Have you seen sharks???

[fletcher]

[Fartin]

I wonder what happend if a shark bite your arm off. Are you able to paddle back to the shore with one arm??? I wonder how far can you paddle???

You go around in circles until you run out of energy. Like a Duracell seal.

[Bertie]

I saw a 6 footer whilst sailing in the Solent last summer, I'm pretty sure it was a shark as I was railing out at the time and I almost shat myself. My skipper said it was a pretty normal occurence. Having said that I dont think there have been any shark attacks round the Isle of Wight recently. (or ever? but correct me if I'm wrong)

On a different note (and I know its back dating a bit...)

I don't pee inside the Ocean. I think that's disgusting. I always use the restroom before surfing. I don't know, I guess if you have to go, you have to go.

Seriously mate, I'm guessing you've never surfed in cold water. When we surf its known as a wettie-warmer. Recognised survival technique, apparently very good for the skin too. Unfortunately I guess you could call it surfers contributing to sewage.

[waterboy]

All these percentages are bollox too... This average includes people who live in cities and go to the beach 1 day a year or possibly never. So by putting yourself in shark infested water massively increases the percentage chance of being bitten, and the more times you enter this water the more the percentages increase. Its still safe odds tho... probably !

It's not bollox if you live in california. Do you know how many people go to the beach here on a given summer day!?!? But its true. Noone wants to be involved in that statistically insignificant freak-attack either.

by the way, hello all.

[tautologies]

Gues wat I forgot to mention?!?!, sharks ARE atracked to your pee! It has the same chemical make up as blood, therefore, if you pee in the water, its the same as having an open wound!!!

Obviously pee and blood are quite different, however fish who are scared or in trouble often pee, so therefore sharks react to the smell.

I have seen shark while diving on Maui, but never out surfing...but as they say you shouldn't worry too much about the shark you can see

I really have dig up some of the pictures a friend of a friend took on the Big Island while tagging Tiger sharks...in a weekend in 30 feet of water they caught 8-10 8 foot Tigers, 4 12 foot and 2 that were bigger than their boat (17 foot)...they also caught a bunch of app. 6 foot sharks, but they were mostly eaten by bigger sharks on the way up...

Some awesome shots from underneath the boat....

a.

[TDV]

while surfing in west palm florida yesterday right after i pissed in the water a 7 foot n a 4 foot reef shark passed under me

[dougirwin13]

Obviously pee and blood are quite different, however fish who are scared or in trouble often pee, so therefore sharks react to the smell.

Who says sharks have no interest in urine? Think about it. You are a big Great White. You love to eat live seals. Yummy! Like most prey creatures Seals empty their bowel and bladder when they are scared (part of the whole fight/flight reflex). Now do you really thing sharks have no interest in urine?

Biggest problem here (South Australia) is Great Whites. Mate pulled half a person out of the break at Waitpinga a few years ago... Went surfing back there the next day. You are far more likely to be savage to death by a pig.

-doug

[dagnasty]

i havnt seen sharks surfing, but i have seen sharks countless times swimming in the ocean.

[tommy]

To my great good fortune, I spent 22 years in the sea urchin diving fishery of California. Diving and surfing was my job! Saw many sharks, mostly at the Farallon Islands, know of 5 uni divers who were attacked. Plenty of stories, some funny, some tragic.

Bethany Hamilton in Kaui, 2 recently in Maui, one on Oau's north shore (tiger's I believe), 3 here in northern California (whites) within the last 4 yrs while surfing. Don't know anything about pee or blood, but Dr. John McCosker, the world's foremost shark authority does - you can google him, I guess & see what he has to say. Having said that, I have 2 teenage children - they scare me more.

check out the website - bluewatergoldrush.com

Tommy

[tomcat360]

This is sorta related--

why are west coast (us) people much more concerned with sharks than east coast people, although statistically there are more shark attacks on the east coast?

[saracake]

i spent a year in oz- i just had to not allow myself think about it because as soon as i actually started thinking about it- i had to get out! i was on the gold and sunshine coast most of the time and although they don't get the great whites they get plenty of others.
i was surfing d-bar on a choppy day and this little shortboard punk ran straight into my face (i shall set up photo as my profile), that i didnt' have a particular problem with (rough day, i didn't see him, he didn't see me, it happens) the fact it split my chin and the little toe rag didn't stop to see if i was ok (bleeding in a superficial yet dramatic way) was rubbish! murky water, mouth of an estuary, me bleeding- i was out fairly blinkin' fast.
just before i left i was in a team triathalon at the spit between surfers paradise and 'straddie'. the road to the beach was closed off for the comp so as a result the beach and waves were completely empty (on a sunday!). my wonderfull boyfriend (at the time) decided that an hour of his time could not be wasted on watching me so buggered off for a surf. he was paddling across the estuary to straddie (usually crowded with surfers) when he heard a noise 20 mtrs from him and turned to see a shole of fish leap from the water followed by a 6ft bull shark in a full 'discovery channel style' body lunge. at this point he was half way across river and had to keep going. there may be a valuable lesson there about not being a bad boyfriend..........
on his swim back he told me he waited for 2 13yr olds on bodyboards to go infront of him- what a man!
i also used to go sea fishing- amazing, makeral fishing in cornwall hasn't been the same since but there is something quite unnerving about bobbing around in a little tin boat and pulling up fish that would have been half a meter long but all that's left is their head by the time you get them up to the boat. however, stop worring! i love the stats of what is more likely to get you than a shark and this is my favourite-

"more people are killed a year by vending machines falling on them, then are killed by shark attacks"

[borneng]

...on his swim back he told me he waited for 2 13yr olds on bodyboards to go infront of him- what a man!

He's a good man.

[tracylala]

This is pretty interesting.
[url]
http://www.platial.com/bianca2000/map/6282?total=100[/url]

It mostly has lethal attacks since the year 2000, but it says that it's still in progress and that anyone can add their own stuff to it.

If you click on the side bar you can read news atories about the different shark attacks.

[Keith]

Haha, check this out... the pic he posted with the surfer and the shark





NOW look here




if you look at the file names, shark_wave.jpg, and wave_shark.jpg ... names are alittle similiar as well


quick google search...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=& ... tnG=Search


check the google link, both of the first images have Kurt Jones on it, it was photoshopped :-p

[Dec]

The Second one is photoshopped because of the reoccuring ripples that are exactly the same (Clone Tool)

[pat42]

Thats a dolphin isn't it

[tomcat360]

wow, dec, awesome eye...

although looking back on it now it does seem that just the color was changed, but still.

[surfinforlife]

I'm a little bored at work, so i made a piccie comparing fins of dolphins vs sharks...




To me, it looks more like a dolphin fin. The best way to tell by looking at the dorsal fin is the curve on the back side of the fin, with sharks they are almost straight, whereas dolphins have quite an obvious curve.

You can also tell by the tail fin, sharks have a vertical tail and dolphins have a horizontal tail, but its a little hard to tell in this photo.

Check out this website.... http://www.surfshooter.com/DolphinInfo.html

[Keith]

Whatever it is it dont matter, the one with the surfer was photoshoped.

[dougirwin13]

*yawn*

Old news.

Does a photograph show a surfer approaching a lurking shark?

Yet more Snopes reports of shark hoaxes mentioning surfers...

The lesson is: Always check Snopes first

-doug