I recently sold my Solstice GT and picked up a plastic CD Sirroco. It’s yellow. About a week after buying the new boat I was watching Myth Busters doing some shark week experiments regarding sharks atraction to certain colors. Turns out, according to them and backed up by scientific studies sharks went after yellow targets at a rate far in excess of other colors. So, all you yellow boat owners, what’s the deal? Am I as safe in this boat as I would be in others or should I enclose it in shark cage? Forida kayakers, any comments?
Sharks in Jersey
It may depend on how many and what kind of shark you are likely to encounter paddling off New Jersey.
Most of my coastal paddling is Maine, so I don’t need to think about sharks much.
Never saw a shark
down here in two years that was big enough to worry about and the ones I do see shoot off like rockets when I approach.
Your biggest concern should be motor boaters who don’t care what color your kayak is before slamming into it and cutting it in half.
Bass also like yellow
Years ago I had a yellow canoe, and we were paddling in a small lake in the low country of NC.
Something hit the bow so hard that we thought it must have been a small alligator, but five minutes later it hit again, and then we saw the back as it flipped and it was a large bass.
There were about ten more hits, and we saw most of them which were all bass.
I guess they had real high hopes, but finally gave up.
Cheers,
JackL
Don’t ask me! My kayak is…
… Shark colored! Light grey on top with a while belly.
Got a laugh from that show when it turned out that Yum Yum Yellow has some truth to it.
You’re a (chewy) banana split
Sharks feed mostly at dusk and dawn and around fresh water tributaries (especially after a rain).
I just read in the paper…
…this morning that researchers have found out that colors mean nothing to sharks.
What attracts them is something unnatural.
For instance if there are a group of swimmers and only one of them has swim fins on, the shark is liable to go take a chunk out of that one since that one will appear to hit to be injured and easy pray. Or vice versa !
Cheers,
JackL
maybe it’s just
that the contrast of yellow is most easily seen, compared to other colors? just guessing.
sharks love yellow kevlar kayaks
crunchy on the outside, chewey in the middle!:-}
Last Fatal Attack in NJ was 1926
– Last Updated: Aug-02-05 5:20 PM EST –
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/GAttack/mapusa.htm
It does happen in those waters, but so rarely it doesn't seem to be much of an issue.
In Californnia and Hawaii it pays to take precautions, and in Florida it is a fact of life.
Knowledge is the best protection. For instance, I know that half of all NORCAL Great White attacks happen in fall. Attacks in June are very rare in NORCAL.
I know the areas where there have been muliple attacks, and avoid them in high risk seasons.
I keep up with shark sightings. For instance last fall there where three sighting in two weeks at Manressa Beach, and I decided to go elsewhere to go boogie boarding for a while. This is a handy link to check before yuo go to the beach in Cali:
http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/pacific_coast_shark_news.htm
Come to think of it.... It is about that time of year....
Still surfing the yum yum yellow Frenzy....
The color doesn’t matter…
In British Columbia, as rare as sharks are, they don’t seem to mind what color the kayak is - they just like giving chase.
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com/community/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=2047
(Scroll down to the Aug 02, 2005 1:02 pm post)
Dan
http://www.westcoastpaddler.com
Myth Busters is a TV show
It is there for entertainment meant to sell you something. Laundry soap, toothpaste or shampoo.
Don’t get me wrong I enjoy the show. Did they blow up a kayak or shark?
“Jamie wants a big boom”