Hamish Jolly is a an ocean swimmer and kite runner from Perth who wanted to develop a wetsuit that would make it less likely for him to be eaten by a shark. Although this is a rare occurrence, he surmised that the fact that most wetsuits were solid grey meant that he looked like a seal to your average shark – the fact that seals are one of the shark’s main sources of food therefore meant that wearing a traditional wetsuit had a greater potential to lead to death via shark.
For Hamish though, the reality was slightly more pressing as there had been five fatalities from shark attacks along the Perth coastline in the past 11 months when he started the project, and many more failed attacks too. There was definitely something in the water in Western Australia and Hamish was determined to make it safer for his family and all the other surfers regularly taking their boards out there.
He was inspired by a new branch of science called biomimicry, where nature is used as the template for new designs as creators attempt to mimic the evolutionary process. Hamish examined the Pilot Fish which hangs around sharks all day and doesn’t get eaten and concluded that this was because of its black and white warning stripes. He immediately set about designing a similar wetsuit with a team of scientists and the results look like they’re going to be effective as well as being surprisingly stylish (for a wetsuit). You can check out a short video about Hamish’s journey so far below, which really profiles how thinking outside of the box can help to change the world.
It’s part of the Mazda Rebels series, where Mazda travel the world and profile mavericks who have defied convention in order to make the world a better place in the face of great adversity. Hamish is just one of these characters and it’s well worth checking out some of the other movies on their site, including that of Cameron Smith – who is an archaeologist by day and a space scientist at night – and Antii – a Nigerian medical student who has launched a unique project to effectively reduce gun-related violence through the use of interactive radio programmes.
These are just some of the stories that Mazda believe embody their philosophy of progression ad innovation through unconventional thinking – true rebels WITH a cause. There’s also a bunch of competitions on the site where you can win skydiving trips and a trip to go diving with the sharks – just make sure you wear Hamish’s wetsuit though. Check them out here.
