Youngbreezy said..
I would imagine a small shark would be scared of a sup that was bigger than it but the large gw's don't seem to be afraid of many things. There's plenty of footage online of them munching on boat props, even one crazy one where the shark starts biting chunks out of the side of a rib. I also have a friend who had a close encounter with one whilst he was on a jet ski, he said the shark was not afraid of the ski in the slightest.
If one of these monsters really wanted to eat you there would be very little short of a medium sized boat that would stop it but I do definitely feel safer on a sup. The year that I bought my first sup was the same year as there was about 6 attacks in 5months in WA and it has been a big factor in me choosing to stay with sups.
I grew up surfing around the Margaret river area and we would often surf til after sunset. In those days ( late 90's) attacks were very rare and great white sightings were not at all common in the area. Now sightings are numerous and there is around 1 fatal attack per year statewide.
Today was a day where if I had only had a prone surfboard I definitely would not have gone in the water. It was overcast, murky choppy, the spot we were surfing has a memorial to a recent victim of shark attack. The surf was too crappy and the conditions too spooky for me to have been tempted to dangle my bits in the water there.
It seems like most of the attacks are inquisitive bites where the shark is not trying to eat the person it's just giving a test bite which unfortunately is often deadly.
I think with a sup you have a much better chance of surviving this kind of attack ( if you were standing up on the board of course) it would be likely that the shark would bite fiberglass first and may hopefully be put off by this. At least being up out of the water and having a big whacking stick gives you an advantage plus there is usually a few prone surfers in the water and let's face it if a shark feels like having a go it's gonna pick a prone surfer first
The shark that attacked Tadarshi (Shelly beach Ballina)wasn't inquisitive,it was there to attack.It swam under at least 20 plus surfers to hit him,reasons.They say he was laying across his board, not straddling,or laying prone,talking to his mates.he died,Matty Lee same,swam under other surfers to attack him,he was riding an esky lid.They are an ambush predator, that stalk their prey,and have a single thought,eat and live.Both theses guys,according to the "experts" looked like prey,lived in Ballina for 50 plus years ,never seen a seal up this way yet.
Reasons for GW's being in close and the amount of attacks and interaction with humans are varied,some say global warming,others say we are destroying the the lower food chain with over fishing,others increase in whale population,more people in the water,whales learning that they won't be hunted are now closer to shore and the predators follow,to swim with the prevailing current.Even a thought saying sharks are learning to associate boats and humans with food.Feed whites,so they can photograph them and be YouTube heroes.The tourist industry built around cage diving at Neptune reef.Interesting a pod of Orcas killed a White at Neptune,and the whites disappeared for months.
Up until 5yrs ago no one had seen a GW around the North Coast,but that's when the trawlers started to decline,commercial fishing was less viable.Yes, the trawlermen kept the sharks in tow by killing a few,sorry if I offended anyone but that's the hard facts.
We need to protect humans.
