I am interested in others experiences with shark encounters while surfing. Here are some of mine... 1. A sandbar shark got within one foot of me while sitting on my board over the sand bar waiting for a wave at a common break in Assateague Island, VA. Scared the s*** out of me. If anyone knows Assateague you have no push back to beach, just open swim between sandbar and beach. 2. I saw a Macho cutting through the surf from a good distance on a clear day. I was able to see the teeth and nose to tail, because water was so clear. Once again I was surfing Assateague Island, VA. 3. I witnessed two surfs get scarred out of the water at surf break in Long Beach Island, NJ. I saw a 6-8ft shark hanging around the jetty right were those guys were surfing. 4. I had another scare in Costa Rica. I was surfing Playa Langosta river mouth in great conditions with murky water. A shark (Believed to be a Silky Shark) broke the surface just a few feet away. I was able to get a good clear look of the shark. He was about 6 foot. i jumped on the very next wave and head straight to the beach. Other surfers were out and nobody was attacked. I did paddle back out after 15minutes. I spoke the others in the water and they noticed the sharks in the area, but didn't bother them. They are from Florida. Thank god sharks in Costa are well feed without the need of a surfer to add to there menu.
I saw a brown shark in OCNJ, about 5-6ft long, like 8 years ago. That was it and that's enough for me, thank you.
Saw a 6-8 ft shark at mansaquan... I don't know what kind of shark it was but it swam right underneath me... kinda sketchy
Surf Assateague all the time never seen one there. Just got back from CR saw one jump out of the water while surfing the Tamrindo rivermouth. It jumped about 4 feet out of the water spinning like a top but it was a little guy like 4 ft didnt worry me too much. Surfed the langosta rivermouth daily also but didnt see any there either. The little guys dont bother me never seen a big one thankfully. although surfed Pacifica in CA a few times and noticed everytime a dolphin pod would swim by the whole pack of surfers would paddle into shallower water. That was very sketchy as the sharks there eat you whole but aparently that beach isn't visited too often by whites like the other breaks in the area.
Never really experienced a good shark encounter while surfing, just the mysterious stuff that rubs up against your legs in the murky water of southern Delaware. I have experienced some 3-4 foot rockfish at the naval jetty and inlet though. One time I was sailing about 2 miles off, decided to take a dip, and 3 7ft makos swam about 6 ft. under me, now that was a scare!
I got scared out of the water in Sana Monica by a pod of porpoises, I though it was a great white with huge black fin coming straight at me.
Checkout Jackass II to see Steve-O get taged by a Mako. Mako's are fast as hell and look threating with those teeth.
when i went to hunington beach i was surfing south of the pier when all of a sudden i saw this giant fin pop out. i was so freaked out i took the next wave in. I looked out and i saw what looked like a 8ft shark go up the wave that was starting to break. It looked to be a possible great white but im not too sure on what it was.
Surfed Fort Point in CA years ago and a guy was taking pics. When we got out he was showing his pics and another surfer who was a marine biologist pointed at one and said' there's a great white right there'!
I lived in Northern Florida for a while and never saw a shark. Surfed Villano Beach Inlet, Flagler Beach, Spanish House, Sebastion Inlet, and Coco Beach.
seen many sharks over the years but the two that stand out are ocmd inlet about 10 yrs ago saw a little sand shark 3' coming straight at me and he banged right into my leg and just kept going - I know thats little but it scared me 31st ocmd I saw what I thought was a good size shark w about a 1' dorsal and a smaller shark appr. 6' behind it then it hit the surface and was one big shark I'd estimate 10'-12'+ I stayed out of the water the rest of the day.
Nice... Makes you wonder what's out there after hearing places like Cap Cod, MA have had many recent sightings on Great Whites. Several years ago one got stuck in a cove up there in Cape Cod.
The only thing I ever been attacked by are jelly fish. I hate that time of the year, summer jellies on the east coast.
I had a 3 1/2 to 4 foot black tip swim directly under my board so close I could have touched it. That was spooky. I've seen plenty of sharks in the water throughout the years but never that close. Florida is the worst for sharks in my book although I have not heard about many attacks there. I try to stay away from fishing spots but thats tough because some of the best breaks are close to jettys. I think they are more afraid of us that we are of them (except for great whites). Ha-Ha
Hey, when your numbers up - its up. In a car, plane, sittin in your living room - your done. Have fun.
But as humans, we try to control as much as possible. We know death is inevitable but we try to avoid dying in unpleasant ways (e.g. shark attacks). Avoiding death is what got us to the top of the evolutionary line, but yeah - when you're done you're done.
saw a handful of sharks when I lived in Central Florida for a bit... I have never seem a shark in the Mid Atlantic, and its probably because our waters tend to be darker and harder to see whats underneath the surface.
Surfing at an outer sandbar solo 200yd+ paddle the sat. night before BILL in SNJ. Saw a Head streaming in the water right at me, then noticed the 6 in dorsal(deff shark) and a bigger tail fin 5 ft+ behind it. Went straight down underneath me before it ran into me, caught the next wave in. Probaly a sand/dusky shark. Have seen 10+ ft threashers breaking water for bunker while fishing within a mile of the beach. While running out early morning on a fishing trip, about 5 miles out had a 10 ft mako jump clearly out of the water, there were tons of bluefish in the area.
I was chased out of the water by a 8 ft bull shark on the north side of Frisco Pier. I went up on the pier to get an elevated view and saw it swimming around...all of the fisherman said it had been circling the sandbar the entire morning. The waves were **** anyways...
