Surfing With Sharks

[TeeBee89]

Wolves of the Sea. Got plenty of stories about them in the North Pacific. Incredible creatures, but they are definitely Apex Predators. Not sure the CNN article mentioned it, but is there any truth to the old claim that if you see them and/or dolphins out there, you'll likely not encounter sharks? Especially for Orcas, they would compete over the same food (salmon, squid, seals, etc.) as White Sharks for example, and I have no trouble believing Orcas would coordinate to kill and eat sharks.

[oldmansurfer]

I don't think anyone has studied the idea that the presence of dolphins or orca makes it less likely that sharks will be in the area. They are sure that there can be both in the water together. Sharks eat dolphins and orca as well as the other way around. However sharks are like scavengers and prey on the weak or injured whereas orca might just eat a healthy shark and dolphins might eat a small healthy shark although it's only orca that are known to eat sharks. Orca are considered a big dolphin technically.

[TeeBee89]

You're right OMS, so I did a little digging about dolphins and found this:
https://www.theinertia.com/surf/this-fo ... ny-sharks/

Not quite a rigorous study and 'less likely' might still hold, but they can definitely be in the water together it looks like.
As for Orca apparently they have a taste for shark liver, as a pod or transient individual, and white sharks will definitely flee the area if Orca are around:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-ne ... 180983887/

Doesn't surprise me, as I have seen them hunt humpback whales.

[Lebowski]

.......and white sharks will definitely flee the area if Orca are around:

Unfortunately so will I!

[oldmansurfer]

Seems to me I recall seeing a movie or video of a school of sharks with a school of dolphins and a school of another predator fish all feeding on a school of smaller fish. It was interesting as they seemed to maintain their individual schools in the midst of all this chaos.

[TeeBee89]

[quote= Unfortunately so will I! [/quote]

Me too. Not waiting for the faba beans and chianti to come out

[oldmansurfer]

I have met at least 4 people who were bitten by sharks. One lost an arm one lost a leg and 2 didn't end up losing anything. The most interesting one to me was bitten on the surfboard and suffered only psychological damage (and board damage). I met him surfing at a break we call Pakalas. I was coming in and saw him looking nervously out at the ocean. It was his first attempt to surf after his encounter. I had heard about him through what we call the coconut wireless which is just one person tells another who tells another and on and on till it reaches you. He said he was more nervous than he looked but he had the same board he had when a shark bit down on his board a few inches to a foot in front of the single glassed in fin. He had glassed over the bite and included some broken shark teeth left in the bite impression. Obviously quite a large shark. He proudly showed me his board and described to me the encounter where he was just sitting there waiting for a wave and suddenly was thrashed about and he could feel the sharks sandpaper skin all over his back and thought he was dead. He just floated there till his friends gathered him up and got him to shore. No actual bites or injuries but he was mentally savaged by the attack and quite afraid to go out but he knew he needed to do it or the fear would be for the rest of his life.

After writing this I realized I knew another guy who was body boarding near where I saw that huge shark I saw while I was body boarding. He lost an arm.

[oldmansurfer]

One guy who was bitten maybe by a shark was the guy who was with me when I saw the shark with the territorial aggression. He was surfing at the same place I surfed all the time and was bitten on his chest just under his armpit by what he said was a shark. The doctor said it was probably a barracuda based on how the wound looked and he was wearing a pendant like a cross or something and that attracts barracudas.

[oldmansurfer]

One of the guys I know that was bitten almost lost his leg. Not due to the severity of the bite wound although it was a serious wound. It was because he was in a remote place in Indonesia without access to modern healthcare. The doctor who took care of him did a low quality job which didn't work in his case and he got a serious infection that went on for a long time even after getting back to civilization

[oldmansurfer]

I met Bethany Hamilton who got her arm bit off by a shark. She is really incredible. Such an inspiration and I am not sure if she could do it again if she would wish to not be bit because of being bit has made her into the incredible person she is today. She invited me to go surfing with her and I really wish I could have but declined due to work or other issues at the time

[oldmansurfer]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/pipeline-surfer-killed-shark-attack-hawaii-emergency-officials/story?id=111359167 Here is the latest one from Hawaii. He was a lifeguard surfer

[Geezer]

Can happen to anyone. RIP


https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/shark- ... hu-hawaii/

[oldmansurfer]

Yeah that was the one I posted about. There was another since then but can't find a link on the internet due to to many posts about the lifeguard surfer and Pirates of the Caribbean actor

[oldmansurfer]

https://www.khon2.com/local-news/hawaii-pd-investigate-shark-bite-in-waikoloa/ this is the latest. The previous one was fatal and the first in like 20 years. This is more typical

[mailaie193]

Hey! That’s a really interesting topic. I’ve never encountered a shark either, but I’ve read that staying calm and maintaining eye contact can help deter them. Also, avoiding splashing too much and not wearing shiny jewelry seems to be good advice.

[jaffa1949]

It is very hard to maintain eye contact with a shark while they are under water and you are sitting on a surfboard!

[oldmansurfer]

Here is the latest shark attacks in Hawaii https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/sharks/shark-in ... ents-list/

[BoMan]

When traveling to unfamiliar spots in the USA I search for "shark attack data + state + current year." Here are the current results for California. I will not surf Salmon Creek.

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=203224&inline