shark

Mossel Bay, South Africa, 28th June, 2008. Jan-Hendrik Barnard and his friend Kobus Maritz were paddling near Bay View when a shark hit Kobus' Fenn Mako Millennium surfski from underneath.  "The shark bit the ski near where the Fenn Mako logo is," said Jan-Hendrik...

Great White Shark (Photo by Terry Goss, copyright 2006. Taken at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico, August 2006.)

All the top paddlers will tell you that in order to increase your paddling speed, there's nothing like sprint training.  Sometimes, though it's difficult to get motivated - it's hard work after all.

When sprint training really matters...

Looks as though this guy just found the answer to the motivation problem... 

Since 2002, three surf skis have been bitten and severely damaged by Great White Sharks in False Bay, here in Cape Town, South Africa (See Sharks and Skis).  After each incident there has been vigorous debate about how to prevent such interactions between the sharks (who are after all just living in their own environment) and humans.

Fenn Mako6 Shark Shield Special - showing location of the battery pack (Pic: Mike Schilperoort)

[Editor: I was quite reluctant to run this story because mainstream news sites tend to report incidents like this in a sensationalist way with little focus on the facts!  For example only one of the many reports in the Aussie press describes how the paddler was knocked off - apparently the shark bit the back of her ski and shook it.

But after receiving about a dozen emails from people all over the world I figured that I'd better put something up! 

The bottom line is that (as far as I know - and I've documented quite a number of these incidents) no surf ski paddler has ever been seriously hurt in interactions with these creatures, so without taking anything away from what was obviously a scary experience, you're far more likely to be injured driving to the beach than in any interaction with the men in gray.

Here in Cape Town we paddle in some of the most Great White-infested waters in the world - and I've only ever seen a single shark - which scared the s#$t out me admittedly - but the thing was actually just cruising along minding its own business! 

But to think of stopping paddling because of sharks would be illogical.

Anyway - here's the story according to a Reuters correspondent.]

Great White Shark (Photo: Terry Goss)

Anton Fouche of Durban, South Africa was hurtling down a wave at 25-30kph off Umhlanga when his Fenn Mako6 ski came to an abrupt halt.  The sound of the impact was "really loud" - but what had he hit?

More accurately, the question is what hit him?  "I caught a glimpse of a large dark object & a big splash," he said, "and almost fell out trying to turn to evaluate the damage & whether I was going to sink or not."

Shark Bite Damage to Anton Fouche's Fenn Mako6 Surf Ski (Photo: Ant Fouche)

Sharks are a highly emotive topic, especially when combined with surfing or paddling, but here in Cape Town we have to face the fact that we share the water with them when we paddle. 

This incident is published to illustrate that an encounter even with an aggressive Great White need not end badly.  We also asked shark researcher Allison Kock what paddlers should do when faced with such a situation.

In the last ten years there have been a number of interactions between paddlers and sharks off the South African coast.  This article describes the incidents and debunks some of the myths about the animals.  Paddling is a much safer sport than most – in spite of the emotion and fear associated with sharks.

On Saturday, 17 Feb 2007,  a cryptic comment appeared on Surfski.info: "SWIM TRAINING: WOULD LOVE OSCARS COMMENTS ON SWIM TRAINING AFTER HIS EPIC TRAINING PADDLE ON FRIDAY". 

Here's the story behind the comment.

Fish Hoek, Cape Town, South Africa - 16h40, Friday 28 July 2006

It was supposed to be a normal Friday winding-down paddle from Fish Hoek to Roman Rock lighthouse and back.

Five paddlers were bunched together about 30m from the catwalk near Sunny Cove when a Great White shark attacked the ski closest to shore. 

For those planning a long weekend in Plettenberg Bay (South Africa), take note of the following warning, published on News24:

Great Whites patrolling Plett

13/04/2006 19:46 - (SA)

Cape Town -Great White sharks appear to be flocking to Plettenberg Bay along with the Easter holidaymakers, according to the National Sea Rescue Institute.

Station commander Ray Farnham said on Thursday the bay was experiencing "a visible presence of Great White sharks in what we believe may be greater-than-normal numbers".