It's 6th June 1944, in Normandy, France. The Allied troops prepare the largest amphibious operation in history, against Nazi Germany. D-Day has come. While the infantry and armoured divisions wait for the green light, the weather charts are constantly updated.
A recently declassified dossier shows that swell, surf height and wind were crucial variables taken in consideration in the Operation Neptune. It involved tides, winds, waves, visibility both from the air and the sea stand-point, and the combined employment of land, air and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy and in contact with conditions which could not and cannot be fully foreseen.
On the 1st February, the British Admiralty's Naval Meteorological Service activated a Swell Forecast Section in order to get accurate wave predictions for D-Day, the Big Storm (19th-22nd June 1944) and over-the-beach supply operations following the destruction of the artificial harbor at the Omaha beachhead.
Two years before the Operation Overlord (Normandy landings) and Operation Neptune, Franklyn Roosevelt, the US President at the time, sent a message to Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, showing his concern. "...bad surf on the Atlantic beaches is a calculated risk".
Nearly one million equipped troops were extremely sensitive to wave action. It would not be easy to deploy everyone and everything, quickly and efficiently. The report from Charles C. Bates, retired Lieutenant Colonel of the U.S. Air Force tells "it needed a four-day period of low seas".
Chris Beresford has conquered the 2012 Kneeboard Surfing USA Titles, held in beautiful conditions at Huntington Beach Pier, Surf City USA.
Although kneeboarding is not the most popular wave sport, the younger brother of surfing has proved to be a thrilling challenge, in the head-high waves of the iconic Californian arena. Watch the highlights, here.
Chris Beresford and Tom Backer, the second placed kneeboarder, have been recovering from broken necks but they weren't afraid of fighting for the best spots in the final ranking.
In the two days of kneeboarding sessions, up to 80 riders competed for glory. Impressive number, indeed. Beresford, a San Diego kneeboarder, secured the gold position by keeping closer to the wave and pulling more barrels and tricks than anyone else.
Big wave surfers Jeff Rowley, Greg Long, Shaun Walsh and Albee Layer have paddled-in to gigantic 15 metre (50 foot) plus waves at Peahi "Jaws" and cement paddling in as the new frontier in big wave surfing.
Rowley and friends were on Maui, Hawaii waiting for the monster surf to hit the Peahi, "Jaws" reef and produce the world's biggest surfable waves. Watch the bombs coming in, here.
On one of the biggest waves of the day, Rowley took off underneath the pitching lip of the wave. "As the wave was coming I knew I was in the right position, I didn't want to waste any energy paddling just turn around and go".
"It just picked me up perfectly, It felt like I was riding a magic carpet with my heart in my mouth". In doing so Rowley's ride has skyrocketed into two categories of the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave awards; "Ride of The Year" and "Monster Energy Monster Paddle In".
"Everything I have worked hard and trained for all my life helped me pull off a ride like this”. Rowley specialises in Breath Enhancement Training to maximise time underwater without oxygen and maintain calm in extreme situations.
Perfect 10-12 foot waves hit the 2012 Volcom Pipe Pro, at Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii, from the same WNW swell of the last days.
There were three perfect 10-point rides: Balaram Stack, Dusty Payne and Dylan Graves. Other notable scores of the day included Bruce Irons with a 9.40 and a 8.07 - giving him the highest total combined heat score of the day at 17.47.
There were plenty of single wave high scores from Ian Walsh with an almost perfect 9.87, Gabe Kling with a 9.70, Carlos Munoz with a 9.27, Nate Yeomans with a 9.23 and Mason Ho with a 9.17.
Defending Volcom Pipe Pro champion, John Florence, scraped through today in a heat that could have been a final. Up against former Pipe champion Bruce Irons, Australian Anthony Walsh, and North Shore local Sean Moody, Florence had his work cut out. Florence made a last minute barrel to steal second place away from Walsh and advance.
