My stories about sharks...

I'm from France, and in that country, the most dangerous animal that you can meet in the water is a shrimp. I'm in Australia, Scarborough, now since 11 months, and I saw sharks several times.
My first sharks I saw them because I was on a boat from Perth to Darwin. Great trip ! We were fishing all day long, catching big maqerels or tuna. But our first day on Denham, I went kiting all day long on the flat water off shark bay, and at the end of the day, when I went back on the boat, they had caught 3 sharks. 2 where pretty little, 1m, but the last one where almost 3m long.. I think my pant remember that story...
We saw a lot of shark during that trip, especialy in the kimberley. Just point a spot on the water, and a baby shark will for sure swim around the boat ! But we also saw crocs, box jellyfish, snakes... sharks were not the only beasty boys there !!! Even in Darwin, Kitesurfin on the North Beach with the vinegar on the beach in case of a jellyfish. Scary !!

But the scariest day for me in australia was very far from Darwin.

It was in Scarborough, Perth, WA.

It was at dog beach, on a sunset session, and my last 5 minutes. I was 300m from the shore, and I spotted a fin and a tailfin just coming in front of me. I was soooooo scared that I did one of my most powerfull transition and after that I've never went back so fast to the beach ! I even totaly forgot to stop my run when I arrived on the beach, and hit it a bit hard ! :)
Compare to the other sharks that I saw, this one was in fact pretty small. Around 2,5m, but the thing is that I was in the water too... brrrrrr !! Sharkie was probably as scared as me, and very quiet at this moment, enjoying the sunset like me !!

Not a big story, but enough for me !

Huey

kiting scabs yesterday
4-5ft hammerhead
dont know who got bigger fright

I've got a shark shield. Looking at it scientifically I don't think that adds up at all. There wouldn't be anything interesting (food like) about a single pulse every half second. The signal drops off very quickly (to the power of 3 with distance) and so wouldn't be relevant. Smell in the water is going to be what drives a shark, and perhaps when he gets closer he would use his eyes if the water was clear. Finally his snout would be used to pick up weak electrical signals when he's very close, within metres of you.

I've still got a healthy scheptacism about the shield but I don't for a second think it would attract a shark. That's just being superstitious.
Graeme

I thought I had seen this questioned answered somewhere. I found it on the www.sharkshield.com FAQ. It makes sense to me.

5. Does the Shark Shield attract sharks?

No! Surprisingly, this is a question SeaChange is sometimes asked, due to some common misconceptions being quoted. Shark Shield™ does not "attract" sharks - it deters them. An explanation follows.
All free swimming sharks rely on various highly developed senses to detect and track their prey. In order of distance, the senses triggered are smell, sound, sight and at very close distances only, electrical impulses.

Smell - a long range sense
Sharks will follow a scent trail over considerable distances. Blood, body fluids and secretions from shell fish may deposit a trail several kilometres from the source.
Sound - a long range sense
Low frequency vibrations travel hundreds of metres through the water and are known to attract sharks. Typical sounds might be struggling fish or humans swimming.
Sight - a long range sense
Most of the sharks that pose a threat to us have excellent eyesight and can readily track prey by sight, even in low light.
Electrical impulses - used at very close range only
A particularly unique sense used by sharks at close quarters, consists of hundreds of tiny gel filled pores around the snout. These are known as Ampullae of Lorenzini and are used to pick up the electrical signals emitted by the nerve impulses from living creatures. When a shark closes in for an attack, a protective membrane pulls back over its eyes rendering it temporarily blind. For the few seconds this may take, the shark is able to track it's prey by the utilisation of its Ampullae of Lorenzini.
Following the laws of Physics, the electrical signal from the Shark Shield™ decays rapidly in the water. A shark is therefore only attracted to the source by it's long distance senses, being scent and sound - not by the Shark Shield™.

When a shark is in an investigtive mode, the electrical field from the Shark Shield™ presents an unfamiliar and unpleasant pulsing sensation. The unique wave form emitted from the Shark Shield™ is designed to overload the shark's central nervous system and inflict discomfort as it approaches at close range in its investigative mode.

The electrical field generated by the Shark Shield™ does not replicate that given off by a fish or seal and hence it is not recognised by a shark, as a desirable or attractive stimulus.

The testing programmes we conduct are extremely expensive to operate and as such it is vitally important to maximise shark visitation to the site. Over many years of field testing the original Shark POD, and later the Shark Shield™, we have always had to stimulate the sharks long distance senses by using blood and offal to attract the sharks and carry out testing, because the Shark Shield™ field does not attract them.

The testing programmes, and subsequent reports from users of this technology, proves the Shark Shield™ deters sharks - it clearly does not attract them.
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6. If I am wearing a unit, but my buddy/mate is not, is he/she more prone to attack?

Anyone not wearing a Shark Shield™ is at more risk of being attacked than somebody who is wearing a unit.
However the fact that one person is wearing a unit does not mean that those around him/her are placed at greater risk than if nobody in the group was wearing a unit. THE UNIT DOES NOT ATTRACT SHARKS.
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Yes, a reasonable theory.
Graeme

The chances of shark attack are so rare that all this hysteria is a bit over the top.
Have surfed in WA and Indo for many years seen big sharks(tigers, makos,oceanic whitetips), had serious gashes, blood everywhere from coral beatings, nothing, kept surfing no worries. Gone swimming off the the back of prawn trawlers in the Gulf of Carpentaria after finishing a night of fishing, had white tips swim 3m behind me and not do ****.
Swam 200 miles offshore on tuna longline trawlers, blood and guts everywhere, peace and quiet.
Reserve your paranoia for something serious. Humans taste like ****, sharks know this and keep away from us the majority of the time, only sick or injured sharks are likely to waste their time with some unfortunate soul. kite with confidence in the knowledge that there are tastier treats in the ocean and we are quite insignificant compared to what's out there.
happy boosting[}:)]

I have these two mates who are dive buddies. One of them said a while back that he said he only carries a knife as shark protection so if a shark comes too close he'll simply stab his mate and swim off. When they said they saw a shark at Rottnest a few weeks ago, I thought they were lying because they were both still alive. It turned out they did see a shark, but he forgot to pack his knife.

Yeah, it never sounds as good coming from someone else. They were pretty excited about it at the time so maybe one of them can tell the real story (without the knife bit)

i was kiting stradbroke island last wednesday with two mates, when a shark launched itself at my mate knocking him clean off his board then landing on top of him before taking off! pretty scary stuff! see thursdays bulletin pg 5 for the full story.....

For real Duke? Is there a story online?

Hi All,
Don't you know that sharks don't like kitesurfers?
They find them too stringy!

Watch out for falling sharks!!!!

www.seabreeze.com.au/gallery/gallery.asp?imageid=1321

dude, come to south australia, youre safe, i would worry about driving down to the beach

ADVICE AS I SEE IT!
Always kite with a mate and carry a knife. That way you can cut your mate, turn him into chum and you'll stand a much better of surviving chance as the shark will have had its meal

ahh, statistics, we can prove anything.
do you know how many people die from trying to walk on the sun?
even if 100 people tryed it the chances of dying would still be less than being killed by a champagne cork so go for it.
greg