Viral Videos

Debunking all the Photoshop theories floating around about the whale-sailboat collision in the above story, CBS has acquired actual video of the incident.

That amazing video reminded us that we’ve watched a number of very cool videos recently, so we thought we’d show you a handful. The next one is from the Plastiki crew, documenting the worst weather they saw throughout their entire 8,100-mile voyage from San Francisco to Australia. (They’re currently back underway and just days from finishing their voyage in Sydney.) This storm caught them by surprise in the Tasman Sea earlier this month but Plastiki appears to have performed flawlessly.

Then there’s the fast-paced video put together by Singlehanded TransPac’er Ronnie Simpson, shot aboard his borrowed Jutson 30 Warrior’s Wish on his way to Hanalei Bay last month.

But none of them compared to the raw footage shot by the crew of the USCG helo that saved the lives of Kristy Lugert, Steve McCarthy and Greg McCune from their upturned PDQ 32 catamaran Catalyst on July 3. 

If this video doesn’t give you chills — and newfound respect for what the Coasties do — you’d better check your pulse. You can find the full story of Catalyst exclusively in the August issue of Latitude 38.