First question was about paddling in higher than normal waters up to but not including above flood stage and how you feel about it. I don’t do it but i often do not go when I wanted to because the main river nearby is almost perpetually up. Even when it is up its still not any rougher. Just slightly faster and usual increase in debris and mud. I just dont know if im cheating myself out of a trip when it is still safe to go.
Secondly. I do not and have not ever paddled in saltwater or any freshwater that isnt separated by a dam from salt water. I have an immense fear of sharks and will not even go into the surf over ankle deep. Am I alone? I know im irrational but is there anything to share that might help me with this fear? I really want to but cant make myself do it currently.
@Funktion said:
First question was about paddling in higher than normal waters up to but not including above flood stage and how you feel about it. I don’t do it but i often do not go when I wanted to because the main river nearby is almost perpetually up. Even when it is up its still not any rougher. Just slightly faster and usual increase in debris and mud. I just dont know if im cheating myself out of a trip when it is still safe to go.
I can’t imagine what you mean by your local river being “almost perpetually up”, unless you are having an unusually rainy spring and early summer. If you are, welcome to the club. Our rivers are up too.
I think many will agree when I say that if you have to ask the question, then by all means, stay off the rivers when they are high. As you have noted, flat-water rivers tend not to appear any more dangerous, and may not seem significantly faster when they are high, but the opportunities for getting caught in fallen trees is enormously greater, and that apparently slight increase in current speed makes a huge difference too. I’ve seen countless examples of new paddlers not accurately “reading” where the current is about to take them, such as right through the branches or into the trunk of a fallen tree, and these same people usually don’t know any of the typical maneuvering tricks which would successfully move their boat to a safe location ahead of time (the usual newbie maneuvering methods of simply aiming the boat where you want to go will be woefully inadequate in most cases where the current is taking you into danger). We call fallen trees “strainers” with good reason. In the worst cases, they are good places to drown. In most other cases, they are good places to lose your boat, because if your boat gets caught there it will be pinned in place with much more force than you probably can yet imagine at your experience level.
Get as much practice as you can on safer waters in the meantime. Then practice on the rivers once they are down to normal levels. Do you have any lakes? Most places that have no natural lakes or ponds at least have lots of dams on the rivers, and the impounded water is usually a lot safer (hardly any current).
Oh, and I don’t know where you live, but for a lot of the country, be mindful of the water temperature at this time of year too!
Fear of Sharks…I had a girl friend in high school that was afraid of snakes. If one were shown on TV she’d panic and start crawling up the wall eventually standing on the back of the sofa screaming. I caught up with her and her husband a few years ago after a 50 year break. She is still afraid of snakes but not so much. Your “snake” is a shark. You’ll live. Stay out of the water if it makes you feel better. But you’re missing a lot of good water. Not everyone is a salty. There are a lot of sweet water inland lakes and rivers without sharks. Just look out for the snakes.
Patient: “Doc, it hurts when I do this.”
Doctor: “Then don’t do that.”
Eat shark and live…Find a good seafood place beside the ocean and order up a plate. It may sound primitive and pagan, but by devouring a shark first, you become one with it and therein develop something of an immunity. It’s the same reason why sharks never ever attack lawyers in ocean water: “Professional courtesy.”
(Void where prohibited, your results may vary.)
More river water is almost always better than less. Unless your river is swollen to the color of chocolate milk.
Lastly, there is no substitute for experience. Join a club or paddle (both the briney and freshwater)with a friend who does not share your phobias. Or better yet, paddle with two (“One’s a witness, two’s help.”) Oh and don’t take my advice, because I haven’t really figured out if your post is for real or not anyway.
If it really bothers you that you are avoiding salt water because of a fear of sharks, you might seek the help of a qualified cognitive-behavioral therapist. They have a pretty good track record with simple phobias (i.e., directed towards a specific object). A number of people who like the water take up Scuba as well as Kayaking and you can do both in fresh water. I wonder if you could work up to diving with sharks. I’ve done a bit of diving off the West Palm Beach area and they’re all over the place. When you see them underwater just swimming around being peaceful, it helps you see them in a different light. Then again, I’d hate to be responsible for an underwater panic attack. Anyway, nothing wrong with sticking to freshwater if that’s where you are most comfortable.
@Guideboatguy said:
I’ve seen countless examples of new paddlers not accurately “reading” where the current is about to take them, such as right through the branches or into the trunk of a fallen tree, and these same people usually don’t know any of the typical maneuvering tricks which would successfully move their boat to a safe location ahead of time (the usual newbie maneuvering methods of simply aiming the boat where you want to go will be woefully inadequate in most cases where the current is taking you into danger).
I was a little surprised to have witnessed this exact thing while taking a group through a local wetland last spring. It floods nicely in the spring and is a popular route to paddle during that time. The open wetland narrows down into a river leading out, and at the time in question there were two trees fallen from opposite sides of the river fairly close together. With the increased current, it meant that successful navigation of the obstacle required going through a narrow opening on the right, then ferrying across the current and to the far left to exit through another opening not so narrow. The current was fast and strong, but not crazy whitewater or anything like that.
I was leading the group and in hindsight overestimated the skill level of some of the paddlers. One of them was, in fact, pinned against the second tree just as you describe. She was safe for the moment but couldn’t get a paddle in the water downstream due to the tree and I advised not to paddle on the upstream side because it was likely to cause almost immediate capsize. I was able to effect a rescue in combination with another paddler and tow her off the tree. She didn’t know how much danger she was in until we talked afterward and I explained how easy it is to get stuck once you go under.
I’m sure she learned a lot that day. I know I did.
The post is in fact real. The river being “perpetually up” is from rain and rain and just when it goes down some and you make plans to go…more rain. There has been 1 weekend day since March that the river was at normal levels.
We do have a few lakes but I don’t get the same enjoyment from them that I get from rivers. I have fun still, just not as much. Maybe it’s the idea that regardless of where I go, I’m ending in the same spot.
The fear of sharks isn’t so much a fear of the shark itself, it’s the fear of suddenly being hit by one as it breaches 10 feet out of the water with half my kayak in it’s mouth. Picture those nature shows where a seal gets eaten and replace the seal with me and my kayak. That’s what I picture when I think about being in saltwater in a small boat.
I could probably go with other people and be fine. Or maybe I could convince myself it was ok with supporting statistics. It just feels odd to KNOW that I’m more likely to get hit by a bus in the parking lot and still be too afraid to do it.
Unless you live in Florida, I would not be too worried about sharks. We have great white sharks here in San Diego County, they don’t broach and rip people apart too often. I went out surfing this morning all alone at a spot where a guy got killed 8 years ago while training fora triatholon. Nothing happened to me, all the sharks are having a convention about 30 miles north this summer. A woman had her leg almost bit off a few weeks ago, she was swimming with sea lions, not a good thing to do.
Can’t do much about high water in a river, except take some whitewater classes and learn how to recognize and handle it. That said, there is a reason that even very experienced WW folks usually paddle in groups. You should take it as a recommendation.
As to sharks, or anything else that may lie underneath the water, morbidly afraid means that you are unlikely to have good responses to a problem out there because that fear will be riding you no matter what happens. Like some surprise bad weather, whatever. It will likely cause you to have too high an anxiety level to solve any problems. So I am with someone above -
if you are really morbidly afraid, find ways to manage the fear or stay off salt water.
@Funktion said:
The fear of sharks isn’t so much a fear of the shark itself, it’s the fear of suddenly being hit by one as it breaches 10 feet out of the water with half my kayak in it’s mouth. Picture those nature shows where a seal gets eaten and replace the seal with me and my kayak. That’s what I picture when I think about being in saltwater in a small boat.
I’m glad your post is real!
Look, those nature shows set-up and wait weeks, sometimes months to get such footage. What sea coast are you near exactly? Patagonia or South Africa?
I started life on a surf board as a teenager going to the Jersey shore and Long Island. I was a Life Guard when younger too, and have both swam and paddled on-and-off the Atlantic for over 40 years. I’ve also paddled and swam the Pacific on trips to Southern California, Hawaii, and Mexico. In all that time, doing everything from boogie boarding to surf kayaking, I WAS NEVER CHOMPED ON BY A SHARK! --And I sure as hell have never ever seen one breach 10 feet out of the water except on the type shows you mentioned…Not to say these things never happen. But as others have pointed out, it is quite rare indeed. (Although off the Florida coast, I was “bumped” a couple times out of curiosity and I could only be certain that once it was a shark, because of quickly seeing a dorsal fin flash by–But “Bumpers” can be everything from sea turtles to whales…Once in Florida, I even had a gator take a snap at my inflatable kayak, but that is another story… ).
Only a professional/therapist can help you with getting over the challenging psychic aspects of your problem.
I think what will help me the most is looking at it like Im intentionally trying to see a shark and then thinking about how likely it would be that I would never see one my entire life. I guess I just have to accept that they are in the water and hope that Im not in that .000000000001% of people who will get eaten by one. I just have prolifically bad luck.
I live in North Carolina and would like to get over this enough to kayak out to some of the barrier islands later this year. I have never been on saltwater so maybe I’ll get more comfortable with it after I go a few times and survive.
Grew up in Florida and spent loads of time swimming in the Atlantic and Gulf. Saw some dead sharks on the beach on occasion but the biggest worry was jellyfish. Then, I started flying. In the clear shallow gulf waters, I saw all sorts of marine life. Schools of fish, pods of dolphin, large formations of manta rays (very cool), and sharks. A lot more sharks than I envisioned in my head. I’m more paranoid when I go home to Florida and swim out into the Gulf but I still go.
That shark attacks are rare isn’t the point. Fears aren’t rational and facts don’t make them go away.
I’ve been in the ocean all my life and have never seen a “dangerous” shark. Angel and leopard sharks, yes. Dogfish, rays, skates, shovelnose guitarfish, also. I dove on a 6’ sand shark hiding under a rock in Hawaii and spent a great deal of time watching the beast, it didn’t seem to care a lick that I was there. In all my time paddling, boating, and diving, I’ve seen more whales than sharks and one really huge ray - easily over ten feet across during a dive. When I feel uneasy and look behind me underwater, I generally find a sea lion or harbor seal only a couple of feet away (you can’t get away from these in Monterey Bay and a dive where a sea lion sees you as a plaything is awfully common).
There are always great whites along the California coast, but though attacks are rare, there is always that nagging thought in the back of the mind. Not knowing if there is a shark (there probably is) or whether it can/will attack, can be disconcerting. I am willing to bet that I’ve spent a lot of time in the ocean not more than 50-100 feet away from a great white and never knew it. The water is murky here and it is hard to believe this hasn’t happened.
I’ve met 5 shark attack survivors (seems amazing, but if you live near the ocean and participate in ocean sports, it happens) and their injuries were certainly frightening. None of them saw the shark until after the attack happened. That is what nags the psyche. You feel nice and safe, in control, until it all suddenly changes.
So, paddle where you are comfortable. Learn a bit about sharks if you wish to start to overcome your fears. You will learn that sharks are not the monsters portrayed in movies (or even documentaries (they tend to chum and/or feed sharks to get the footage - what they show is NOT normal shark behavior). You will also learn that, as apex predators, they can act capriciously and viciously, but one step you can take is to paddle a larger boat. in the animal world, size improves safety, so a longer boat should be safer than a shorter one and the attack statistics back this up.
@Funktion said:…, it’s the fear of suddenly being hit by one as it breaches 10 feet out of the water with half my kayak in it’s mouth. Picture those nature shows …
A.- Most shark bites are from sharks less than 6 ft long in the relatively shallow surf. They bite and spit that nasty thing out. The other bite is for waders often in the bait fish where they smaller shark bites and releases the non fish bite and goes away.
B- don’t watch so much TV. .
C. pilots report hundreds of sharks routinely swim pass swimmers every day during the migrations. (spring/fall) Stay out of the surf during the mullet run.
D. you got more to worry about like the sting rays, jelly fish, broken glass, jumping sturgeon, misquitos, raw sewage, jet skis and BUIs in power boats.
I am morbidly afraid of sharks too! I am also afraid of tons of other things like being in a plane and crashing or a car crashing, or getting a fatal disease, But I can only do so much against any of them. Go to an aquarium and look at some through the glass. Where are you paddling?
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