Shark Attack @ Dillon Beach

Let's all be careful out there, now!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2006/12/10/shark10.DTL

Another reason I no longer surf the Sonoma/Marin coast.   Yet, I still paddle around in a sit-on-top kayak with an often bloddy deck.    Hmmm, I really need to rethink my logic.

How much displacement does a surfboard have?  It seems a little far fetched to me that a medium sized great white would pull it down 15' unless it jumped into the air and attacked from above. 

How much displacement does a surfboard have?  It seems a little far fetched to me that a medium sized great white would pull it down 15' unless it jumped into the air and attacked from above. 

Hmmm..... Let's say it was a seven ft board, about 18 in. wide and 2.75 in. thick.  That's 7.0' * 1.5' * .2' = 2.1 cubic feet.

Seems like it would be pretty easy for 15' fish to pull down a little over 2 foot cube.  I ride boards that are generally bigger than that and I can duck dive them down 2 feet or so.  I weigh about 200 (wish I didn't).

and the guy was still on it...

I was surfing a 7' board at ocean beach SF and got pinned to the bottom on my board by a wave for a couple seconds.

(hollow waves that day).

shark weighing a couple thousand pounds would have no issue with board and guy!

GW's can do some amazing stuff!
Z


Down boy!!!

Sorry to make light of the subject...but I saw this picture and just had to post it. Too funny!
...and, to think, people complain about SEALS stealing their fish...

PK

So that's 134lb, plus maybe 15lb bouyancy of the surfer.  So about 150lb total.  That's nearly 10% of the shark's weight since a 14' shark is ~2000lbs - and it's at the shark's nose where it has no leverage to point down and swim.

I can't say it's impossible, but it does seem a bit dubious. 

Ah, come on.  Didn't Jaws take down several empty kegs with no problem.  Okay, so they were harpooned into him, but still that has to be more buoyancy than a surfer and his board. 

...it's a scary thought that this particular surfer had a run-in with the land lord FOUR TIMES    - in 30 years of surfing 

I wish someone would calculate the real odds of being attached by a shark.

I've seen the odds quoted at something like 1 in 8 million which seems to be based on the number of attacks per year in the US divided by the entire population of the United States.   Considering that probably half of all Americans have never even stepped foot in the ocean, should they really be counted?

What we need is locality and activity based risk assessment.  For a given hours worth of surfing on the Sonoma Coast, what are the odds of getting attacked by a Great White?  I'm guessing it's far lower than one in eight million.  It seems every year someone around here gets attacked.  There have been at least 4 attacks in the 3 years I've lived here (near Bodega Bay).  I'm guessing that on any given day there are no more than 50 surfers in the water around here.  And probably only half the year is surfable (just don't tell that to Dale Webster). So my first guess is that the odds of getting attacked if you surf the Sonoma Coast are   1 in  50 x (0.5 x 365) =  1 in 9125 per surfing session.  Still pretty slim, but not astronomical.

Okay, maybe these thoughts should have been saved for the "official great white thread"

I think along the same lines Bsteves.  I'm not a fan of the shark stats that always surface when someone gets bit. The other one that bugs me is the most attacks occur in 4 feet of water stat......I'd like for someone to take the florida and gulf coast out of that equation.  Around here I think it'd be closer to 10'   

Think about it, it seems that you hear of one attack a year around here. Now divide that into the number of surfers trips to surf and you have a more meaningful idea of the risk. The scary part is that the guy talked about 3 other attacks where there wasn't any injury. That brings to mind, how many more attacks are there that aren't reported? Now, consider that in the last ten years I have only heard of one person dying.

So, when push comes to shove, people don't die hardly at all and usually don't suffer any lasting injuries. On the other hand, you gotto know that if you paddle, swim or surf you have most likely been checked out by a great white on more than one occasion.

My take on it is, once a year a shark that is young and stupid decides to try a surfer for a snack. The shark doesn't like the taste so he lets go. Or scenario two, it's a time of year territorial sort of thing. The attacks mostly happen in the last third of the year.

i'm just glad bsteves realizes this should be in the GWS thread...

 

the odds are the odds. I think you should surf tho. skinny guys get spit out first!

J