The coastline sentinel October 24, 2026 Fiction, Travel and Adventure from Lombok to Vladivostok
year 1, issue 2 CathaySeas.com
Release of the Coastline Sentinel delayed after local EMP As we were preparing the release of this issue on Autumn Day, something went wrong... rd At 05:02 in the morning of Wednesday, 23 september 2026, two students accidentally detonated a small magnetic bomb they had built in their room, about 200 meters away from Cathay Seas office. Magnetic bombs have became popular since the former North Korea attacked Russia and made the bomb plans public on the internet at the same time. They don’t kill when they explode, but they send a powerful Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) in all directions. The EMP make unusable all electronic devices in the radius of the pulse. Electric grids shut down for a few minutes only, but memories self-erase forever, circuits become magnetic and atomic clocks go wild. Then, you (and your 200.000 neighbours !) arrive at the office and discover what ‘out of service’ really mean. Memories and backups no longer exist, screens remain black and -worse- the coffee machine is dead. That’s what happened to us and by the time we could access our distant backup in Manila, we were one month late. Hey, at least we have made the most of our expensive overseas backup option ! We said it already and we say it again : safeguarding your data is not enough, you need to have a physically distant backup –very distant. In the meantime, The Crew was allowed holidays and guess what : the surf was empty. Noone in the area was able to access the swell forecasts, it was time for the good ol’ methods of do-it-yourself. The two students were detained by the police and convicted to one year of free service for the companies and citizens who were not able to repair the damages. Their University senior teacher gave them a D- for “lack of control of the security parameters of an experiment developped in live conditions.”
TEOSSAWKI : The End Of Surf Suit As We Know It When surfers returned from World War II battlefronts, they quickly learned to use new technologies for surfing purpose : polymers, resin, and all the things that propelled us in the post-wood era. Today, the scientists have come to an end regarding space suits : they have created Epidermis, for human exploration in deep space... and unlike WWII, surfers will not only benefit from the derivatives, they were part of the process right from the beginning : the Chief Manager of the project is a surfer himself. The starting idea of whole thing ? To allow a survivability of 95% for a human in adverse space conditions, without food or water, for 168 hours. “We knew what design we wanted, says a NASA engineer, and it was obvious surfing suits were our model. Basically they provide insulation and allow freedom of movement,
which is all an astronaut needs... on a higher scale of course. We needed to shrink-wrap the astronaut, it had to be like wearing a second skin."... a fashion surfers have been familiar with since Jack O’Neill. So from a surfer’s point of view, Epidermis is basically a dry suit with a thickness of two milimeters that will keep your body at ease in polar and desert temperatures for days. Wow. The Epidermis spacesuit. The Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems of the MIT provided the workforce on a concept born in the labs of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts.
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But if spacesuits can look like surf suits, they need to be much more than that : walking on a foreign planet involves additional systems to ensure vital safety especially the helmet and the oxygen - pressurization systems. Also, astronauts must be fully operational at any moment –to say it bluntly. The individual must be completely focused on his mission, not 5% distracted with stiff legs, 1% with rubbing sews and such. His suit must be perfect, no less. Then, thanks to nanotechnologies, the Epidermis will not only be a protective garment, but also an enhancement factor. It is active. It fits like a glove two milimeters thick and yet, its inner temperature is regulated between 37,1°C and 37,6°C to allow the transfer of heat between working and non working body parts. Its several layers of “skins” use artificial muscle fibers to absorb direct shocks and enhance both the strength and the elasticity of movements such as grappling, cross-body reach and running. One of the test movements was duckdiving. It also embodies communications and biosensors. The poetic ‘autonomy layer’ allows peeing and allows the suit to still qualify as a ‘dry’ suit.
The surfer-Chief Manager foresses another six months of trials before the Epidermis 1 is granted for real use. “127 astronauts of the Moon station will use it in their daily outdoor tasks.” Then ? “Then, the plan is to develop the concept for surfers... I surf since i am eleven and there’s no way we could not use this technology. I mean, Epidermis could replace the neoprene suit just like the neoprene replaced wool sweaters and fires on the beach ! Forget neoprene man, we’re talking about nano technologies ! It will keep you permanently at the right temperature and protect you from coral reefs as well as alaskan sharp rocks. This is the end of the suit as we know it. The thing has yet to be developped for Earthuse. Because we wouldn’t surf with a helmet, Epidermis now would just fill with seawater and drown the surfer. Nano structures need to be adaptated to resist the inflow of water and not strangle your neck to death –a minor programming task. That should take less than a year for a commercially viable product.”
Hainan island passes a test law to channel the overflow of surfers As we mentionned in the last issue of the Coastline Sentinel, the local government of the island of Hainan, China, has passed a law to regulate the frictions between local and visiting surfers. The last in date led three expatriates surfers at the hospital as they assaulted a local surfing instructor and his group of children. > see CathaySeas > Specials. st
From 1 November, the surf spot of Shimei and all beaches five kilometers North and South will be under the rule of the new law for a test that will last eighteen months. The principle is very classic : subscribe to the waiting list, then pre-book your access at least six hours in advance. What is not classic is the price to pay. It costs nothing if you’re Chinese and nearly nothing if you’re visiting, except a price raise of 2% of hotel rooms, surfboard rental and take-away food in the area. The Hainan Tourism Board, a public service, will manage the whole thing through the Shimei Access Commission. “This is a regulation to limit bad behaviours but also a A tropical landscape of Hainan new service for our citizens, says a government representative, we recognize the healthy and moral qualities of surfing and we want to promote this activity for the Chinese population, hence the idea of making the thing costless. One day a week, the access will be reserved for the local schools and sports lessons. Furthermore, the surplus money will be used to buy land and restore it to naturals.” Chinese nationality guarantees a free access but not unlimited because the peak-quota is 40. To say it otherwise, there can never be more than 40 surfers at the peak. The originality is that Chinese nationals have a right of pre-emption for 20 days of their choice, consecutive or not and with two guests for free... This clearly promotes the access of Chinese locals at the peak and more than that, at learning how to surf. “
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The coastline sentinel is published every three months. The fictionnal news depicted here are an imaginative work of www.CathaySeas.com
“Sooner or later, the thing will explode, says an angry Japanese : they are 25 millions on this island and they set a peak limit at 40 ? Is that a joke ?!” Besides the risk of unsustainability in the long term, the Shimei Access Comission will also study the options for the future –given the limited number of Chinese surfers, there is ample time to invent new plans. Security and field management, for example, could involve the lifeguards service as well as the yearly subscribers, Chinese and foreigners alike. “They have kind of ‘nationalized’ the thing, says a Pipeline List spokesperson from Hawai’i. It’s good for the community and we will have a close look in the coming months. Until now, a surfer on the North Shore of Hawai’i just has to pay to get wet, then pay for his hotel and the State pays the lifeguards. Here, the total cost seems well integrated with good rewards in terms of local development, that’s interesting.”
Indian Ocean crossed in 58 hours... then tracking the Chinese captain Kirk At an average speed of 55 knots (!), the sailship ‘Atrocious Table Manners’ mounted on hydrofoils made the link between cities of Phuket (Thailand) and Toliara (Madagascar) in 58 hours only. > see issue 1 of the Coastline Sentinel. Thanks to a good East swell, the team was able to pull down the sails and surf only on hydrofoils for 24 consecutive hours. “That was incredible, we were surfing the boat ! says the captain, it was gliding as on silk but the speedometer showed constantly above 50 knots ! Our only fear was to hit a whale so we were harnessed like alpinists. At that speed, it’d be just like a car crash.”
Several naval architects have got in touch with him to develop commercial versions of this Moth-class ship but the plans are already public. “We built it in one year by just adding foils on a classic hull, but if they want to pay me as a consultant, fine with me. Screw the system bro, cash-in and take a holiday ! During this crossing i thought a lot about shipbuilding and now i want to build one of the th Treasure Ships of XV century’s Chinese admiral Zheng He. You know, the motto of Star Trek is “To boldly go where no man has gone before”, and that Chinese guy could have commanded ‘em all on the Enterprise spaceship. I like the idea and noone has ever done it yet. I like to open new ways, bro.“
The sailship of Zheng He (white) compared in size with the Santa Maria of Christopher Colombus (black). In 1405, 62 like this sailed together with 190 other ships all over the globe for an estimated total crew of 28.000.
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