The Grey NATO - Ep 99 - Gold Oris And The Black Diamond Boys

Published on Thu, 30 Jan 2020 06:00:30 -0500

Synopsis

This episode of The Grey Nato podcast features an interview with Martha Ressler from the Coral Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring coral reefs. Martha discusses the organization's mission, the process of growing and replanting coral, and the threats facing coral reefs like the Florida Reef Tract. She shares details about the foundation's partnership with watchmaker Oris, which has released a limited edition solid 18k gold diving watch where proceeds will benefit coral restoration efforts. The hosts also review the Oris Carysfort Reef Limited Edition watch, providing details on its design, functionality as a dive watch, and significance as Oris' first solid gold sports watch. They discuss how it connects to the brand's outdoorsy ethos and ski culture. The episode features commentary on the hosts' experience skiing at Vail while wearing apparel from Alps & Meters, another sponsor.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Hello and welcome to another episode of The Gray Nado, a Hodinkee podcast. It's a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 99, and we thank you for listening. This episode is proudly brought to you by Alps and Meters. It's a skiing-heavy episode, so why not bring in a great apparel brand that connects nicely with skiing both on and off the mountain. Well, here we are face to face in Colorado face to face.
James Stacey This is one of the few episodes of the year. Like people who listen know that this will be the third time that we've done the Oris kind of winter preview or spring. I don't know what you call it. New year preview. Yeah. Right. So the, and they do this in Colorado and it's basically a press trip. There's a bunch of other, like all of the normal watch folk that you follow on Instagram or here. And, uh, and it's one of maybe Probably three times a year that we're face-to-face. Yeah, the Braymont one we do occasionally and and then the odd New York meetup Yeah, the odd New York one and the odd like Basel, right? Yeah. Yeah, but this is one where like there's Legitimately like time in the schedule that works perfectly we see some watches like we ski in the morning, right? It's super fun You and I don't ski a ton, but it's a nice day out Yeah, and we've now lucked out two years in a row with some of the most incredible weather And what a gorgeous state, and Vail's fantastic. And then we get to go to lunch, and you get to see some watches, some that we can talk about, some that we can't. And then we basically go right from there back to my hotel room in this case, and we're sitting near a fire. And yeah, we've got a couple of microphones. So let's do episode, and we're almost at episode 100.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I know. Geez, what a milestone. Man, this is the last of the old century, I guess you'd call it. So yeah, onward.
James Stacey So yeah, today was a pretty fun day. Like I said, so Jason, I don't do a ton of skiing, you a little bit more than me. I would say I'm ski capable.
Jason Heaton I'm barely that.
James Stacey Yeah. You know, I can ski. I'm not a proficient skier. I'm not a talented skier, but I do absolutely relish the opportunity, especially in a scenario where it's combined with work. So I kind of don't have any other reason to say like, well, no, it's too expensive or I don't have the time or all these other things. So Yeah, this is a nice way to get that day of skiing in a year.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I feel like I, you know, I mean, we don't have mountains in Minnesota, so I always feel like any skiing I do there early season is almost in preparation to come out here because I'm a bit scared of just showing up here, you know, totally fresh. I guess you did, but in skiing with Rolf Studer, who's the CEO of Oris and just an incredibly talented and accomplished skier. And then Vijay Geronimo, the CEO of Oris North America, skied today. with us and that was a great chance. The past two years he's kind of gone with the other non-skiing group of journalists that comes and they do things like snowmobiling and today they went snowshoeing. But Vijay, you know, he promised us one of these years he'd come skiing with us and so he did all the runs with us.
James Stacey It's a solid day. I mean, it's big hills. You and I, you and I are squarely when it comes to Colorado Rockies were blue square folk. Yes, exactly. We dipped ever so briefly. It took longer than it should have, but ever so briefly into the black diamond realm on an un groomed piece in the back bowl that really, really demanded the most of my patience and also my thigh strength.
Jason Heaton Oh, my legs are burning. And I forgot to pack ibuprofen. I don't know if you have any, but man. I do. Yeah.
James Stacey No, I always had pink.
Jason Heaton I'm sure I got. Yeah. So, you know, we started out the day, um, kind of, uh, went up to the top and, you know, it was a little chilly in the morning and we headed up on the lift, all of us, uh, with, uh, Barbara Palumbo and Vijay and Rolf and Matt Heronic was here. Um, super fun to be able to like hang out with Matt. Yeah. And, and so we went up, uh, on the first lift, got the first, first chair of the day and, went up and we did kind of a green run to kind of warm up a little bit and then went right into some blue runs and then you know Rolf I think he lives by that credo that you know you'll never get better if you don't just try something that's a little beyond your abilities. For sure.
James Stacey We went a little like it wasn't like maybe I think that's true if you go like five percent. Yeah. Towards the middle of the day when you're warmed up and we were warmed up.
Unknown Sure.
James Stacey It wasn't and like I wouldn't say it was terrible. It was just like beyond me.
Jason Heaton Yes. Yeah. Me too. Me too. I'll fully admit. So we got up to, you know, you keep going up and up and up and take various lifts and kind of work your way across the range here. And we got up to the top and there's the famous back bowls of Vail, which for those that aren't familiar, you know, you kind of, Vail's, the town of Vail is sort of sits down at the bottom of the, of the ski area and the mountain sides that you see from the town or what they call the front side. And then once you get up to the top, if you crest over the top of those mountains and you go down the back of it, you get into what are called the back bowls. And it's like a big, it's a big bowl of mountains. You dip back into a whole other valley and yeah, for sure. And most of that, or a lot of that is ungroomed. There's a lot of trees, powder skiing, which people love. That's what people come here for. Of course, this was my first time skiing powder and it was not groomed and it was bumpy and it was steep.
James Stacey um i didn't see signs but you know we ducked under and don't tell anybody but we ducked under a we were trying to make our way to what we thought was a blue square and then we got about like i was in i was like i'm okay with steep if it's groomed yeah like i think that run groomed would have been fine sure yeah but it's it was the mix of steep and then it's light powder on top of like heavier stuff so if you try and turn hard yeah Yeah. My outside leg wouldn't always cooperate. So I bailed at least once, lost a ski, the whole, which is fine.
Unknown Like, yeah, sure. This is skiing. Yeah.
James Stacey Right. And if you're going to fall, fall in powder. Oh, it was, I had no problem falling.
Jason Heaton I had no problem falling.
James Stacey A little bit more work to put everything back together.
Jason Heaton Yeah, exactly. You lose your ski in about six feet of snow below you. But, uh, Yeah, it was fun. And Rolf and Vijay, you went on ahead a little bit, and Matt went way on ahead.
James Stacey Yeah, yeah, yeah. I tried to follow Matt, and then Matt kept going after my fall, and then I thought I was following him, and then it turned out I was on, like, a double black diamond that just had, like, all these big drops on it. Oh, man. So then I kind of moved a different direction over to some moguls and weaseled my way down to a groomed piece.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and I had the twin chaperones ahead, Rolf in front of me, showing me where to do my turns, and Vijay behind me to help pick up the yard sale when I would crash. And so we made it down. And then by that time, I mean, it's murder on the thighs when you're especially when you're not very good. But then we got back and came down to Vail Village in time for lunch. And, you know, my legs are tired, but boy, what a great day. The weather was beautiful.
James Stacey It feels incredible just to get out outside and have some exercise. I've been working out in front of a computer screen. Yeah. For what feels like a while now with the bike and everything else. And I was happy to see that I hadn't lost as much edge as I thought I had.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. You know, I went, I went the whole day and it was really only the last, the last lap that we did, um, that didn't, didn't feel great where I was just kind of too tired to, to be really aggressive. Uh, and I just kind of had to chill my way all the way down to, uh, but, and that's fine. That's how you end the day, which is perfect, but it was beautiful weather. It was cold, but like perfectly cold, like where you want it to be, where there's not wind. That's like, destroying your face or making it impossible for you to see. It was nice and sunny, great for photos.
Jason Heaton You get that crystalline, you know, sort of snow drifting off the trees that kind of glitters in the sun. Absolutely. Yeah, so we're staying at a Marriott here in Lion's Head, which is kind of the west side of everything in Vail. But, you know, we set out from the ski shop with our rental gear and head right up the chair to the mountain. And it's great. And I actually have to kind of credit Oris with getting me back into downhill skiing. downhill skied a couple of times back in way back in high school, way in the Pleistocene era. But, uh, and then when I had a bit of a knee injury playing football, I gave up downhill skiing for 30 years. And then this trip, uh, three years ago was what got me back into it. And it's one of those sports that it's, it's intimidating. You know, it can be intimidating and there's this, um, there's a, definitely a technical and a gear aspect to it. Um, and, and a fitness to a certain degree, especially here. Uh, here for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But boy, it's a blast. It's fun. It's exhilarating. It's, you know, I do a lot of cross country skiing and it's, which is great fun, but, um, you know, downhill, you get that little rush, you get that bit of speed and when you're in the groove and then actually when we got out of the back bowls and that, that tricky bit, uh, we were back on the groomed blue and I was like, Oh, I feel like I was having a blast. I feel confident now. My legs were toast, but, uh, you know, I was, I don't
James Stacey a Skiing with him, I always feel like I'm holding him back. Oh, yeah. But when we were younger, we used to just go bomb all over Ontario, like wherever you could ski. And it was something I went from skis and then into, this'll make some statement for a few folks in the audience who remember, who are the same age as me, got into snow blades. Snow blades. Which were a real thing when I was probably like, maybe in high school, you know, something like that. And then I kind of gave it up, you know, you move into university, you get kind of busy, then into work. And then I hit the West Coast and I skied a few times. And now this is kind of like, this is kind of the one outing. It's fun. You get to, you know, the people you're going to ski with. And it's a, it's an absolute blast. And it's a neat fit for Oris as well, because it's not a huge trip. There's not a ton of people here. It's a relatively small crew and it's a chance to like do something that connects with the brand in this case, skiing, you know, kind of outdoor sporting adventure sort of connection, but it's also very Swiss pastimes to ski in a big both Vijay and Rolf are very talented skiers, like we've mentioned, and it works really well that way. And then it's really only a couple hours that you're skiing, and then the rest of the day is looking at watches and recording TGNs, editing photos and writing up pieces. And it's a bit of a hustle before dinner, and it's nice. It's a nice way to kind of start off the year with one of these trips that really just kind of balances a little bit of exercise and some time outside some cool watches and certainly some really cool watches we saw just a couple hours ago.
Jason Heaton Yeah and you know it's funny at lunch I was talking to Rolf and I said you know what Oris needs to do is you need to do a kind of a ski associated watch like a special edition ski watch of some sort. Take a Diver 65 and put a 12-hour bezel and make it kind of a travel ski watch or whatever because I associate Oris with skiing and I think Oris kind of has this vibe too of You know, you get brands like Longines is really into ski partnerships and they do a lot of the timing and Omega with the Olympics. But ORUS is much more about kind of civilian enthusiast sports and things like that, you know? So I could see them like, you know, here we are in Vail or they do a European journalist event in Zermatt. And, you know, I kind of associate them with that. Claudine, who's the the co-CEO of Oris that you don't see. She's, um, she's based over in Switzerland. But when I, when I first did this trip, it was actually four years ago. And that was over in Zermatt before I was really even back into skiing. And, and she's quite a good skier and then Rolf and Vijay. And I'm like, everybody in this company is a skier. Yeah. It makes sense. I like that. I like that about them. I like that there's a passion for that sport.
James Stacey I agree. I mean, I think it's one of these things that ties nicely with the brand itself, but also the people behind it. Whenever we talk about Oris, and of course, Oris is a brand that has sponsored TGNs in the past, but it's a brand that we've connected with for many years because they really own a price point. They own a really strong value proposition. They are an independently owned Swiss outfit that makes sporty steel watches that we really like. It's an easy thing to get into, and I think if you've held or seen any of their stuff in person, you would agree and understand why it's something that we enjoy that doesn't have to cost $10,000 or Right. Or more or something like that. And we'll certainly get into the watches. But I think before we get to that, it might be a decent time to talk about a different piece of kit for skiing. And we'll jump into an ad break for Alps and Meters.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. So a few episodes back, Alps and Meters sponsored a couple of episodes and we're thrilled to have them back. It's a great TGN brand. You know, they make this really cool mountain themed sort of, I would, vintage inspired ski apparel. Um, but it can also be worn off the mountain. They make, uh, you know, certain button up shirts and base layers and jackets and sweaters, lots of sweaters. But we recently tried out some, some new kit from them, uh, on this trip actually today.
James Stacey Yeah. So we knew we were going to go skiing and I, I've had, uh, some experience and we talked about this in previous ads for Alps and Majors, but we've had some experience with their more casual stuff in the past. And you had skied in their pants before, like you did today. And, and I thought it might be fun to actually try like, skiing with a piece of their outerwear versus just a sweater. You know, I've had their guide sweater for some time and it's, of course, a lovely sweater as it should be. And today I got a chance to, you know, run a morning of relatively chilly skiing in their patrol parka. Yeah, it's that like kind of perfect mix of like a classic outerwear jacket, but also a ski ready thing. Right, right. And I think it's easy to look at some of their stuff and kind of be like, well, this is more fashion than ski ready. But This thing worked really well. It was really cold on the lift this morning and I was very warm. I had, you know, the Alps sweater underneath and I had a couple of decent wipeouts and I didn't end up with snow all the way up my sleeve. I didn't end up with snow all the way up my back. I had pockets for my gloves and my sunglasses. Yeah. And what I really like about it is it looks just like you want this sort of jacket to look. It's this kind of like very down key, Navy blue, very simple pockets, no like high key embellishments, nothing that because a lot of like ski apparel is like it looks very technical, super technical or maybe they nail the color. They go like in a Patagonia direction with the color, but then it's covered in a weird logo or a weird design.
Unknown Right.
James Stacey And I'm not saying it's wrong or like you shouldn't wear something just because it's not my aesthetic, but it's not my aesthetic. I wouldn't want something that looks kind of like graffiti or whatever. Right. And these are like very much kind of like classically minded, and I kind of didn't know how it would work. I've worn it as an outer layer driving around Toronto in the winter, going to the park with my kids in the winter, but to take it out skiing and it wore just like any other piece of decent shell jacket I've ever owned. It makes perfect sense. It was really comfortable. I had the pockets I needed and I had the... You've got the the pass pocket in your arm for the scan at the base of the lift. And then if you're on the run, I had enough hood to go over my helmet. If I was feeling a little bit chilly on the lift, it worked out really well.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the great thing about these jackets too, I tried out the Alpine Anorak today, which is a similar material to yours. So it's this sort of heavyweight British millerane waxed cotton, Um, you know, the thing about these products is that they're, they're inspired by and kind of styled after sort of more, uh, I guess you'd call it retro ski gear, but, but this is, this is technology that was used and loved by, you know, skiers for decades, you know, years ago. And, uh, what I liked about the, the Anorak, I just liked the Anorak style. It's so, you know, an Anorak is something that you pull on over your head and, and, um, that can be a little challenging, but what, what Alps and Meters has done is they've put a side zip It goes about halfway up your torso, so it makes it a little easier to pull on. You zip it shut. There's a drawstring that you can pull tight at the waist. And then it has this really cool sort of crosshatch lacing at the neck with like a chin flap, chin guard, in case, you know, it gets a little chilly on the lift or when you're coming down those first runs of the day. So you can cinch that up. It's got the ski pass pocket on the left forearm for the, you know, the scanning as your jacket did. Good Velcro cuffs. Big hood over the, to put over your helmet. And, uh, yeah, I was, I was toasty in that thing. I had kind of a light, I had a light base layer on underneath and kind of a middle layer, just a really light, uh, kind of synthetic, uh, insulated piece. And I was really pleasant all day long and I wiped out a lot. And, you know, waxed cotton is, uh, it's making a comeback. And I think a lot of people that have waxed cotton clothing know that it will shed water pretty well. And, um, you know, I was, I was covered with snow, snow after a couple of those wipeouts and, and the jacket did great.
James Stacey So much of the time when you when you want a piece of like nicely performing gear, you have to make some concessions about how it looks often, right? You have to be okay with the more aggressive, super sporty, shiny, yeah, you know, technical materials and and with the Alps and meter stuff, it's it's kind of a nice compromise between the two where you get an aesthetic that that works kind of anywhere like you could wear this interact almost anywhere. Yeah, and same with the patrol jacket. I mean, it just looks like your normal kind of winter jacket, like a classy winter jacket. It's got a nice orange liner with for a little bit of that kind of an extra sporty flair. But on the other side of that, you get the the technical performance, which works really well for a day of skiing. I don't I don't think this is necessarily something where you want to go conquer 30 days on that Congagua. Sure. Yeah. If you want to take it out skiing, you want to go cross country skiing. Yeah. Head out into the woods for a nice hike. I think these are like a really nice middle road, which is nice and stylish and a little bit more reserved and a little bit more classic in its look, but also provides the warmth and the kind of technical attributes that you'd want from outerwear.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I agree. Yeah. So thanks a lot to Alps and Meters for sending over the products for this trip. And we really enjoyed using them and we'll continue to do so. And yeah, thanks for sponsoring the episode. You can check out more information about these products at alpsandmeters.com.
James Stacey So how about we talk about some watches or more accurately,
Jason Heaton A watch? Yeah, I think so. So, you know, the way Oris does the trip, as James sort of touched on earlier, is, you know, we ski in the morning, you know, bright and early start, first chairlift, and then we ski back down to Vaila Village, and we go to this really cool restaurant called Almrazi, and it's kind of a, it's an Austrian restaurant, so it's a very alpine feel. We have a nice lunch, and then Rolf and Vijay get up, and they introduce the kind of the new watches. There are a few that are embargoed, ones that aren't going to be released until later, maybe even at Basel. We'll tell you about those when we can. Yeah. But the one that they showed us was... It's pretty cool. Kind of knocked it out of the park. I mean, it was really a shocker to me.
James Stacey Yep. Not at all what I was expecting. I kind of thought that we might see, you know, because there was some rumor that we were going to see another coral reef... Yeah. ...addition. You know, this is a longstanding partnership between Oris and the Coral Restoration Foundation. And so this would be their second LE in partnership with the Core Restoration Foundation. But it's more than that because they kind of went all out in terms of what the watch itself is.
Jason Heaton It's crazy. I mean, you know, this is actually based on one of my favorite watches. Let's just cut to the chase. It's called the AORUS Carries Fort Reef Limited Edition. Yep.
James Stacey So it's limited to 50 pieces. It's 43.5 millimeters. It's a GMT Aquus. It's the same, basically the same watch that they announced at Basel last year.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey So you have the twenty four hour ceramic bezel. This time we're seeing it in black blue. It's a blue kind of iridescent sunburst dial gold accents on the dial. And what would those gold accents connect with a full gold case?
Unknown Oh, I was trying.
Jason Heaton I was trying to lead me on there. I was trying to think of some coral related. No, no, no, no, no.
James Stacey So yeah. So this is Orissa's first solid gold dive watch. I believe it might even be their first solid gold sports watch.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I was trying to think.
James Stacey Yeah. So again, it's a 43.5 millimeter Aquis GMT, which is a rad watch and one of my favorite from Basel last year. Me too. You have to keep in mind that we say this a lot when we talk about Doxa and a couple other brands. Aquis sizes... An Aquis at 43.5 millimeters will wear large, but not top to bottom. Very short lugs. Yeah. And it has this really trick blue leather strap with a rubber coating. And then, of course, a matching 18 karat gold buckle. It's really cool on wrist. When this comes out, you can go back one day on Hodinkee and you'll be able to see the post. It's my wrist and photos that I shot and words by Jason. And it's kind of an interesting structure for supporting the Core Restoration Foundation because it's a 50-piece alley and they're going to offer a handful of them at auction in direct 100% support of the CRF and their efforts.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean, so, you know, this is an expensive watch, no doubt. It's very expensive. It's a $19,000 watch, and I can't think of another Oris that's probably ever been that expensive. But it's a chunk. I mean, it's a chunk of gold. Absolutely. And they've only made 50 pieces, and three of those are being given to the CRF, and they get 100% of whatever they make on them, which will likely be, I would hope, more than $19,000. So that's a good amount of money to give to them, and it's a great cause. Um, but you know, I think for a, a watch that expensive from a brand like Oris, I think 50 pieces is right.
James Stacey Yeah. I think if they went more, it would be confusing. Almost like, are we doing gold watches now? To do 50 of something is one thing maybe. And I think that this feels like thoughtful and purposeful. Uh, you know, we've, we've obviously made fun of, uh, a couple other solid gold watches. They were vastly more expensive than this. And vastly more limited, even though this is only 50. Yeah. But I think this is a clever way of directly supporting this and giving like like minded collectors a chance at something really kind of buck wild within the aura space, which is a solid gold dive watch. Yeah, it's still 300 meters water resistance. You know, it's a solid 18 karat yellow gold, you know, with the crown. The case back has a cool kind of motif, a design to it. Obviously, Sapphire anti-reflective, and then you get the GMT functionality. This would be a really cool watch to take diving. Yeah. This would be a real cool watch to own either way. Jason and I, neither of us are ever going to own this. Yeah. But a really, really cool thing, and I think a really interesting way for Auris to kick off 2020 on this speed. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Totally unexpected. Absolutely. When Rolf held up the photo, I was just, my jaw dropped. But you know, what I think is neat about this watch is, you know, it was Gold is kind of having a moment. There's a lot of gold watches these days, and you've become a fan. I love it. But this is definitely not... This is a very Oris take on a gold watch. It doesn't feel rich old guy gold. No, not at all. Or it doesn't feel retro gold. It's a real modern gold.
James Stacey No, it also doesn't feel like a Hublot or an AP. It's just... They've taken a format that we already know, binoculars, and they've made it in gold. And as much as the child within me, the gold fiend five-year-old, would love to have seen this with a solid gold Aqua's bracelet. Oh, uh, we know what that would do to the price. I mean, like I know even in my, like just jumping into the gold space in the last year, that would make this a probably $35,000 watch. Yeah. Um, maybe, maybe you could do it for a little bit less than that into the twenties. Uh, but I think this makes sense for a really interesting and growingly effective, uh, you know, Preservation Foundation with the CRF. I think it's gonna be a really interesting project and we have more even just in a few minutes for you on that. Jason, did you get a chance to try it on? on your own wrist? I didn't. Did you have a slightly larger wrist than mine? Yeah. I like this 43 millimeter.
Jason Heaton I have tried the Aquas. I mean, I remember trying the Steel Aquas GMT at Basel, and I adore that watch.
James Stacey And I'm a huge fan. The Durmeister Talker is the same case, but in titanium. Oh, yeah. You couldn't have two watches that are kind of more different, but also weirdly similar, because the Durmeister Talker is weird because it's a weird layout. Yeah, yeah. It's a dive regulator. Yeah. I love that watch. It's probably my favorite Oris dive watch short of my Yeah. This is weirder but cooler. I really like this and I know that there will be people who are rolling their eyes at like Oris is making a solid gold watch. But like consider their scope, consider what they're trying to do. Right. And also like I definitely have a bias for gold watches.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacey Gold sport watch is rad. I think the strap is really cool and conceivably this could fit any other Aquus 43.5 millimeter strap, like the 20 millimeter. Yeah, true. Or 24 millimeter width straps. They have kind of a two... Like the actual part between the lugs isn't 24, but the width of the lug outer edge is 24, if that's not too confusing to say in audio. But yeah, so this is their main release, the one we can talk about now. We'll have more throughout the year, and of course, more as we get to Basel. That's a huge show for Auris and as it is for So many different brands and yeah, about $19,000 for a solid gold Aquus GMT. And to offer some context, we thought it would be fun to talk with an expert about the other side of this process, which comes from the Coral Restoration Foundation itself. And luckily on this press trip, we have one Martha Ressler, the chief development officer for the Coral Restoration Foundation. So we're going to cut to a quick interview with Martha. She was kind enough to sit down with Jason to answer a few questions and chat about their work. in regrowing coral populations in the Keys. I think it's fascinating. I've heard this presentation at least once before. So, you know, give Martha a few minutes of your time. And I think this explains kind of the other side, where the money from this, you know, $19,000 solid gold oris will go. I think the two together combine really well.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I agree. And then we'll come back on the other side with final notes. All right, so I'm sitting down here with Martha Ressler, who is the Chief Development Officer from the Coral Restoration Foundation. As we mentioned, Martha's in town for our Aura ski event. We had lunch today, and thanks for joining us here.
Martha Ressler Yeah, thanks for having me.
Jason Heaton It's a nice opportunity to do a face-to-face interview, especially something so relevant to something we just learned about. Just when you came in for the interview, I joked that you're not wearing the gold watch that is benefiting the CRF, but You mentioned that you have the auction coming up in February. And it's really cool that ORRA supports you guys. And James mentioned that he's done an interview in the past with the group from the Great Barrier Reef. And maybe you can tell us a little bit about what the Coral Restoration Foundation does and kind of what your mission is specifically with the Cary's Fort Reef project.
Martha Ressler Sure. So Coral Restoration Foundation is a nonprofit marine organization. And we're really dedicated to restoring reefs, educating individuals about the importance of the ocean and using the best available science to improve our methodologies and be able to restore the reef faster in the future. Cool.
Jason Heaton And I think probably the, you know, the, the dumbed down version that, that sounds terrible, but, uh, the people know is, you know, we've seen photos of, of, uh, planted coral. And I think that's probably what people know you guys for. So you have a very hands on approach. Uh, you know, you talk about education, but you know, You have divers that are out there actually growing and replanting various kinds of coral, yeah?
Martha Ressler That's exactly it. Yeah, we're doing active reef restoration. It's the world's largest reef restoration project. Wow. So we've been working from Carey's Fort Reef in the north, which is just off Key Largo, all the way down to Key West in the south. Oh, wow. So that's a huge expanse of the Florida Reef Tract.
Jason Heaton Yeah, okay. And specifically, you've done work with staghorn coral and elkhorn coral, and now you're moving on to a new kind?
Martha Ressler Well, I'm not moving on adding to adding to, so we're, we're still working with the staghorn and the Elkhorn and we're now out planting two different species of Boulder coral as well.
Jason Heaton Okay. So you must have a real science elements and biologists or specialists in, in coral growth that are, that are working.
Martha Ressler We've got a great science team. Um, and on all told in our nurseries, we actually have 11 species, so we're not out planting everything. Some of the species we simply have in our genetic arc and we're protecting them for the future.
Jason Heaton Okay. What, what has caused the, degradation, maybe you can talk a little bit about the degradation to the coral reef. And I was surprised to learn in your presentation at lunch how vast the reef system is there. The Florida reef is, what did you say, the third largest in the world?
Martha Ressler It's the third largest barrier reef in the world, and it's the only barrier reef in the United States. So it's a really significant reef, but it's not one we hear about all the time.
Jason Heaton Yeah, so at lunch you mentioned a few things about the reef system there, and it's amazing to hear how vast it is. But what are the challenges? I mean, besides sort of global warming and ocean acidification and kind of the ocean temperature going up, what about some other more local challenges to the reef? What has caused this kind of the die-off of coral in the Keys?
Martha Ressler So the die-off of the coral in the Keys essentially started over 40 years ago. So what we're hearing about now happening on the Great Barrier Reef happened in Florida 40 years ago. So, and it really was the result of a number of different local threats. So water quality, uh, neutrification, sedimentation, poor boating practices. Um, and the loss of our sea urchins was a big one too. Their herbivores and keep the algae in check. So all of those combined really didn't do the reefs any favors.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Okay. And you know, when it comes to, you know, what Oris is doing with this limited edition watch, uh, as, as we mentioned, you know, three of those watches are going to be given to the CRF and all proceeds will then benefit your organization. And presumably you'll put that towards further research and the work you're doing.
Martha Ressler Yeah. We will have one of the watches at our own raise the reef gala on April 18th. Um, and then we're actually gifting two of the watches to organizations that we work really closely with. Okay. So one of those that will take place in February, as you mentioned earlier.
Jason Heaton Okay. All right. Great. And you guys are based in Key Largo.
Martha Ressler We're headquartered in Key Largo. Yes.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, and, and so your focus, uh, I know that earlier you and I were discussing that there are other coral restoration projects going on maybe around the Caribbean that you've had some involvement with in the past. Um, but your main focus now is, is the Keys. Is that correct?
Martha Ressler We're actively working in the Keys. We did help get a number of projects going in the Caribbean and there are Very self-sufficient these days. That's great. We still do a lot of training of different groups coming in to learn from us. And we're part of the Coral Restoration Consortium, which is a wonderful group. We helped co-found and there's over 800 groups doing reef restoration around the world that belong to this group.
Jason Heaton Okay. You know, when it comes to growing coral, coral seems like something that has a very long Not gestation period, but a very long growth cycle. Can you tell us a little bit about how long it takes? I mean, how do you start? You clip off existing bits of coral and then you sort of nurture it? Or how does that work?
Martha Ressler Initially, we did some wild collecting of fragments of opportunity where we were able to collect staghorn and elkhorn and other species from around the Florida Reef Track, the corals that have made it this far. Um, we brought those corals into our nursery probably over 10 years ago. And at this point, we're able to propagate those corals using our coral trees. So for staghorn, we're able to take a fragment of coral the size of your index finger and grow it to maybe a small dinner plate or a basketball in about nine to 12 months.
Jason Heaton Oh, okay. So that's not too long. I mean, that's surprising actually, you know, almost time lapse and watch it grow.
Martha Ressler You almost could. I mean, these are faster growing. Yeah. The branching coral species, you know, when we're talking about boulder coral, it's a much longer period to grow them.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And boulder coral, I was Googling this earlier, that makes, that's a number of different species. So you get like the big brain corals and things like that. Is that considered?
Martha Ressler Exactly. We're working with a couple of species of star coral at the moment.
Jason Heaton Okay. So you grow them. Where is the nursery that you have? Is it, is it on shore, like in your lab or is it actually somewhere just offshore?
Martha Ressler All of our work is done out in the open ocean. So we have seven coral nurseries spanning the Florida Keys, the largest of which is off of Tavernier and it's about an acre and a half.
Unknown Wow.
Martha Ressler Yes. So over 500 coral trees with over 322 genotypes.
Jason Heaton Okay. So, you know, when I've been diving in the Keys and some other places where they're doing these, this type of work by trees, you mean there are these manmade sort of uh, racks, for lack of a better word, that the coral is kind of placed on and that that's, it's just getting its nutrition from the ocean and sort of growing in place there.
Martha Ressler That's, that's almost precisely it. Their, their trees are made out of fiberglass and PVC. Um, so you know, materials you can find almost anywhere and we use a duckbill anchor and then the trees hover in mid water column. So they're getting nutrients, they're getting sunlight and there's really no, no predation. So they're able to put all their energy into growing. Cool.
Jason Heaton And then the replanting, how is that done? Is it some sort of an adhesive or is there a more mechanical process with fasteners of some sort?
Martha Ressler At the moment we use an epoxy. So when the corals are reef ready size, we cut them down from the trees, tag them so we know exactly what genotype we're working with, and then they're taken to the reef. where divers then use a two-part marine epoxy to attach it right to the reef. And it looks completely natural because the epoxy grows over it in a matter of months.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. That's amazing. Wow. Very cool. And then the bigger boulder crawler, I'm guessing epoxy won't work for something big.
Martha Ressler We still use epoxy, but there's drills involved. It's a little bit more complicated when we're talking about the boulder crawlers.
Jason Heaton That's great. And how long has the CRF been around?
Martha Ressler Roughly. We were established in 2007.
Jason Heaton Oh, okay. So in the Florida Keys, what results have you seen since that time? I mean, is it a very noticeable difference? You showed us some photos of kind of before and after, and it was very impressive, but maybe you can describe a little bit of the square footage. You threw out an acreage number earlier that was quite amazing, actually.
Martha Ressler So since 2012, we've been able to release over 100,000 corals back to the wild.
Unknown Yeah.
Martha Ressler And that number is continuing to grow. I mean, our divers are out there every day. The weather is nice. Yeah. Um, we did 50,000 of those corals just in the last three years.
Jason Heaton Wow. Wow. Oh, that's incredible.
Martha Ressler So all told to date, it's an, it's an area of about 8,000 square meters that we've restored. Cool. And the vision's much bigger for the future.
Jason Heaton Is that open to recreational divers? If somebody was going to the Keys, they'd be able to see this?
Martha Ressler Absolutely. We offer dive programs through shops and the keys I know in February we have at least five coming up so several times a month people can sign up and come out with us for a day two days and Help restore threatened species to the reef.
Jason Heaton Oh, that's fascinating. That's really cool. I'd love to next time I'm diving down there I'll look out for that. That's really maybe I'll get in touch and We'll go out and do a dive and check that out. So well, I really appreciate your stopping by to chat with us about CRF and the relationship with ORUS and kind of the great work you guys are doing. And thanks, Martha, for joining us on TGN.
Martha Ressler Thanks for having me.
James Stacey All right, and we're back. A big thank you to Martha and the entire Coral Restoration Foundation for their work and for taking some time to chat with us. What a fascinating project, eh?
Jason Heaton Yeah, really great stuff. It was nice to have Martha here in town with us and also able to sit down and chat with me for about 10 or 15 minutes here.
James Stacey You know, it's funny, one of the first interviews we ever did for TGM was actually also with an ocean preservation group via Oris, and that was the Australian Marine Conservation Society in a very early episode. And it's fun to be able to talk to these people directly. These people are like literally doing the handiwork to help to rebuild some of these populations, some of these populations that have been decimated like into the 90th percentile. So I think it's really cool that they support that at both a high level and then at a hands-on level. And it was fun to be able to pick Martha's brain for a few minutes. What do you say we dip into final notes, put a bow on it?
Jason Heaton Yeah, let's do it. So I'll go first here. I stumbled upon this book. Actually, my dad gave it to me. I think he bought it at a used bookstore or something, and he knew that I was into this sort of thing. A book is called Where Divers Dare, The Hunt for the Last U-Boat by Randall Pfeffer. And, you know, we've talked at length in the past about shadow divers. A great book, one of our, sort of in the TGN library, if we ever have one. Absolutely. Which was about a couple of divers that were mildly obsessed, or not even mildly, but obsessed with finding this, this U-boat that was sunk off the eastern seaboard of the United States. And they had to do a ton of research to kind of track down its last known location and dive it, and it was very deep and dangerous. Anyway, this book is kind of a great follow-on to that because it's about a similar adventure, and it was a small team of divers that set out to find the remains of the U-550, which was another U-boat that sunk an American merchant oil tanker that was on convoy headed to the UK in 1942 during World War II. And the U-boat sunk this tanker, the SS Penn, Pennsylvania. And then there was an escort of destroyers that set out to find this U-boat and they dropped depth charges on it and ultimately sunk the U-boat. And the oil tanker that was torpedoed, the wreck of that has been found, but never the U-boat. And so this was just a few years ago, I want to say 2012, 2013 time. uh, these guys found, um, the U-boat after much searching and research, um, and then set out to do this dive. And, you know, I, the obvious comparison here is to Shadow Divers. I would say it is very similar in content. Um, I, it's been a while since I've read Shadow Divers, but I almost say that this one is as good. Um, maybe a little more dryly written, if that might be fair to say. But definitely check it out. If you like shadow divers, if you like that kind of dive exploration, wreck kind of theme, great book, check it out. I will put a link to the book on Amazon, which is where it's still available.
James Stacey So yeah, check that out. Very cool. Any book that is as good as shadow divers, I need to read ASAP. That's a great recommendation. Mine is actually a story that Jason sent me. And then within the next day or two, probably five or six more of you listening sent to me either via our thegreatnadoatgmail.com or as an Instagram DM. And it's this story from Outside Online, which is called My Journey to Scotland's Most Remote Pub. It's written by Oliver Smith, a fantastic contributor. And it's the story of the old forge. which is the UK's most remote pub and the kind of route you have to take to get there. And it's literally just in the middle of nowhere. There's not a better way of dealing with it. It's a 27 mile walk if you'd like to get to it. It takes three days. Yeah, it takes some time. It's a pretty serious thing, and there's not a ton more to say about this. I would just like you to read this. This is something I would very much like to do someday. I think that sounds like a fun... I mean, you can imagine hiking for three days to go for a beer. Talk about earning that pint, for sure. Yeah, right. Everything skiing was tough. Yeah, and it's a really great story. There's some fantastic photography of the Scottish countryside. and some good kind of anecdotes. And it kind of gives you the rundown of not only the pub, but the route and some people who go there, like who made the hike itself. And it's just a nice piece of storytelling. This is exactly the type of stuff that I love from outside online. It's not like that book out there, which was a collection of adventure failures, if you will, non-adventures, where things went wrong or bad or otherwise. And I think this could be in a book, which is more maybe classic adventuring or or I don't know, just kind of like you could kind of do this, the barrier to entry feels kind of low, it's not that dangerous. Yeah, right, yeah. Go for a very long walk in Scotland to have a beer and then conceivably walk back. Yeah. So that's the Old Forge. Again, the post, because we're trying to sum these up at the end, is my journey to Scotland's most remote pub from outside online. And Jason's is a book, Where Divers Dare, The Hunt for the Last U-Boat by Randall Pfeffer.
Jason Heaton Well, as always, thanks so much for listening and big thanks to Alps and Meters for supporting the show. Be sure to check out alpsandmeters.com to get more information about their entire line. Hit the show notes via hodinkey.com or the feed for more details. And you can follow us on Instagram. I'm at Jason Heaton. James is at J.E. Stacey and follow the show at TheGreyNado. If you have any questions for us, please write TheGreyNado at gmail.com and please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
James Stacey And we leave you with this quote from William James who said, we are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface, but connected in the deep.