shark

Thanks for the info, Leech!

According to that website, the last recorded fatal shark attack in Singapore was in 1954!!!!

That was also probably the last time we had a really windy day...

Ah, but the kiters are dangling in the water even more at Shearwater every weekend than they do in the ocean.

... but now we are also coming into bull shark mating season, and you never hear of anyone fending off a bull shark. Strangely you do hear of people fending off great whites.

I feel very sad seeing such a graceful predator as the GWS laying on the beach like that, very sad.

Thanks Justin, well I guess that bit of info just rules out VP for re-learning how to windsurf, not that I'd be much of a meal anyway

We used to swim across Lota creek all the time to set crab pots lol.

I think you have to be pretty unlucky to be bitten by a shark. I used to spear fish quite a bit before I moved down here and quite often had sharks interested in my catch. Even had a few reefies steal fish from the end of the spear.
When you see them swim underwater you can see how graceful and beautiful they are.
I think all you can do is lessen the odds of being taken by doing things like not being in the water at dawn and dusk, not swimming in the mouth of a river on an incoming tide etc. Common sense really.

It does crop up in the back of your mind but tbh I don't let it get to me. I figure there are that many surfers sitting around, feet dangling off their board that it's a far greater chance that they get taken than me. Sometimes however I think it pays to call it a day.

Earlier this year I was sailing around off the beach on my big gear on a lighter day and over a period of about 30min I saw 5 of what I took to be hammer heads. As soon as I saw the first one I jybed and headed at about mach 40 for the beach. Whilst heading for the beach I almost ran over another one at about 25kts and that had me freaking out. I got closer to shore though and felt a bit safer, kept sailing just didn't venture out any further. I saw another 3, these ones a fair bit closer to shore so I called it a day. There were probably 20+ surfers in the water at the time, oblivious. I didn't say anything but did mention to the life guard that I thought I saw a few sharks and to keep a look out.

That remains the only time in about 5 years of wave sailing that i've ever seen a shark, or 5! I did initially think dolphin but you see those a fair bit and there is just a way that sharks' cruise that is distinctive. Not to mention dorsal fin shape and the tip of the tail breaking the surface. That's why I thought hammer head, due to the dorsal fin shape and the fact that the hammer has quite a tall tail that basically sticks out if the dorsal fin is.

I agree, why did we need to kill it just because it swam near a beach?

Pedro e - that is true.

And it is all a balance, we take too many fish out of certain areas and the top predators go looking for alternative food sources (as you said).

But if we then kill all those top predators whilst they are looking for feeds then the system becomes unbalanced.

And things like rays, fish and other ecosystem functions that the sharks are doing are lost.

This leads to a shut down of the ecosystem by overpopulations of some organisms taking all the foodsources and eating themselves to starvation (large expansions of a species will lead to resource depletion of its foodsource).

Classic lynx/snowshow hare interaction

So if we wanna keep a nice marine environment with fish and all that, we need sharks.

So next time you go for a sail or a surf, say thanks to those sharks and stay away if its a bad time/area but have a little respect for them, they can't just go down to Macca's and pick up a feed when everyone is taking there staple foods

/rant

Good find Retzy

" In the last 50 years,
there have been only 61 human fatalities (an average of 1.22
per year) in Australian waters from shark attack. Some years
there are none, other years there have been up to three in a
year, but the average remains around one per year. Yet each
year hundred thousands of swimmer-days take place on our
beaches, harbours and rivers and the number is increasing with
both increasing population and tourism. "

Imagine if there was only 61 road deaths in 50 years, and then imagine if the media beat it up into a story...

nah, it's only really the bank where everyone sees the sharks.

i suggested VP to you because at high tide you can sail in 1m deep water over a large area.

it's probably the best place in brisbane to get the shortboard skills going.

i wouldn't worry about the noahs in the shallows.

mmmm, just had a session at mermaid beach, mind over matter, fear won today, was weird, nobody on the beach at all, did about 10 runs out, fell a few times, floundered around with sail on wrong side etc to waterstart, then when I saw 2 whales breach only a few hundred metres offshore, and with no company whatsoever, with the exception of a few kiters up the beach at Kurrawa, I opted to get out and pack up, whimp!

It was truly one of the best arvos for windsurfing though! great wind, step on and powered up, hitting the ramps out the back was sweet!

here is a link to the GSAF Incident Log in a Microsoft Excel file

www.sharkattackfile.net/incidentlog.htm

More than 100 years of data!

i found this, click link and it will load google earth

06133382477616918317.googlegroups.com/attach/129a3976f7d1d37d/416247.kmz?part=3&vt=ANaJVrGwc4p8mP2PsWxxhVOI8pS5QYoqWhCnbbnMxx4I4w76JyCNGr_9qiAgrTC7b8bw31CiX1vP2SrWm2m-roBHEFyZ2gqgpu62HXAuxqlGiMoAez2mWD8

I know what you mean...I was sailing there around this time last year. I remember one day, the wind was great, full power from the word go, but it was cold and bleak; nobody around, kind of spooky. I saw a killer whale breach less than 100m in front of me - and I was 1km out. I immediately gybed and fell off, then uphauled in a state of panic, and as I headed back I saw FOUR fins heading towards me -- I figured out pretty quick that they were porpoises or dolphins, but not before almost $h!tt!ng my pants...

I HATE SHARK PARANOIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sharks schmarks.

Once I got bitten and lost a leg. Didin't stop me from sailing for another 2 hours. Landed about 20 perfect one footed backies and 30 one footed forwards.

More chance of becoming a grease spot on a road somewhere on the way to the beach than getting eaten while you are there.