Seems to be a lot of these lately.
http://www.ksby.com/news/man-attacked-by-great-white-shark-at-montana-de-oro/
Geez! I hope he makes a speedy and full recovery.
I was out at that time although I was a couple miles away.
They are out there.
Keep your toes up.
I have a theory that an increase in Great White bites is attributed to crowds. The Spit at Montano de Oro is a crap spot. Always has been. On the rare day that it is good, there is always some place else better. A few years back they put in a parking lot and a nice board walk across the dunes to the beach. Public access for the masses. I don’t know how many surfers i met when I moved back to SLO County who had moved north to escape the crowded breaks of the OC. Places like Marina/Seaside, Sur, The Spit etc. have become overflow surf spots. Parking lots where expatriates from “down south” congregate on the weekends and talk story… What I call “parking lot surf clubs”. Most of these folks are not very good surfers. Many are beginners. A few were pretty good surfers who don’t get in the water more than a couple of times a month due to mortgages and familial obligations like soccer games and birthday parties. They all have one thing in common; They can’t handle crowds. The Rock in Morro Bay has been a zoo for years. They either don’t have the ability or don’t surf often enough to handle some place like “the Rock” or Pismo Pier, Rincon etc. When scrutinizing a surf spot; all that is required is that it have a parking lot and crap waves. The party starts when you get there. Lowel
Parking lot and crap waves? You just described every surf spot in Florida.
Pismo is probably the worst surf spot in California. Maybe the world. I grew up in Los Osos & now live in Santa Cruz. I grew up surfing the sandspit & it gets good. Maybe things have changed but I’m sure it has more good days per year then pismo.
I won’t argue the merits of various crappy beach breaks in SLO County. Suffice to say more marginal spots are being surfed these days all over Calif. because of crowds. Add the fact that we have come to think of the Sea Lion as those cute, cudily little creatures and Wa-La! I grew up in SLO as well. Learned to surf there before you were probably born. With the exception of a few reef breaks; the only good Surf in SLO is South of Santa Maria.
Don’t mean to highjack this pissing match. Just a note to say that the guy who was bitten is home from the hospital. He took a pretty gnarly bite and I’d go so far as to say it was a close call.
Carry on…
I’m thinking about your post, Crisp, and remembering a day this last fall when I saw a big non-dolphin fin and came in, with two other guys who saw it too. We climbed up the cliff and watched the fin appear and disappear as it went down the coast… steadily toward the next peak working a few hundred yards up the beach, where there was a little crowd.
We just sat there going duhhh… and, eventually, went out again. But should we have driven to the other peak, honked horns or something?
What would you have done?
I dunno Warthog… it’s a tough call… On the one hand, just because we don’t see them doesn’t mean that they are not there. They are ALWAYS there… on the other hand, sure would feel rotten to know that you might have helped prevent someone from getting hit… No easy answer.
Edit: I’m also thinking that the one you see is the one that LETS you see it. In other words, it’s not hunting…
Good points, and kind of comforting (gulp).
It’s an ettiquite issue, you know what I mean? LIke it wouldn’t be “cool” to go to the effort, because it’s an accepted risk, or something.
Just a weird ethical issue in our goofy little subculture.
Agreed
Oh they’re always there.
Glad that he didn’t get it any worse than he did. He had the good sense and calm to get to shore on his own. Hope he is doing well.
looks like a joke to me.
do they have any science to back up their claims?
Yes…it’s all there…just look it up.
plus they did tests…in South Africa on great whites,
in florida, hawaii,etc…
saved my but from a bull shark last spring
I googled and saw a whole lot of un-science.
Lot’s of folks saying that they work but nobody doing any real scientific studies.
Or at least, not putting out any definitive literature about it.
BTW, I have a bridge for sale. Interested?
I had a friend in college who wore a braided lether cord around his ankle, calling it a “bear scare”. He claimed it worked since he’d never been attacked by a bear.
hahaha, that’s like the joke:
you know why elephants paint their toenails lot’s of different colors???
So they can hide in jellybean jars.