Sharks... What would I do?

[mjames]

Hello everyone!

I paddled out at a different break than I normally do on Saturday morning, had a nice session, only to come home to the news that a white shark bumped someone off their board at the tower I normally surf at. No bite, just a bump. I'm planning on surfing tomorrow morning, I'm just curious if anyone has seen a shark while surfing and what you would do? Paddle slowly to shore, stay where you are with your body on the board? I'll do some research on the internet but I'm curious what your advice is. Thanks!

[jaffa1949]

Sort of like asking what should I do in a car smash.

[OlegLupusov]

I saw baby sharks couple of times and did nothing. Also confused Dolphins with a shark and paddled to the shore.

However, the first thought after reading your email is "I would not surf for a while"

[oldmansurfer]

I have seen numerous sharks while surfing. If they stay away from the lineup I generally just keep an eye out for them. If they come in close I get out. I had a shark swim under my board one day. I was surfing all by myself (the only other person was a fisherman on the beach) and it was a small day maybe 4 foot faces but really nice tubing out however inconsistent so I had to wait for sets to come in. I was sitting there and taking in the beautiful blue clear water and sunshine and waiting for a set and I noticed a shark swim under my board. I was looking at it and thinking "Wow the water is so clean I can see it is a black tip shark just as long as my 7 foot board............" Suddenly I realized my feet were under the board with the shark and pulled them up but the shark passed by and I never saw it again. However I decided to go in because it was in the lineup. I asked the fisherman on the beach if he caught sharks here and he said no and asked me if it was because I saw one. I smiled and said yeah.

[Lebowski]

I believe conventional wisdom is to remain calm and casually paddle back to shore.

I managed to do this once when I saw a far off fin around West Australia. I knew it was pretty far away and there were several other surfers out.

Another time in NZ though, I was the only remaining surfer in the water on a sloppy day of poor surf. It had been an unusually sharky week with lots of stories of sightings, and I'd personally seen a few 6ft'ers washed up on the beach days before. I was paddling towards the beach trying to find a final wave in amongst the slop, when I looked over my shoulder and saw the unmistakable sight of a triangular dorsal fin followed by a tailfin piercing the surface maybe 10m behind me. They slowly disappeared underwater, travelling perpendicular to my direction. I knew exactly how to act during this kind of encounter, and then did the exact opposite and paddled like a madman towards the shore! This period of panic was also blessed with no waves so I had to paddle the entire distance.

When I made it to the beach unscathed, myself and my friend who had seen everything from the sand burst into laughter.

I'd say that even if you know how to act, you never really know how you'll behave until it happens. I think that because the shark was close and behind me, panic took over and I behaved the wrong way. The water visibility was poor that day too, so as soon as those fins disappeared, I had no idea where it was.

[oldmansurfer]

One other time I was surfing at the same beach and when the waves get a certain size you can see small sharks surfing in on the waves. They usually cutout before it breaks. One day I was surfing there on a 4 foot day (8 foot faces) and I was once again all by myself. Then a carload of guys came and paddled out. They were fresh off the plane from California and were like "I couldn't believe there was only you out in these great waves." I was like "Not any more." Anyway I caught a 3 foot wave (6 foot face) and got tubed on it a couple times but when I paddled for it I noticed one of the sharks riding the wave didn't cut out but it was a nice wave and I never thought about it more. Then as I was paddling back out one of the Californians paddled over to me and I thought it was to congratulate me on getting tubed twice but he said "So did it get you?" I said "What?" He said " Did the fish get you?" I answered "What fish?" He says "The fish in the wave you caught. When you paddled it turned and went straight for your feet. I thought it got you." I answered "That was a shark" and pondered the situation. He asked "was that a baby shark?" I answered "No that was a small shark probably a grey reef shark, they only get to 4 or 5 feet". Anyway once again the shark came into the lineup so I left.

[oldmansurfer]

Body surfing at Breneckes beach I saw sharks on a few occasions. My initial reaction was to swim like crazy to the shore. One day I did just that after seeing a large shark going sideways in a wave. When I got to the safety of the shore I turned around to look for it. There was a guy standing right next to me who appeared to be doing the same thing and he asked me "Did you see it?" I said "yeah I saw it, did you?" and we talked about what to do now since there were several people still out there with the shark. He convinced me that swimming frantically was the wrong action to take and that perhaps doing nothing was the more wise action since yelling "shark" as I usually did made everyone get excited and swim erratically to the shore which was more likely to draw the attention of a shark. We decided to not say anything to the others and no one was hurt by the shark. I changed my behavior around them and swam strongly but with minimal splashing to the shore. Once at Brenneckes I saw a shark tail up in the air obviously snacking on something on the bottom well to the side of everyone. I got out of the water and approached as close as I could from the safety of the shoreline but could not make out what it was feeding on. There was no blood in the water so I figured it wasn't a human. At Brenneckes I learned to tell the difference between a shark and a porpoise fin. Porpoise fins were somewhat curved along the back edge of the fin and sharks were more triangular.

[oldmansurfer]

I used to surf at Kalapaki and got to know the crew there. They had a routine for shark sightings which seemed odd to me. If someone saw a shark (fin) then they would scream "shark!" and everyone would go in. They would stay on the shoreline for at least 30 minutes after the last time someone saw the shark (fin). This system struck me as particularly odd since sharks rarely had their fins out of the water so not seeing a fin wasn't a good indicator of the absence of sharks. I finally decided to just stay out since it was the only way I would get the waves to myself. I did this same behavior at Wailua and Hanalei and Kalihiwai and anywhere I surfed. I figured if it stayed out of the break like they usually did I wasn't going to worry about them but if I saw sharks close up then I left the water for the day (not 30 minutes) since the shark is behaving abnormally since they usually stay out of the break. I saw sharks frequently at Pakalas and they always seemed to stay out of the break but the turtles would pop out of the water right next to me and scare the crap out of me.

[oldmansurfer]

The scariest shark encounter I had was when I was kneeboarding with surfer friends at Hideaways. I got to the water first and went out and swam about about 30 yards only to see the hugest shark fin I had ever seen in my life. It was headed directly toward me and suddenly I saw the head was a yard wide and quickly went through options. I could try to out swim it but was sure it would win that race, I could swim toward it but that was crazy, I could swim to the left over the shallow wana (spiny sea urchin) riddled reef but I would likely get injured and bleed maybe not a good thing with a shark nearby so the only reasonable option was to go to the right out into to open ocean and so I did. I swam strongly but not erratically. I never saw the shark again. My friends paddled out and I was yelling at them not to come out and that there was a shark and they yelled back that the break was the other way and paddled out regardless of my warning. So I joined them but made sure I kept most of them between me and the open sea. I kept counting them to be sure none got eaten and none did.

[oldmansurfer]

Another close encounter I had was at Mahelona Bay. My friend Mark invited me to go with him. This was my second time to that break. You had to walk over seaweed covered boulders and jump off them to get into the water. I was doing that and slipped rolling down the side of a huge seaweed covered boulder into the water. I figured what they heck no worse for wear and paddled out like normal hoping no one would notice my fall. The waves were small and the water was clean and I could see sharks swimming very rapidly past me. This was very unusual behavior. Sharks are usually cruising when I see them in the surf but these guys were speeded up and acting aggressive. Initially I wasn't sure if they were sharks since they were so fast but after a few encounters I was sure and asked Mark if he was seeing the sharks swimming real fast and he said he was and that we should go in so we did. We walked back to the car and his girlfriend who was waiting at the car started screaming something at us. I thought it sounded like she was saying "Should I call the ambulance?" Which didn't make sense. I asked Mark what she was saying and he said "Dave!!! Look at yourself!!" I looked down at my chest and I was bleeding all over the place. Apparently when I fell in the water I got scratched but didn't notice and was bleeding. The ocean washed it away so I never noticed in the water but outside it accumulated so I looked like a war victim. This undoubtedly stimulated the sharks to act differently.

[oldgrom22]

I surf around there and suprisingly enough I encountered a shark(few towers down) about a month ago. My encounter was way more mild in comparison though. It was a decent day 2-3ft semi-clean. We had been in the water for about an hour and half, sandbars hadn't been the best, so we were way out back waiting on the set waves(me and 3 buddies). I'm sitting there looking out to the horizon and decide I'm going to change position in the lineup. I'm laying prone casually paddling when I spot a dark shadow a few feet in front of me. My usual response is to ignore it, but it looked like it was moving so I kept my eyes on it. Split second later, I see the outline, at this point my hearts beating a bit quicker and I'm hoping it's a dolphin and about to breach for some air, but it just stayed right under the surface and casually swam past me. I was on a 606 Addvance and it was as big as my board, not a man eater by any means, but large enough to freak me out a bit. I did pull my feet out of the water and motioned to my buds to let them know I saw something in the water and we calmly paddled back to shore. Truth be told, if I didn't decide to switch position I wouldn't have even known it was out there and had it aggresively bumped me, not sure how I would have reacted, hoping that day never comes. Heard its best to just calmly paddle back to shore and not to thrash around or try to sprint paddle as it mimicks injured prey. I would think it also depends on what the shark is doing, if its circling I would try and hold my ground or keep it in front of me, rather not get attacked from behind. Scary, but it is a part of the dues you have to pay for being out in the Ocean.

[BaNZ]

Start at around 2 min.

[oldmansurfer]

If you surfed in Hawaii much it is certain sharks came much closer than that and you never knew it. The only time you see a shark while you are surfing is if their fin is sticking out of the water generally . They are out there all the time. It's their home. When I was a kid they used to hukilau which is to surround a school of fish in a loop of net that starts on the shoreline and ends on the shoreline. Then lots of people get together and huki (pull) the net in on both sides. It's like a tug of war with the net and fish. Everyone who helps gets some fish. Anyway they have a couple guys who job is to let the sharks out of the net because there are always sharks in the net and they tend to tear up the net and you loose all the fish. So I talked to these guys and they said pretty much you need to be careful but the sharks don't want to bite you so that set the tone for me for the rest of the time I have spent in the water.
So my thing is if they are far away then I just keep aware but if they are close I get out of the water. I paddle in just like I normally do because they can swim way faster than I can paddle so no sense create something to draw their attention to you.

[Bazzington]

Yeh i had an experience at boomerang beach in NSW australia. Was chilling out the back with the missus water was clear as! Didnt see the shark until it popped its head up about 8ft away from me. We were both on 8ft boards and it was probably the same length so id say it was just curious about what we were. Was really strange because i was calm as i couldnt believe it! Considering this was withing the first few months of learning to surf i thought i might act differently. Once i got to the beach i was a bit shakey and it spooked me out of the water for a month or two but id say it was just having a cruise.

[RinkyDink]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but I did gain one obvious insight (another face palm moment) from reading about George Greenough's shark encounters. Sharks sight you from the side of their head. So if you actually feel in danger from one, it might help to keep that in mind as you move away from it.

http://www.driftsurfing.eu/george-green ... k-diaries/

[Lebowski]

Sharks sight you from the side of their head. So if you actually feel in danger from one, it might help to keep that in mind as you move away from it.

http://www.driftsurfing.eu/george-green ... k-diaries/

I believe this is true for most species, but not the Great White, which with it's thin pointy nose and eye position can apparently see directly in front of itself aswell.

[oldmansurfer]

If they are looking at you they are too close. They use electrical signals to find you or maybe scent then only when they are close vision comes into play.

[mjames]

Thanks for all of the responses everyone, great reading about your shark experiences and advice. This morning I did head to the spot where the shark bumped the surfer but: 1- it was dawn, which is feeding time and 2- I was the only one there, and apparently sharks look for lone targets... two major no-no's based on the research I did on the web so I drove further south to a more crowded lineup and waited until the sun was up and had a great time. I'll be back at the normal spot Saturday morning if there is any surf. A week seems like a long enough wait for everything to cool down... even though sharks travel about 50 miles per day, so for all I know he's waiting there for me now.

[billie_morini]

It depends on the species and size. Some species are not dangerous to man. I keep surfing when they're about. While tiger and white sharks can be aggressive, I keep surfing if they are small.

[BoMan]

My wife brings this up all the time as I'm loading up the board for a surf...and when I suspect she would rather have me mow the lawn. It pays to be ready with the odds.

According to the Discovery Channel News,

Your chances of being attacked by a shark are just one in 11.5 million, according to the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File.

On average, there are about 65 shark attacks worldwide each year; a handful are fatal. You are more likely to be killed by a dog, snake or in a car collision with a deer. You’re also 30 times more likely to be killed by lightning and three times more likely to drown at the beach than die from a shark attack, according to ISAF.

Even digging a sand hole is more dangerous…

The New England Journal of Medicine reported that from 1990 to 2006, 16 people died by digging until the sand collapsed and smothered them. ISAF counted a dozen U.S. shark deaths in the same period. Clearly, you’d be safer in the water, with the sharks.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/sharks/shark-attacks-what-are-the-odds-20100802.htm

The sand hole is my favorite. She likes making sand castles!