Official GWS Thread

Don't like humans as food eh? Well, all I can say then is they are trying pretty hard to develop an acquired taste for it

I think they're more along the lines of kicking ass than eating. If they wanted to eat us they easily could. They're constantly givin' that one haymaker and then splittin' from the scene.    think the title of the landlord says it all.. 

Z

Long Range fishing it takes hours for the sharks to find you.  I am talking about a ton of blood in the water.  The seal  and seal lion are smarter.  Just like up here with salmon boats the just sit and wait.

I do bleed my salmon and rockcod (Lings & Cabbies).  But, keep them on deck and pour water on them.

Only guys that get eaten are the surfers (pretending to be seals).

Ken kickfish

Ken, at least 3 kayaks have been attacked, 2 deaths. I agree that us surfers are the main course tho! but kayaks are on the specialty menu at least.

J

If you look at the dead people.  I think they were diving off the yaks and looking like seals.  The Great White takes your head off first and then asked ?.

Ken kickfish

Ken, at least 3 kayaks have been attacked, 2 deaths. I agree that us surfers are the main course tho! but kayaks are on the specialty menu at least.

J

John,

Where are you getting that information? Please document.  I'm only aware of 2 attacks on kayaks here in Northern California. No injuries to either party. Both occured in the mid-90's. Both were members of BASK.  And of course, both were paddling short boats for that extra seal-look-alike silhouette.

Scott

From (a pretty decent but not infallible) memory 2 attacks in N. cal. jenner and ano. no dead.

1 attack in malibu. 2 dead. well, one confirmed and one missing.  that is so cal true, but so what?

it's a kayak, it's a shark.

and actually there is the 1995 attack on the woman from sacrmento that occurred in la jolla. (right?)

wait a second... there is another non-fatal nor kal attack.

bottom line, death, kayaks and sharks. it happens.

J

it's a kayak, it's a shark.

So in that case, why not include incidents in Texas and Florida. Or international attacks for that matter? How about that really disturbing recent incident in NZ? That's the one that bugs me the most. Of course, the worst that happened to the kayaker there was that he literally shat himself. And is really nervous when on the water...

A more realistic bottom line: death, kayakers, car accidents. statistically, it happens a lot more often than fatal shark attacks.

Regards,
Scott "friends don't let friends paddle chumboats" Thornley

I would include So-cal because the exact same shark that nails somebody there could nail somebody up here.

Now, including texas and florida seems a little absurd?

scott, this is the GWS thread, not the car wreck thread!

I sense denial...   

John,

There is evidence that the Great White Shark will migrate thousands of miles:

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2002/january9/sharks-19.html

So forget TX and FL, but you should include Hawaiian and Central American attacks don't you think? Perhaps the whole of the Pacific? I'd not be astonished to find that A GWS made it from California to Australia, or vice versa.

You sense denial, I sense an inflated sense of risk. There are a total of 6 California attacks since kayakers took to the waters off of California. There are how many millons of kayaker hours in the ocean in that period?

On an emotional level the GW is scary, formidible, awesome even. But statistically they are inconsequential. Paddle a long kayak, don't leave a big scent trail, don't worry about the Landlord.


Regards,
Scott

Hey Ken didn't even know about the existing attacks. so his sense of risk might have been a little low. good thing he got that 16 foot boat!

I did see that about the travelling gw, from australia to south africa, but that's not texas to california, 

I'm sensing backpedalling denial now,  . And I am sensing blood,  .

I like to paddle a big kayak with lures while my companion uses a shorter kayak and bait. and I like to worry, I find it is one of my core competencies!

last two times out at BH I was solo, I was worrying a little but it made it more fun. was that just a wind wave cresting or did I just see
a big fat fin?   

J

....let's just be thankful that GW's are not pack hunters (correct me if I'm wrong here) like Orcas, Wolves and Stripers  Imagine going out to Bean Hollow on a nice flat day with your buddies....catching Lings, Halibut and assorted rockfish  And then an hour later, you find yourselves surrounded by a pack of hungry GW's. The GW's are now "hearding" you and you friends out further into deeper water  .......

....now you'll feel what's it like to be a minnow in Lake Mendocino 

....let's just be thankful that GW's are not pack hunters (correct me if I'm wrong here)

There's only been one account on video that I know of. Here's the link: http://www.surfermag.com/av/shrkatt/
This guy is so lucky to walk away from this one! Not just one but two pissed GW's.

Z

....let's just be thankful that GW's are not pack hunters

I remember seeing a Discovery Channel program a few years ago that followed local group of pack hunting GW's in the South Pacific...Scared the bejesus out of me.

I think this is it at the bottom of the page

There is some live footage of a GWS attack on a woman swimming back to her vessel out in the deep ocean. They were college students out doing research in the deep and went for a swim. It's gruesome and will give you a major case of the heeby jeebies. The girl getting her legs chompped is not as terrifying as the blood curdling screams from the women standing next to guy filming. I don't remember where I saw it, maybe Disc Channel "Shark Week", or "Faces of Death"


Goosebumps just thinking about it!!

I think this is it at the bottom of the page

yep:

Wolves of the Sea: White Sharks

In the South Pacific Ocean lie the Chatham Islands, home to the great white shark. Thought to be lone hunters, great whites here are challenging convention: A pattern of local attacks suggests that the sharks are living and hunting in packs like wolves, a potential sign of an elaborate social structure and advanced intelligence. Wolves of the Sea: White Shark follows scientists and local divers as they investigate an apparent pack of mature males and try to uncover the true nature of the great white shark.

I wanna see ths show!!!!

Z