Sounds like you need the theoretical “Ignore Thread” button 
How do you think I feel - three G.W. attacks in three weeks.
I doubt there are many guys in the water over here who do not have those heavy gents in the grey suits on their mind!
-doug
I’ve always wondered if Sharks are like other predators. You know how predators normally select the smallest, weakest member of the herd and go after that one? If so, then there may be something positive about Longboards after all: though you may look like a seal from the bottom on one, you’ll look like really BIG seal compared to that guy nearby on the sponge or shortboard, ha!
Of course for all I know, great whites know they are the top of the food chain and don’t bother going for the runts and just go for the big meal. After all, there are Orcas swimming around with bite marks on them, huh? Guess that wrecks my longboard = safety theory! (my friends and i joke about lying on top of your board instead of sitting with feet dangling: we call lying on top the “defensive position”)
Fun shark stories guys.
My closeset call was getting chased out of the water, by a huge Great White at Short Sands in Oregon. And when I say chased I mean stalked and chased from behind.
Luckily, I won this race by the skin of my teeth, and was able to get into a small wave and made it to the shallow water before he could swallow me!
Quote:
Can’t we go back to looking at pictures of Ben’s fin setups
this summer , when it’s totally flat [about 6 weeks time ] , I should get some shots from underwater of my 5 or 6 finned prawn fish , just to scare the … out of ME , eh ?
I hope shark don’t have really good colour vision , becaose the red stripes [on the bottom of my board] would surely look like ‘lacerations’ , then , to them ?
smell , before vision would bring them in , I assume , or is that wrong ?
Hey Slim,
hehe! Gotta admit I often feel safer on my 9’6" than smaller boards. That’s probably a false sense of security, tho. From what I understand (could be wrong) sharks exhibit a lot of classical predator behaviour when they attack. A lot of times this means attacking the most isolated member of the group. In prey groups the members prefer to stay in the centre of the herd/flock/school/whatever until the need to feed forces them to the edge. What forces us to the edge of the group (in the water)? our desire for waves! People will head outside or to less crowded breaks, etc…
Given that the big GWs will gladly eat bull seals and have a go at small whales I am not sure a log makes me safer. Damn it!
-doug
Bill,
You’ve got me shuddering here, pal!
-doug
Chipfish,
I understand they have relatively poor sight.
At long ranges they rely on smell - which I have read is similar to a dogs’ in sensitivity.
Closer by they use that electromagnetic sense of theirs. Spooky how they can “touch” you without touching you. I think I recall that it’s “centered” in their nose. Perhaps their senses being in their nose area has something to do with their reaction to being hit in that area?
Up closer they also apparently see contrast and glinting light very well. Many experts suggest minimising both.
-doug
I may not put silver sparkle on my latest sets of fins , then .
that’s why those latest fcs silver fins are not selling that well eh ?
This one happened to a mate of my brothers …
a great white zeroed in on him like a magnet , out of a group of surfers he was amongst .
reason ?
his dog had slept on his wetsuit the night before .
ironic fact no.2 …the attack survivor’s name …
“Whitey”
cecil
Quote:
Quote:Hey chipfish,
Tell him he’s immunised now. There’s no record of a surfer ever being attacked more than once by sharks
Actually … A guy in [notorious shark attack destination] ‘Cactus’ was , in fact , attacked on three separate occassions there, over the years. His nickname , not surprisingly , was …yep , you guessed it …“sharkbait”… Ironic and sad that he actually was killed a few years ago now …in a … CAR accident . ben
Two more double attacks (neither fatal):
Rodney Orr - near Tomalas Bay, CA, 5/21/61; near Jenner, CA, 8/9/90
D. Robertson - Cape St. Francis, SA (both times), 1971; 1975
(Source: Great White SHARK, Richard Ellis and John E. McCosker, HarperCollins Pub. 1991)
On a more personal note:
In July, 1979, several of us boated into and surfed Government Pt (W of Santa Barbara) on a Saturday and Sunday. Thick stratus clouds overhead blocked out the sky (but good visibility below–all the way out to San Miguel Island) and combined with the “OOOOPPP” bleating of the Pt Conception fog horn (~1.3 mi/2 km away) made for kind of spooky atmosphere. Lots of jokes were made about “looks pretty sharky”, “better keep your feet up”, etc. along with a story about Greenough allegedly chasing a 18’ GW in his 16’ whaler in the same area some time earlier.
The following Wednesday, Paul Gross called from Santa Barbara and asked if I had been listening to the news. “Nope”. “Well I think you might find it interesting”. Turned out there had been a non-fatal GW attack (Gary Johnson) there on Saturday, followed by a second non-fatal GW attack (Robert Robstock) on Wednesday. That substantially dampened our enthusiasm for surfing at Governtments for a while.
The 3 spots I surf most often - all north of the Golden Gate Bridge - have all had GW attacks in the last 8 or 10 years. One has had two - 4 total.
3 Boogies & one shortboarder.
Any more guesses as to why I ride 10’ equipment?
Apex predators don’t get that way by competing with the other top dogs. They leave that head-bashing crap for the goats.
Instead, they pick off the small, young, infirm, slow, or injured. Cull the weak from the herd. Think you’d ever catch me on a boogie? Nope.
I regularly surf with a woman who’s husband is one of the Farallon researchers. She will be as specific as saying (relaying information from him) “Surf right here but not there”, pointing at peaks 100 yards apart.
Their other information - all just based on strategically reducing the odds of an encounter by vast amounts - includes advice like, “8’ board minimum; no rivermouths on outgoing tides; no dusk (dawn seems to be ok); if you see all the seals jamming for shore, do the same…”
Ironically, when he’s off the islands & back in town…he’s a kneelo who favors evening glass offs. Desensitization, I guess, like a drinker who works in a bar.
I believe it’s true that White’s at least work off smell and the electro-magnetic deal (which explains the periodic invention of the shark radar jamming devices and stories that if you punch one on the nose it would go away in some pain) and I read in a surf mag that ‘scientists’ had decided that zebra striping the bottom of a board breaks up it’s profile and makes it less likely to be attacked so Ben’s board may well be a deterrent rather than his wetsuit as other less kind members have implied. That shark book I mentioned had stories about the scientists (who surf) towing old boards behind their boat as lures for the sharks but at the same time trying to figure the odds on surfing what is apparently a nice wave on one of the Farallon Isles coves. I don’t believe they tried it.
Tomc,
Even if they get such a device to work (last diver’s version I heard of being tested the test-diver was eaten by a Great White) the E.M. is likely to attrach sharks to the area. You may be safe, but you may have just put your companion on the menu!
-doug
Hey Benny1,
Heard most of that - tho the 8’ minimum is a new one to me (glad I like my 9’6" so much :). Along with leaving the water when fish start jumping out of it, etc.
One of the more consistent spots in my area is the Onkaparinga River Mouth. Been a lotta years since I surfed there, cos of the shark season. I think a season doesn’t go by when a Bronze Whaler isn’t scared off by choppers… Usually hanging around Boogie Boarders.
-doug
consafos,
Interesting. Maybe stripes are a good idea. I’m pretty sure the contrast thing is talking about contrasting areas/patches rather than stripes. The shiney jewlery/watches/etc thing is supposed to me more about “glinting fish scales”.
-doug
And if the sharks don’t worry us enough, check out this Giant Squid the Japanese just found:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0927_050927_giant_squid.html