The video captured is as ominous as it is oppressive, like a cartoon Mount Everest coming to life. 

A robotic surfboard has been successfully navigated into the eye of what is, right now, the most powerful storm on earth, category 4 Hurricane Sam.

Scientists with Saildrone and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) worked together in piloting the drone surfboard just northeast of the eye of the big blow.

The video captured is as ominous as it is oppressive: waves, wind and a grim sky that resembles some cartoonish manifestation of Mount Everest coming to life. 

“Saildrone is going where no research vessel has ever ventured, sailing right into the eye of the hurricane, gathering data that will transform our understanding of these powerful storms,” said the company’s founder Rich Jenkins.

From the NOAA,

Equipped with a specially designed “hurricane wing,” enabling it to operate in extreme wind conditions, SD 1045 is braving Hurricane Sam in the open ocean, collecting real-time observations for numerical hurricane prediction models, which are expected to yield new insights into how large and destructive tropical cyclones grow and intensify.

SD 1045 is one of a fleet of five ‘hurricane’ Saildrones that have been operating in the Atlantic Ocean during hurricane season, gathering data around the clock to help understand the physical processes of hurricanes. This knowledge is critical to improving storm forecasting and is expected to reduce loss of human life by allowing better preparedness in coastal communities.

Wild, yes?

"I was worried about them more than myself."

If further proof was needed of man’s relegation to “the weaker sex”, see also Harris v Biden, a teenage surfer has saved three men from dying in treacherous Jersey Shore seas. 

Kayla Smith, who is sixteen and a five-year surfing vet, had finished her session in Bayhead, New Jerz, and was waiting for her mother to pick her up when she noticed three men struggling in the surf. 

“I was worried about them more than myself,” Kayla told Philly News, “because I could tell that they were probably sipping on water from the ocean and everything. They couldn’t catch their breath.” 

The placement of Bayhead’s jetties filter sand into a deep-water drop off making it a high-tide spot. Couple this with a steep angled, sizable south swell and you have rip current escalators that love to carry unsalted civilians toward Lisbon for free.  

Kayla paddled out on her board and brought the men in. 

“I was like ‘I’ll balance the board for you guys, just kick to help me get in,’ because there’s no way I could have pulled them… no one could touch out there because there was probably like a 10-foot drop.”