NNNNnnnnooooooo!!!!

My friends who love to cage dive with the great whites say they convert from a predominantly fish diet to seals and kayakers when they are about 1000 pounds and several years old.
They have some horrifying stories....grin
Just have to hope that there are enough pinnepeds to keep them content...there sure are plenty around here.
So how does one decorate the bottom of a yak so that something as primative as a GW can tell it ain't a seal?
My shark diving friend pointed to my yellow yak and said..." We call that Yum-yum yellow".

How many kayakers have been attacked by GWs?

2 maybe?

I'm not worried.

MolBasser

I heard painting poisonous sea snakes on the bottom of the yak can help avoid unfriendly fish, but this might be B.S. Still, wouldn't hurt to try.

Why not paint an ice hockey contract on your hull?  That seems to keep the Sharks away from San Jose...

 

There's a company that sells zebra stripe decals for the bottoms of surfboards because sharks, appearantly, don't eat fish with stripes.  Their reasoning is based on attemps to feed sharks striped sacks of food vs non-striped, and the fact that remoras and pilot fish (than hang out with sharks) are all striped.  It seems that black and white stripes may be the sharks gang colors.  

Some people think that maybe sharks are afraid of sea snakes, which is why they don't like stripes, but it's probably more because stripes are a warning color in the ocean that suggests something stings or is poisonous or something.  Elric painted striped snakes on the bottom of his yak, and hasn't been attacked yet, but I don't think we'll ever collect enough data on this to say anything much about it.  It makes sense to have a garish and contrasting paint job to imitate poisonous fish - can't hurt.

I've thought about puting strips of white tape on my blue fins for freediving, but I'm not going to paint my wetsuit like a prison jumper.

I hear Bill is willing to paddle around Ano Nuevo with the zebra stripes painted on the bottom of his yak. And I will be willing to volunteer to keep an eye on him from shore  

Bill? let me know what time to meet you at Ano Nuevo. I'll bring my binocs...and some bananas for luck  

Elric painted striped snakes on the bottom of his yak, and hasn't been attacked yet, but I don't think we'll ever collect enough data on this to say anything much about it

In order to collect more data, we should have Elric paddle around Stinson Beach or Ano Neuevo for the next 100 days or so.  If he doesn't get chomped we may be on to something.  If he does, we'll know it's BS.

Elric, what do you say?  For the sake of science...  

I'm trying to get out this weekend.  I'll be on my Yum Yum yellow T120.

interesting info....

http://seakayaker.tripod.com/sharks.htm

Thanks, but no thanks,
Which reminds me, I should post my "Sea Snake" kayak painting tutorial. The 100% Great White deterrant.

interesting info....

http://seakayaker.tripod.com/sharks.htm

Thanks Joel, but I really wished I didn't just read that.  

Hmmm, let's see, which of these applied last fall.

5 Don't sit still on the water for too long in shark territory
      -I was jigging, guess I should have been trolling

6 Size does matter; kayaks should be 15' or longer
    - at 11' my Caper isn't nearly big enough

7 Do Not fish from your kayak or paddle or swim where others are fishing
    - I was not only fishing, I was catching

8 A shark tends to attack in the same place-- there may be more attacks during the Fall 8-15 thru 11-15
     - I did a lot of fishing between August and the close of rockfish

13 Look out for great whites in this genaral area, "The Red Triangle" from Bodega Bay out to the Faralones Islands down to Santa Cruz. And in these areas, in particular, the Entrance to Tomales Bay, Ano Nuevo, Faralones Islands, Davenport and Salmon Creek which is just North of Bodega Bay
     - I fished out of Bodega Bay and a bit north on the Sonoma Coast (~2 miles from Salmon Creek)


But given that I also surf at Salmon Creek, I'm thinking that the kayak fishing might still be the safer of the two and maybe I should just drop the surfing and stick to the fishing this year.

I feel safer already!


Brian

Unfortunately, we all know "Mr. White" is always out there - after all, the ocean does belong to him (and he rules it) It would just be a matter of time when he will "introduce himself" to one of us. Let's just hope it will be a "friendly encounter"  

In the mean time, do whatever it takes to keep yourself safe out there - try not to paddle alone and if you can't find a paddle buddy - have a VHF radio handy - so you can use the antenna to poke his eyes out if he gives you any problems