Surfski Emergencies

Mako wrote:
I think coloured tips are avoided by paddlers in shark territory.

Why?

Maybe because it resembles a lure.

Fishermen all have theories about colours and patterns and it seems patterns and colours are being taken seriously now by board and wetsuit manufacturers.

Resembles a LURE? Must be one almighty large shark to try and swallow that. All conjecture methinks. Too many folk worry about sharks unnecessarily in my humble opinion.

Sharks are most likly color blind

news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/01...lia-animals-science/

Have a look for info on "anti shark wetsuits" etc. Some recent (2013) research from WA seems to suggest we may be paddling zebra striped skis soon?
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/austr...i-shark-wetsuit.html

Has a shark (especially a great white) ever even bumped a surfski?

This comes up in discussion pretty often where I do most of my paddling, which is one of the sharkiest places on the planet, just outside the mouth of Tomales Bay in California. No one I know has ever even seen a shark out there from a surfski or kayak, knock on wood.

Funny aside: someone I go abalone diving with has a shark repeller on his boat. Its kind of like an electric fence shocker, puts a jolt into the water every few seconds. He was out diving a few months ago and a big great white started circling his boat, so he touched the shark repeller to see if it was on. He got a really nice shock... But the shark didn't seem phased. In fact its possible he was attracted by it...

Surfskis have been bitten and damaged by sharks.

Red tips (and other colour tips) dissapeared from ski's after incidents involving sharks.

Big sharks hunt from below. Some sharks disable large prey by biting off the tail which disables that prey for further investigation.

A surfski with a coloured tip presents a contrast between the main body and tail. Colour vision has nothing to do with it. This is enough to concern paddlers in shark zones.

Market forces will dictate the colour of surfski's and nothing else.

Shark fishermen do use specific colours for shark lures and some are better at it than others. Colour and shape are a big deal in this trade.

Google "Yum Yum Yellow" and "avoidable shark attracting triggers" A lot is written about "Shark Myths" but the fact is we don't really know, so load the odds in your favour and avoid shark attracting triggers.

Red tips (and other colour tips) dissapeared from ski's after incidents involving sharks.

Out of the three single skis that were bitten near Fish Hoek, two had coloured tips and one did not.

www.surfski.info/latest-news/item/76-sharks-and-skis.html

The incident in Durban where a black-tipped shark bit a ski - no coloured tips.

www.surfski.info/latest-news/story/92/sh...ako6-off-durban.html

Personally I believe that the rudder - black contrasted with a white hull - is equally (if not much more likely because of the rounded shape) to trigger a bite from a shark than coloured tips.

But I'm not too worried either way. I think the benefits to be gained from being visible to rescuers far outweighs any concerns about sharks.

Besides - if the rudder or coloured tips attracts the shark towards either end of the ski, I'm all for it, much rather that than attracting them to the mid-section of the ski!!!

Funny aside: someone I go abalone diving with has a shark repeller on his boat. Its kind of like an electric fence shocker, puts a jolt into the water every few seconds. He was out diving a few months ago and a big great white started circling his boat, so he touched the shark repeller to see if it was on. He got a really nice shock... But the shark didn't seem phased. In fact its possible he was attracted by it...

Hmm... "attracted by it"? That's a really dangerous thing to say. There is good evidence to suggest that electronic shark repellents are effective (although not 100%). I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that they attract sharks. But speculation like that might dissuade people from using them and saving their lives.

For links to the literature, see: www.sharkshield.com/scientific-research/

(Yes, I know the links are on the SharkShield site and they have a vested interest, but the research was done by academic institutions, peer-reviewed!)

> I don't think there's any evidence to suggest that they attract sharks.

I was mostly being tongue in cheek.

Great point about preferring a bite on the nose or tail of the ski to the middle!

Here is an interesting vid re sharks and repelling them

www.ted.com/talks/hamish_jolly_a_shark_d...ou_think?language=en

This thread has got a bit off course with the shift to sharks, a very minor threat to safety, even in areas with large shark populations.

But to add to the knowledge base,

2 years back, a mate and I were paddling offshore Durban. We were both in singles paddling side by side very close together. The tail of his ski was attacked by a shark quite violently. Our skis were identical in every way except that he had a weed deflector. The experts at the Sharks Board theorised that the weed deflector was possibly causing a bit of cavitation turbulence that caught the shark's attention.

The details of the incident are included in the blog:

http://]www.durbansurfski.com/2014/05/09/this-surfski-paddlers-a-shark-magnet/

Below is an excerpt from the blog

"Perhaps a year later, my training partner and I were heading out to sea into the sea breeze. We must have been a good few kms out to sea of the Bluff. Our topic of conversation, as we paddled, was the terrible damage the Jaws movies had done to a shark's reputation. As unbelievable as this sounds it's the honest truth. I had pulled half a boat length ahead and looked back at Rich to continue our conversation. As I did so, a shark hit the tail of his boat with the ferocity and violence of a car crash. He was lifted up out of the water and thrown sideways but somehow manage to stay in the boat. I saw the grey shape hit the tail of his boat and thrash but I could not make out the size or type of shark. It was a one hit wonder and somehow we just knew the shark was gone. We checked out his boat which was quite badly damaged but still functional. Back then I could still match Rich on a downwind but on this day he beat me back to beach by minutes!!"

Duplicate post but can't find how to remove it!

wrybread wrote: Has a shark (especially a great white) ever even bumped a surfski?

In these parts of the world it's actually a surprisingly regular occurrence.
Just 2 weeks ago a shark chomped the tail off a ski at Mossel Bay.

Personally I'm quite wary of the buggers, as my regular paddle is a Great White breeding area. I prefer to paddle in a group, just one other guy and you've just doubled your own odds

But they seldom attack the paddler, mostly only the ski.

In these parts of the world it's actually a surprisingly regular occurrence.
Just 2 weeks ago a shark chomped the tail off a ski at Mossel Bay.

Oh thanks for that, I was under the impression that it was quite a long time since the last time this kind of thing happened . Here's the story:

mosselbayweather.blogspot.com/2014/11/mo...k-at-dias-beach.html

At the risk of derailing the thread (but I still think it's part of safety) I Can't help but wonder what effect baited shark cage diving has on attacks.

I can't imagine any scenario where it's a good thing. Mossel Bay seems to be a hot spot for both baited shark dives and sharks attacking surfskis. Personally I don't paddle there, too sh!t scared.

Edit: I just read the article you linked, I see it's mentioned in there as well.

I Can't help but wonder what effect baited shark cage diving has on attacks.

Here's a study on this issue, it makes for interesting reading. Basically, if the shark diving operators should obey the rules and shouldn't actually feed the sharks. If they feed the sharks, they may become habituated to cage diving vessels (however that doesn't mean that they'd be any more likely to identify swimmers or surfers with food because the chum/bait smells completely different.):

saveourseas.com/content/pdf/South_Africa...ause_for_concern.pdf

My unscientific thoughts on cage diving.

Sharks can smell styrene? in glass fibre. Most of the cage boats are glass. Shark associates glass with chum/bait/food. Ski becomes a trigger!. If I'm right epoxy surfskis shoud fly off the shelves now .

jagter wrote: At the risk of derailing the thread (but I still think it's part of safety) I Can't help but wonder what effect baited shark cage diving has on attacks.

I can't imagine any scenario where it's a good thing. Mossel Bay seems to be a hot spot for both baited shark dives and sharks attacking surfskis. Personally I don't paddle there, too sh!t scared.

Edit: I just read the article you linked, I see it's mentioned in there as well.

Happening down here to - www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/637...g-round-in-the-water

That's completely irresponsible. Baiting the sharks is teasing & teasing any animal is bad. Never has happy ending. To be stupid enough to make shark bait look like a human......

That's completely irresponsible. Baiting the sharks is teasing & teasing any animal is bad. Never has happy ending. To be stupid enough to make shark bait look like a human......

Agreed, and it gets even dumber: near me (San Francisco), in the Farralon Islands, which is a super sharky island chain just off shore, researchers used to drag surfboards behind boats to lure the sharks. It worked, the sharks would violently attack the boards from below, but nevermind the fact that one of the highest concentrations of surfers in the world is about 30 miles away, with humans on top of those same surfboards...

I've heard that they finally stopped the practice.