Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

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MrMik
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Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by MrMik » Sat Aug 15, 2015 11:48 pm

How often did you NOT surf, although you would have been within reasonably close distance to the waves, whilst the waves were of better than insufferable quality, because of possible shark attacks?

And, as a secondary, what were the best wave conditions you ever failed to surf because of sharks (including the sharks that were most likely only real inside your own head)?

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by Beanpole » Sun Aug 16, 2015 8:56 am

I nominate MrMik for Tard of the year for starting this post after nominating me for mine.
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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by carvin marvin » Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:01 am

Only once and that was at Cactus back in the 80's.
Mate and I called in there on the way to West Oz, surfed Caves about 4-5 ft with only a handful of surfers, mate left the water about half an hour before me and was watching when I came in, I was out there by myself for maybe ten minutes, mate said he saw a fin so we didn't have a second surf.
Just the desert landscape and the rocky cliffs gave that whole place a spooky feel, the next day the swell was gone and we went fishing off a jetty nearby where there was a brass plaque remembering a shark victim.

Surfed a mid north coast point break for 7 days in a row in early May this year when the mullet were running, there was maybe a dozen fishermen up the beach netting what must have been a very large school, the mullet school seemed to be very close inshore.
On day 4 a small school broke off from the main group and came down to the point and stayed there for a few days, I got the impression they were hiding in the wave breaking zone, was a pretty unique experience taking off on a wave then looking down at thousands of mullet thick in the water, paddling out you would sometimes get hit on the hand by one of them.
When sitting waiting for a wave I also noticed the occasional shiny flash of a slightly bigger different shaped fish amongst the mullet, after surfing I was watching several fishermen who where casting into the mullet, but the mullet were not biting, the fishermen were catching the bream, one bloke caught about 8 in an hour and he did the same thing at the same time the next day.
The interesting thing about surfing amongst a school of mullet was that none of the surfers out in the water felt any shark danger, it was more just the elation of a unique surfing experience, it was like being in a scene of David Attenboroughs 'Natures great events'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHeZrLnY3Dk
Last edited by carvin marvin on Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by Almighty God » Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:54 am

pretty sure I can honestly say it has never been a factor in me deciding whether or not to surf...though I remember I had to paddle in early a few times as a grom when the shark alarm went off

But here is the thing...I am visiting friends in Lennox this week for a few days...honestly dont know whether I will be taking a board with me...what do you think?
Last edited by Almighty God on Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by Beanpole » Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:15 am

Bondi today. Whale off the beach apparently....and a large bronze whaler as well.
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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by Beanpole » Sun Aug 16, 2015 2:12 pm

.....oh all right. I did go out after all.
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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by Trev » Sun Aug 16, 2015 3:24 pm

As a kid surfing Kirra point,, a small group of us, maybe 4 or 5 would stay out during shark alarms to get uncrowded waves.
One time a large dark shape slid underneath us and I reckon we'd have out paddled Nick's crack team heading for land. The clubbies were probably pissing themselves at us.
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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by Almighty God » Sun Aug 16, 2015 6:02 pm

Trev wrote:As a kid surfing Kirra point,, a small group of us, maybe 4 or 5 would stay out during shark alarms to get uncrowded waves.
One time a large dark shape slid underneath us and I reckon we'd have out paddled Nick's crack team heading for land. The clubbies were probably pissing themselves at us.
I remember like twas yesterday my captain, my comrade...my friend

Image

The wind howled loud, the sun went to hell
that eeriness rang through our minds like a bell

Image

"Stand firm my friends, let bravery not fade
we shall dine with our lovers, this beast will be slayed"

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we battled we fought, we shed blood that day
twas our seadog, our captain, who showed us the way

"But no more of this blubbering now,we are going a-sharking, and there is plenty of that yet to come" MD (slightly modified)

My recollection seems to slightly differ from yours, for some reason

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by Nick Carroll » Tue Aug 18, 2015 8:12 am

well let's face it God you were a third party spectator.

only once not surfed thanks to head-sharks -- when a dead whale washed up into Newport pool a couple of winters ago

There was a bombing sth swell at the time, in the 10' range with SW winds

The police were there all day actively dissuading anyone from even thinking about surfing, they reckoned their helicopter crew told them several white sharks had followed the corpse in. I don't know if anyone had seen anything - I watched from the cliff for a while and saw nothing, but the water was pretty turbid.

It seemed a very dumb idea to surf with that much blubber around so I went elsewhere.

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by chrisb » Tue Aug 18, 2015 3:05 pm

I was at Palmie a few years ago and a few mullet jumped onto my board. Quite off-putting and I did think about sharks but stayed in anyway.

At Collaroy a few years later on a cold overcast day the water about 100 metres away became a flurry of activity with fish jumping and seagulls diving. I watched with amazement as some clown, George Greenough-style, paddled out on a longboard to the centre of the action and threw a couple of fishing lines in. :shock:

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by still here » Wed Aug 19, 2015 6:17 pm

Wildcoast/Transkei early 80's ... planned to surf Ntlonyane and a couple other empty right points off river mouths ....but total deserted , murky sharky vibes , winter sardine run on the go , kite fishermen off the point pulling Johnny's .... perhaps just goofed-ness and paranoia from the local crops meant 2 weeks of just being plain psyched out to surf it -purely due to the sharks in the head . Kind of embarrassing to admit , but anyway we surfed all the way home though and all things considered was still an epic once in a life adventure .
Had 2 reallly close fear for your life encounters and 2 other water exits due to sharks in 12 years surfing South Africa ......but that Wildcoast just felt way too sharky , gnarly and isolated .

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by scot » Thu Aug 20, 2015 9:25 am

I usually try and get a wave at snapper on the full moon but I think I might put that on ice till things settle down a bit.

Has anyone done a DIY job of putting the black stripes on the bottom of their board like this or is that an instant TOTY nomination?
I have a can of black spray paint in the garage and have been tempted to have a go.

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by aaarating » Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:42 pm

So what's the theoretical purpose of trying to disguise your board as a zebra?

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by Rustt » Thu Aug 20, 2015 1:10 pm

still here wrote:Wildcoast/Transkei early 80's ... planned to surf Ntlonyane and a couple other empty right points off river mouths ....but total deserted , murky sharky vibes , winter sardine run on the go , kite fishermen off the point pulling Johnny's .... perhaps just goofed-ness and paranoia from the local crops meant 2 weeks of just being plain psyched out to surf it -purely due to the sharks in the head . Kind of embarrassing to admit , but anyway we surfed all the way home though and all things considered was still an epic once in a life adventure .
Had 2 reallly close fear for your life encounters and 2 other water exits due to sharks in 12 years surfing South Africa ......but that Wildcoast just felt way too sharky , gnarly and isolated .
I only surfed a few places on the wild coast and it gave me the creeps, don't blame you for not surfing there, we asked for directions to Ntlonyane the kids just made biting actions with there hands and laughed.
Other places in South Africa, saw perfect 8' Hermaus no one around would have had to paddle out in among seals, piked that one, same at oyster bay. there was a perfect bank where the squid boats launch, didn't have to think twice that time

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by marauding mullet » Thu Aug 20, 2015 2:09 pm

Yeah i piked at port st. Johns in the transkie, never got psyched anywhere else in sth africa even after seeing a shark right next to me. Can't explain why to this day, the place just had vibe
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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by foamy » Thu Aug 20, 2015 2:51 pm

Fear of sharks haven't yet stopped me surfing good waves. Though I haven't been to the wild coast of Africa.

But, if the sea wasn't too chopped up and there wasn't much surf on offer, I liked to dive in and swim a couple of kms. I particularly enjoyed the wildness of swimming around a headland or two. I'd swim beyond the surf zone and the surfers.
There had been a few stories about swimmers being chomped. A couple of years ago I decided to give it away and leave my longer distance swimming to the pool. There are a lot of different colours in the deep water. I started looking at each one for a shark. It started to be not so much fun. I'll still jump in if I see a group going for an ocean swim. But, I decided to give lone ocean swimming away. I got the yips, I guess.

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by chrisb » Thu Aug 20, 2015 3:59 pm

aaarating wrote:So what's the theoretical purpose of trying to disguise your board as a zebra?
We are all waiting to hear why Scottie.

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Re: Where did you not surf because of sharks? (including the ones in your head)

Post by aaarating » Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:34 am

I'm particularly impressed with our correspondents photo that appears to show that the bloke has also got a zebra print board cover to match his board. Now that is taking this anti-shark camouflage to a whole new level. The logical extension to this phenomena is the zebra wetsuit, board shorts, leash, deck grip, black and white wax and striped zinc cream. Is this shark 'camo' thing just a marketing ploy for this summers new range of expensive Taiwanese made crap from Quikripabong?

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