, we know that they tend to form more often in the northwest Indian Ocean and Indonesia.”
Courtesy of Justin Hudson and Steven D. Miller, Earth and Space Science, 2025
While the exact cause of the bioluminescent event is unknown, bacteria is theorized to play a major role in its development.
“Based off of the fact that it’s a consistent, nonflashing light … and it covers such a large area and sort of other various qualities, we think it’s caused by bacteria,” Hudson said. “For the largest event we know of, basically, if it was only a centimeter thick, it would have one mole of bacteria involved. And if you work out how much it could weigh, you get over a million kilograms of bacteria.”
The geographical regions where the events occur most frequently experience weather patterns that result in an environment bacteria thrives in. In the Indian Ocean, the Indian Ocean Dipole causes a fluctuation in sea surface temperatures across the western and eastern sides of the sea, which are categorized by positive, negative and neutral phases.
“It is a sea surface temperature pattern that happens in the Indian Ocean where one side will have cooler sea surface temperatures than normal, and one side will have warmer than normal, and whichever side has warmer temperatures, that’s really good at making (sure) there’s more evaporation, (as) hotter air wants to rise,” Hudson said.
Bacteria thrives in warmer ocean temperatures, which Hudson theorized causes milky seas to occur more frequently in the region the Dipole is most present.
“We think that this phase, the positive phase, in the Indian Ocean Dipole (is) associated with that cool, nutrient-rich water from down below coming up in that region, and it causes milky seas to happen at a much higher rate than you would expect if it didn’t have an impact,” Hudson said.
Miller’s interest in the fabled phenomenon began in 2005 when he published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences discussing the first detection of a milky sea event through satellite imaging technology.
“It was pretty amazing to think that we could do this from space, and especially for a form of bioluminescence that had been more a part of the maritime folklore than of scientific knowledge,” Miller wrote. “Since then, I’ve been hooked on the topic and was excited to work with a new generation of satellite technology that might be even more capable of detecting and measuring milky seas.”
Combined with the newfound knowledge from the database, this satellite technology has allowed the team to chart milky sea occurrences from 2017 that were previously undocumented.
“As part of my work, I do what’s called a Hindcasting model — (a) forecast model, just going backwards,” Hudson said. “I actually was able to predict a previously unknown milky sea event.”
The ultimate goal of the researchers is to predict an event before it occurs with enough time to chart a scientific expedition in the predicted region, with the hopes of observing a milky sea in person, firsthand.
“(We want to) kind of work (with) other scientists internationally, to form a team who would be able to go out there, … get on a boat and sort of combine all their expertise to be able to, like, sample the water, study it and figure out what’s going on (and) how does this fit into everything else?” Hudson said.
Understanding this phenomenon more closely will provide not only more information about the suspected bacteria itself, but also hold broader implications for understanding the ocean’s ecosystem in its entirety.
“(We’re) learning more about how such a dramatic population explosion of nature’s tiniest, simplest and oldest organisms could conspire to form a signal (one) large and strong enough to be (seen) from outer space, and what that is telling us about how major components of the Earth’s system ‘talk to each other’ and interact may hold very important insights to the future of our planet,” Miller wrote.
Reach Katie Fisher at science@collegian.com or on social media @CSUCollegian.
UC San Diego men’s water polo team has revealed their 2025 schedule, entering their third year in the Big West conference. The season kicks off with the Triton Invitational from August 29-31, featuring top-ranked teams. Home games include notable matchups against Stanford and LMU, along with six tournaments and four away games. The Big West […]
UC San Diego men’s water polo team has revealed their 2025 schedule, entering their third year in the Big West conference. The season kicks off with the Triton Invitational from August 29-31, featuring top-ranked teams. Home games include notable matchups against Stanford and LMU, along with six tournaments and four away games. The Big West Championship will take place from November 21-23, offering a chance for the Tritons to qualify for the NCAA National Collegiate Championship in December.
By the Numbers
2024 record: 17 wins, 12 losses
Big West conference victories: 3 against UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, and Cal State Fullerton
State of Play
Home games will be played at Canyonview Aquatic Center, drawing large crowds, especially during student return week.
The Tritons are the defending champions of the Battle of the Kings against LMU.
What’s Next
As anticipation builds for the season opener and home matches, the Tritons aim to improve upon last year’s performance. The team is also positioned to compete strongly in the Big West Championship and potentially earn an NCAA bid.
Bottom Line
The 2025 season presents a significant opportunity for UC San Diego’s men’s water polo team to build on previous successes and deepen their competitive edge in the Big West, ultimately striving for a berth in the NCAA Championship.
New York Yankees Top Prospect Reportedly Drawing Serious Trade Interest
If the New York Yankees are looking to add in the coming days, they may have to part ways with some of the young talent rising through the ranks of their farm system. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported Thursday afternoon that catcher Rafael Flores was one Yankees prospect who has been coveted by […]
If the New York Yankees are looking to add in the coming days, they may have to part ways with some of the young talent rising through the ranks of their farm system.
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported Thursday afternoon that catcher Rafael Flores was one Yankees prospect who has been coveted by trade partners. Flores was promoted from Double-A Somerset to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last Saturday.
Flores hit .287 with 15 home runs, 23 doubles, 48 runs, 56 RBIs, six stolen bases and an .841 OPS across 87 games in Double-A. Through six Triple-A contests, the 24-year-old catcher is batting .208 with one home runs, three runs, three RBIs and a .720 OPS.
MLB Pipeline has Flores ranked as the Yankees’ No. 8 prospect, making him the only catcher in the organization’s top 25.
One Yankee prospect coveted by trade partners: Catcher Rafael Flores, who was just called up to Triple-A
Those two moves could change New York’s plans for the coming days, including their willingness to move Flores. The future of second-year first baseman Ben Rice, who has spent roughly one-seventh of his time at catcher this season, could also play a part in determining Flores’ availability.
The trade deadline is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET on Thursday.
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Venezuelan baseball team denied visas into US, Little League International says – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports
(AP) — A Venezuelan baseball team was denied visas into the United States and will miss this year’s Senior Baseball World Series, Little League International confirmed Friday. The Cacique Mara team, from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was scheduled to participate in the tournament after winning the Latin American championship in Mexico. “The Cacique Mara Little League team […]
(AP) — A Venezuelan baseball team was denied visas into the United States and will miss this year’s Senior Baseball World Series, Little League International confirmed Friday.
The Cacique Mara team, from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was scheduled to participate in the tournament after winning the Latin American championship in Mexico.
“The Cacique Mara Little League team from Venezuela was unfortunately unable to obtain the appropriate visas to travel to the Senior League Baseball World Series,” Little League International said in a statement, adding that it is “extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes.”
The Venezuelan team traveled to Colombia two weeks ago to apply for their visas at the U.S. embassy in Bogotá.
The embassy did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
“It is a mockery on the part of Little League to keep us here in Bogotá with the hope that our children can fulfill their dreams of participating in a world championship,” the team said in a statement. “What do we do with so much injustice, what do we do with the pain that was caused to our children?”
Venezuela is among a list of countries with restrictions for entering the U.S. or its territories. President Donald Trump has banned travel to the U.S. from 12 other countries, citing national security concerns.
Earlier in the month, the Cuban women’s volleyball team was denied visas to participate in a tournament in Puerto Rico.
“They told us that Venezuela is on a list because Trump says Venezuelans are a threat to the security of his state, of his country,” said Kendrick Gutiérrez, the league’s president in Venezuela. “It hasn’t been easy the situation; we earned the right to represent Latin America in the World Championship.”
The Senior League Baseball World Series, a tournament for players aged 13-16, is played each year in Easley, South Carolina. It begins Saturday.
The tournament organizers replaced the Venezuelans with the Santa Maria de Aguayo team from Tamaulipas, Mexico, the team that was a runner-up in the Latin American championship.
“I think this is the first time this has happened, but it shouldn’t end this way. They’re going to replace us with another team because relations have been severed; it’s not fair,” Gutiérrez added. “I don’t understand why they put Mexico in at the last minute and left Venezuela out.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Council Corner: Gulfport Ward II Council member Marlene Shaw gives a 90-day progress report regarding the state of the City. Photo courtesy of Marlene Shaw Over the past 90 days, the City of Gulfport has made substantial progress in restoring public facilities, enhancing services, and promoting community engagement. Under the leadership of the City Council, […]
Council Corner: Gulfport Ward II Council member Marlene Shaw gives a 90-day progress report regarding the state of the City. Photo courtesy of Marlene Shaw
Over the past 90 days, the City of Gulfport has made substantial progress in restoring public facilities, enhancing services, and promoting community engagement. Under the leadership of the City Council, Mayor, and City Manager, these efforts reflect a shared commitment to transparency, resiliency, and improving quality of life for all who call Gulfport home.
Community and Infrastructure Accomplishments:
Reopening of Williams Pier
The fully renovated Williams Pier is once again open to the public, restoring a vital waterfront amenity for recreation, fishing, and community gathering.
Replacement of railings Between Williams Pier and the Gulfport Casino
New cable railings along the waterfront promenade have been removed and replaced, improving both safety and the visual appeal of this popular public space.
Stabilization of Roadway Adjacent to the Gulfport Casino
Emergency stabilization of the shoreline roadway near the Casino was completed under a temporary permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, preserving access and safeguarding infrastructure.
Reopening of the Gulfport Recreation Youth Center
The Youth Center has resumed programming and services, offering essential recreational and educational opportunities for local families and youth.
Replenishment of Beach Volleyball Courts
Beach volleyball courts have been restored with fresh sand and surface upgrades, improving play conditions and supporting local sports activity. We are continuing the remaining repairs that include fencing, electric, and light fixtures.
Installation of Temporary Dinghy Dock at the Municipal Marina
A temporary dinghy dock has been installed to expand access for transient boaters and support the city’s thriving boating community.
Marina Recovery and South Basin Restoration in Progress
The Gulfport Marina has been brought close to full operational capacity after hurricane-related repairs. Restoration and permitting efforts for the South Basin are actively underway, ensuring long-term stability and expanded marina services.
Restoration of Hoyt Athletic Fields
The athletic fields at Hoyt Park have been repaired and restored following storm damage, welcoming back the Gulfport Boomerangs softball team and local kickball groups, and reinvigorating community sports programming.
Adoption of No-Smoking Ordinance in Parks and Beaches
A city-wide ordinance now prohibits smoking in designated parks and beaches, supporting a cleaner, healthier, and more family-friendly environment.
Improved Permit Processing in Coordination with FEMA, County, and City Guidelines
The City has worked to improve the efficiency of its permitting processes, helping residents and contractors navigate repairs and rebuilds more quickly while ensuring compliance with FEMA, County, and local standards.
Ongoing Recovery and Strategic Initiatives:
Historic Gulfport Casino Repairs Underway
Due to its protected status, repairs to the historic Gulfport Casino require additional oversight and permitting. The City is actively working to restore this beloved venue while preserving its architectural and cultural heritage.
Engaging Displaced Property Owners
The City is actively encouraging homeowners whose properties were damaged by the storm to return, rebuild, and re-engage with the community. Assistance and permitting support are being provided to streamline the process.
Commitment to Transparency and Open Dialogue
The City Council and Mayor’s Office have prioritized open access and transparent governance, welcoming public input and maintaining an open-door approach to City affairs. Residents are encouraged to engage directly with elected officials and City leadership to share concerns, ask questions, and stay informed on key initiatives.
The City of Gulfport remains committed to building back stronger and smarter. While many challenges remain, the City’s leadership and community spirit continue to drive meaningful progress across all sectors. Together, we are shaping a resilient and vibrant future for Gulfport.
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RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: To become a national or Olympic swimmer, aspiring athletes in India need to focus on early training, develop a strong work ethics, and navigate the challenges of balancing academics and training. They should also prioritise fitness and nutrition besides participating in swimming events. Support from coaches, family, and the sports ecosystem is crucial for […]
RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: To become a national or Olympic swimmer, aspiring athletes in India need to focus on early training, develop a strong work ethics, and navigate the challenges of balancing academics and training. They should also prioritise fitness and nutrition besides participating in swimming events. Support from coaches, family, and the sports ecosystem is crucial for success.
As coach B Ganesh noted, “To succeed in any sport, you have to be persistent. There will be more failures than victories, unless you are Usain Bolt. But you should never give up, keep putting your best foot forward all the time, and keep trying.”
Six swimmers from Eluru city, who hail from poor and average family background, have been selected for national-level championship competitions to be held in Bengaluru in August. The six students, aged 11 to 17 years, include Balaga Swami Naidu, M Dhanush Sai, Addada Rishwant, Shaik Hakeel, J Yashwasini and Unnamatla Mohana Deepti.
Despite facing challenges, these young swimmers have demonstrated resilience and determination. They spend five to six hours every day training and around Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per month on nutritious food. Their families have been supportive, and the government has taken notice of their achievements.
Swami Naidu won five gold medals, Dhanush bags two gold medals, two silver medals, and one bronze medal, Yashwasini gets two gold medals, Mohana Deepti clinched two bronze medals, Rishwant grabbed one bronze medal, and Shaik Hakeel won one bronze medal. Poverty did not deter them from achieving their goals.
Eluru Collector K Vetri Selvi felicitated the six swimmers at the Collectorate and said, “It is a proud moment for us that our players showcase their talent at the state level contest and win medals.”
Ganesh said, “There have been a lot of positive changes. What sets this sport apart is the fact that it is not just a race against other swimmers. It is a battle with the water that they swim in as well,” he said.