Great White Sharks
I live in the SF area and paddle the Pacific coast areas, where Great Whites are frequently spotted. There are two factors to dramatically reduce the chance of an attack. The first is to paddle a boat greater than 13’ in length. Both of my fellow BASK members who had boats attacked were in boats shorter than this. After a couple of attacks, BASK had a GW specialist speak at one of our meetings about the GW attack study he did in our area. The study found that the GW attack rate, on towed Styrofoam surfboard shaped objects, was inversely proportional to the length of the item they hit. Most importantly, no attacks occurred when the towed item was greater than 13’. His theory was that the bull elephant seals are about that long and the GWs don’t risk being hurt in a counter attack by an item of that size.
The second factor is staying in your boat. A combat roll in your long boat is as much GW insurance as it is hypothermia protection.
When I kayak surf in my 8’4” WW boat I only do the local ocean beach breaks to try and improve my odds. The GWs prefer deeper water so they can get a power climb to surface in before striking their prey. When I head to the deep water reef, near the Mavericks area, to surf I always use my old plastic drop-skeg 15’ 10” Elaho to reduce the odds of an encounter.
I second that heartily!
I have never seen a Bull shark…but I have seen plenty of idiots in power boats. And I don’t need to roll because I simply don’t tip over. :-}
BOOGIE BOARDER DIES FROM SHARK ATTACK
It happened up in the Panhandle near Destin"
"DESTIN, Fla. (June 25) - A 14-year-old girl died Saturday after a shark attacked her while she and a companion were swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, authorities said.
The teenagers were swimming on boogie boards about 100 yards offshore when they noticed a dark shadow in the water, authorities said. The other swimmer was not injured, Walton County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Donna Shank said.
Both girls swam to shore, and the victim was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, Shank said. The girl was on vacation from Gonzales, La., but her name was not immediately released.
It was not clear what type of shark attacked her, said Stan Kirkland, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
"The girl was some distance off from the shore,’’ Kirkland said. "I don’t think anyone got a good view of the shark.’’
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Authorities closed about 20 miles of crowded beaches to swimming shortly after the attack. It was not immediately clear when they would reopen.
Robert Goodwin, 12, of St. Louis, Mo., said he was ordered out of the water by authorities. "I didn’t know that when I was told to get out it was a shark,’’ he said. "I was like, what? Wow that’s not cool.’’
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Florida averaged more than 30 shark attacks a year from 2000 to 2003, but there were only 12 attacks off the state’s coast last year, according to statistics compiled by the American Elasmobranch Society and the Florida Museum of Natural History.
I think I’d rather be ib, or on, a relatively stable, sturdy kayak, legs inside, methodically paddling away, than splashing & cavorting on a foam core boogie board.
But it sure DO give one pause to consider, especially in light of some of the items in this thread, when one considers what one may be passing over (and -HOPEFULLY!, not “THROUGHH”) as we
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami
If that quote explains your reasoning
then you might want to critically think about this statement in it:
The "chances" are of no help at all.
That is a really bad argument. if the chances are of no help at all, then even statisticly insignifigant risks must be mitigated. The person who spends their time doing that will die fron stress and lack of exercise.
As for me; if I were concerned about it, I would paint broad black and white stripes perpendicular to the keel line. Way too expensive to get QCC to do that in gel coat paint will do fine.
More detail.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SHARK_ATTACK?SITE=MILAN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Follow up
I decided to go with a white hull - because that is what everyone uses, and it wont show scratches. I went with a black stripe (for the snake thing... you know, If I'm sideways. and a Sage Green deck. I settled on a lighter happier color so that when the 'fear' strikes me I can stare into the "happy" deck to calm down. ;)
Nice choice!
You will be happy with the ligher colors, and that pale green should be easy on the eyes.
Take a B&W photo and it should look like my 700 L!