RealSurf Surfers' Forum

A guy called Peter Clarkson pro ab diver was killed off Perforated island S.A. it was unclear if his shark device was actually turned on.

Four or five solid schools of salmon working baitfish, with their attendant gulls going mental overhead, between Manly and Dee Why last few days!

Great white spotted between Cabarita and Kingscliff.
http://www.tweeddailynews.com.au/news/a ... t/2726857/

Mr Aston thinks the abundance of bait fish and whales in the area is attracting the great whites. "There was a mile of bait fish at Black Rocks. And it's whale season, which the whites usually follow."

I've noticed the increase in gulls, last Friday I was watching them gather just off DY point. And saw the bait fish close up.

foamy wrote:Great white spotted between Cabarita and Kingscliff.
http://www.tweeddailynews.com.au/news/a ... t/2726857/

Mr Aston thinks the abundance of bait fish and whales in the area is attracting the great whites. "There was a mile of bait fish at Black Rocks. And it's whale season, which the whites usually follow."

and thats the perfect sized juvy white. the exact type who hasn't worked out what's food and what isn't and will take an exploratory bite out of a human bobbing around on a foam pretzel. they're just at that really young, dumb and invincible age.

i'm sure boo would agree?

That thing be a lot dumber when captain shearer harpoons it through its f$ck$ng head.

keep telling yourself that loofy.

Ringmaster wrote:

Drailed wrote:Where the bugger is Shearer, this shark stuff has really sent him underground.

Possibly due to Braithy outing him as a relatively unknown Lennox blow in as opposed to the NSW Nth Coast's version of Eddie Aikau he portrays himself as???

What the.....?
Braithy killed shearer?

cedric wrote:A guy called Peter Clarkson pro ab diver was killed off Perforated island S.A. it was unclear if his shark device was actually turned on.

All sorts of stuff was unclear in that case. I don't think it should be used to argue for or against the effectiveness of the Shark Shield.

http://www.courts.sa.gov.au/CoronersFin ... tephen.pdf

A little snippet from the coroners report:

10.3.
It was suggested by counsel assisting that it might be useful to recommend that the
Abalone Industry Association improve its protocols. In my opinion there is plenty of
training in what to do in the event of a man overboard occurring through seamanship
training and coxswain’s qualifications and master’s qualifications. I do not consider it
necessary to add some other layer of regulation to what is already a clearly understood
situation. Mr Rodd claimed to be distressed. However, in my opinion, he was
incompetent. That is evidenced by his inexplicable failure to have an anchor that was
actually attached to his boat. Further, by his failure to activate the EPIRB, obtain a
proper GPS fix (even if a delay was incurred when waiting for the machine to gain a
fix), deploy a marker buoy, deploy flares, use the marine radio or take any other
sensible or useful measure. No protocol can cure incompetence of that nature.
11.
Recommendations
11.1.
I have no recommendations to make in this matter.

Legion wrote:
Maybe not the story you're thinking about, but noteworthy to the discussion:

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensl ... 2gokg.html

This guy got the Star of courage for hanging on to the tail of a great white shark, then diving down to retrieve the stricken victim from 7-8m depth. Good stuff!

Listen to the interview at 01:20 for more detail about this quote:

"She's punched it in the nose, so she wasn't giving up. It's then released, because of what the two of us were doing and she's then turned on her shark shield (a small device that sends out an electronic pulse which is said to repel sharks)."

Bloody hell.. What an absolute champion. Brave bastard!

Trev wrote:

Ringmaster wrote:

Drailed wrote:Where the bugger is Shearer, this shark stuff has really sent him underground.

Possibly due to Braithy outing him as a relatively unknown Lennox blow in as opposed to the NSW Nth Coast's version of Eddie Aikau he portrays himself as???

What the.....?
Braithy killed shearer?

Nah not at all.

Braithy wrote:

MrMik wrote: You guys crack me up with your complete lack of attention to detail

yah you're totally right, in general with shark shield stuff i lack attention fullstop. if it came to the point where a shark shield was necessary, i'd move to somewhere warmer in a heartbeat and start over again ... or perish the thought, just give the whole game away.


doesn't mean i don't enjoy your posts about them though. I mean what are the chances you own a GWS to conduct these tests with. it's just outstanding.

I fully agree with your views that sharks need to be protected and that indiscriminate killing of sharks is bad. Removing apex predators from ecological systems usually has a massive deleterious impact on bio-diversity and productivity. More sharks mean more food for us humans, and I don't just mean shark meat.
The availability of effective shark deterrents takes the wind out of the sails of the 'let's kill them all' brigade. The whole issue is complicated, and every shark attack on humans adds fuel to the fire.

Where I disagree with your view is here: The point in time when a shark shield is necessary has been reached for me.

Again, it's complicated and depends on where and when. The Shark Shield is necessary for me because there have been a couple of occasions when I did not go surfing because of the sharks circling in my head. Those imaginary sharks were not the only factors, but it tipped the scales towards the 'Nah, I'll go to work early instead of surfing' side of things. The waves were not all that good, the offshore wind at 3-4degC not too encouraging, and low tide at Brunswick Heads Rivermouth added a very shark-buffetty feeling to it.

Recent attacks and deaths have happened not far away, I have somewhat flexible work hours, and it all adds up to not surfing.

I decided I need a shark deterrent device, so I ordered the two most promising ones and paid attention to detail, because I want to convince myself that I will be using the best device available for the purpose.

99% of it's effects are aimed at the sharks in my head, not the ones in the water. I am therefore extremely happy with the results of my GWS tests, because they are in my opinion so very clear.

I am now utterly convinced that I have the best available shark deterrent device in my possession, it is charged, ready to go and tested a little bit in uncrowded small waves behind the shark nets. My commute leads past dozens of world class surf spots, anywhere from the Goldie to Ballina is fair game for me with a little bit of extra driving, so I have a lot of choices.

I can tell you from frequent personal experience that it feels much safer to surf behind the shark nets and drum lines, where there have been no attacks in at least 20 years, compared to when surfing (or just watching!) in NNSW.

The first time I camped at Flat Rock earlier this year, to avoid the commute, the beaches were closed after 2 shark attacks, one of them fatal. So the dear beasties do impact on my surfing, right here and now.

Even if I had had the Shark Shield at Brunswick Heads last week, I may well not have gone surfing, because wearing it is inconvenient and the electric shocks and extra drag are annoying. But I have also stood on Lennox Headland and looked at very nice empty lines a few times in the last 6 months, and maybe I would have had the stomach to paddle out with the shark Shield and have it to myself. At that time I had to go to work and was just looking, but I would have timed it differently if I had had the Shark Shield.

So in essence, the Shark Shield might even increase my risk of being attacked, because I will be in the water more often, at more risky times and places, and with less other surfers in the water. And, it will probably increase my high-quality wave count a lot.

It remains to be seen if the added drag is problematic when going much faster than on 1metre beachies. If that turns out to be the case, I'll order a Shark Shield Surf7 on the spot and try that. For now, I prefer the Freedom7 over the Surf7 because it stays with me in a wipeout and if the legrope snaps. And because I have one ready to go for when the next lot of waves roll in, it can't be long off now....

Well good luck with it mik... I'm enjoying your write ups and reviews. More importantly I hope you get waves without the stress of sharks.

There have been 57 shark deaths in Sydney's harbours, beachs, bays and estuaries but none since the introduction of offshore shark netting.

What conclusions might you draw from that?

Cranked wrote:There have been 57 shark deaths in Sydney's harbours, beachs, bays and estuaries but none since the introduction of offshore shark netting.

What conclusions might you draw from that?

i have a theory abut this. lol


scientists witnessed great whites who populated an area all fled when orcas came and attacked and killed the biggest white in the area. flipped it over by the tail, drowned it then ate it's liver with a side of fava beans. all the other sharks in the area fled. so that's not a slow death and the drowning would very much be comparable to what happens when a shark gets caught in the nets.

my theory is when one shark gets done by the nets it lets off screams/ cries/ distress signals/ electro impulses that all other sharks in the area hear and then vacate the area not to return.

i mean that's plausible, yeah?

what's a 'world class surf spot'?

Braithy wrote:

Cranked wrote:There have been 57 shark deaths in Sydney's harbours, beachs, bays and estuaries but none since the introduction of offshore shark netting.

What conclusions might you draw from that?

i have a theory abut this. lol

scientists witnessed great whites who populated an area all fled when orcas came and attacked and killed the biggest white in the area. flipped it over by the tail, drowned it then ate it's liver with a side of fava beans. all the other sharks in the area fled. so that's not a slow death and the drowning would very much be comparable to what happens when a shark gets caught in the nets.

my theory is when one shark gets done by the nets it lets off screams/ cries/ distress signals/ electro impulses that all other sharks in the area hear and then vacate the area not to return.

i mean that's plausible, yeah?

I was just starting to think along the same lines braithy. Just 6-12 months of "culling" sharks in the SW of WA may have stopped shark attacks, even after the culling has stopped. I've no real commitment to this, it is an interesting observation tho'