Shark Encounters

I've seen a couple sharks over the years nothing too big though i saw a really small shark of some sort swim like right next to my foot in the shorebreak and that was enough to spook me out... but last sunday on that swell that turned out bigger than it was supposed to be... my buddy caught a wave in and i was waiting for a wave and i feel a big thud on the back of my board... It hit pretty hard I have no idea what it was... my first impression was a shark so i paddled like a madman into shore... but i never saw a fin or anything so im thinkin maybe it was a seal messin around with me I saw one a couple weeks ago on the same beach... who knows

 

Back when Askin's Creek south of Avon NC used to break early 2000s, paddled out leashless on a bumpy waist high day (think it was around labor day). After catching a few, I was on the paddle back out with my brother some yards in front of me and a wave peaking a few yards beyond him (anyone who surfed there back then knows the waves broke a ways out). I see him turn around with a horrible expression on his face and shout an expletive. In the wave, mere feet from him, cruising, is a shark. How big? Big enough to eat me or at least some of me. My brother spins around bellys it in the whitewater to the beach. I catch the reform, pearl, lose my board, and make the most terrifying 25 yard swim of my life. Swear to god the next day a vacationing Russian couple are attacked maybe two miles to the north, killing the dude and leaving the chick legless. Not saying it was the same one but I'm sure you can check my facts with a google search of shark attacks in Hatteras.

 

Yeah could've been one of them too... i feel like seals and dolphins are just out there to mess around with you... trying to freak you out or in turn just trying to play around with you. both pretty sick animals and it makes a surf session that much sicker when you have some sea creature buddies out there in the lineup with you at least as long as its not the man in the grey suit

 

There's an article on CCN.com about that. Man that boardless swim to shore must have been torturous for you.

 

It sucked. I was trying not to swim all crazy cuz thats what they are attracted to but at the same time I had to get the frick out of there. My heart was pounding for sure. Weird thing is the same day or a day later in my normal surf spot of Sandbridge VA a kid got bit and died. I can't make this stuff up. Google search it.

 

Never encountered any charks back in OC MD growing up. I was only in the water ever so often back then though. Mostly summer...

But in 8 years in San Diego, here are my encounters

Surfing the boat ramp reefs on the north end of Sunset cliffs. The break was empty so me and my friend walked out on across the reef to paddle out. There was about 2 feet of water on the reefs, a low to mid tide. As we walked out, a guy up on the cliff yelled down at us. We looked up and he was pointing. It took us a second, but then we looked over about 10 yards to our left, where the reef drops off and its about 5 feet deep, and there were, no sh**, about 20 dorsal fins in the water. This was about November, 2004 i think. It turned out to be about 20 Leopard sharks, feeding on something on the reef. The sizes ranged from about 3 feet to the largest begin about 7 feet. My friend and I ran back off the reef for a minute, but after talking it over and discussing how Leopard sharks are bottom feeders, that have mouths on the bottoms and can't really hard us, so we paddled out, right in the middle of the pack and surfed for a couple hours. I had no bumps or encounters.

Surfing a spot alone in 2005, in the spring and after a 2 hours session, I got out and there was a lifeguard up on the ridge and he told me they cleared all the reef breaks a mile down from me because they spotted a 15-18ft white shark inside the kelp beds. That freaked me out, cause it was murky that day, and anyone who has surfed sunset cliffs in SD knows that you paddle about 1/2 mile out to the lineup. No way in but a slow, terrible paddle. But i never saw ****...

Numerous times, I have seen fisherman pull sharks up on their big line off of the OB fishing pier. They have dragged 8 ft makos in before in July. There are still pretty small, but Makos are crazy and they bite everything. Cameras. Lights. Boards. Whatever... Never had any run ins though....

My friend and I were surfing in La Jolla 2 years ago when the swimmer got killed by the white shark about 5 miles North of us. Again, once we heard the news, we were a bit creeped out.

Walking out on a reef on the cliffs and a 4-5 foot little reef shark ended up swimming down under my legs, and right as he did that, the tide pulled out, and his body got stuck on the reef. It started snapping and flailing on the reef. It got super aggressive, but once the water rinsed back over it, and it had some water to swim, it swam away. It was small, but I grabbed my friends arm like a little ***** when it happened. Just locked up immediately.

But thats it. Nothing major, just see a bunch of little one.

Ohh, at an empty beach break deep down in Baja, we pull up to surf, and there is a Giant seal body on the shore with its head bitten off by a shark with a huge jaw. The thing was shredded. As soon as we paddled out, we were surrounded by dolphins. Seeing the shredded seal and all the dolphins made me super nervous the rest of the trip.

 

I agree with you completely. I think its funny when surfers all say stuff like, "Sharks don't scare me" Or, when its your time, its your time.... And yes, that is kind of true, but not really.

I mean, its like the statistics of Plane crashes. Yeah, its 1 in a million, but that changes if you fly on business everyday and have to be in planes more.

Lighting statistics. Since it doesn't rain where I live, I definately wont get struck by lighting, so with me being included in these random statistics, that make those of you living in maryland like 20 times more likely to get stuck than me.

So, shark attacks stats are based of BS. About how many people live in the nation or something, when less that 1% of that population will put their toes in the ocean even ONCE that year, much less spend a couple of hours in the surf everyday.

All im saying is, that we increase our risk of injury/life loss ten fold by surfing. People won't get bit by sharks cause they arent in the water.

I mean, if I added up all the hours ive spent in the pacific, im shocked i havent seen 200 great whites you know.... Its a weird numbers game, that we all gamble with. So ANYTHING we can do to decrease the risk should be welcomed by surfers.

 

Ocmd

Ive been bumped and knocked off my board in Ocean City, MD. It was merky water and never saw anything but a quick shadow. The bump was real hard and made me dump over. My buddy was with me and he saw me get hit...we both got out REAL quick!

Other than that I've caught some sand sharks and brown sharks right off the beach but nothing over 3 foot.

I did see a 5-6 foot brown shark moving real slow just below the water about 10-15 feet away around 46th st. one evening. Thought it was a skate at first but saw its figure in a approaching wave...they're out there!

 

Brown shark actually hit me with its dorsal fin about seven years ago... it was a bit scary but honestly I don't really fear sharks... I definitely don't look like a seal on my board, especially with the bottom graphic. granted sharks aren't exactly things I wanna hang out with every session, but meh.

 

And in America we have more coastline than most other countries, so our odds are increased. I think the hypothetical odds in the US are like 1 in 10M.

 

did a shark dive in cape town last week....saw some good sized shark, an annihilated a camera...

only other encounter was Frisco pier when I lived there in2007, 2 bullsharks about 8 ft circling around a crowded line up. got out and moved up to buxton for the day.

 

I was surfing north end of indian river inlet about 2 years ago and the people next to me were pointing at something right near me, I looked down into the water and there was about a 6 footer sitting right next to me, I literally could have reached over and touched it, luckily I remained completely calm and paddled away from it...


and one other time at 48th street, OC ...I saw a couple fins and thought it was just a s couple small sansharks, it was really foggy that day, but later on when I was getting out of the water I talked to a guy who had gotten pretty close to it and said it was about a 7 foot shark

I'm really not even sure what kind of shark either were, but I'm sure they're always there, which really doesn't bother me, unless of course it's an aggro bull and I'm in his territory...

one more tidbit, the kitesurfer who got attacked and died yesterday in Stewart, Florida (not to mention the fact that Florida has the highest number of shark attacks than anywhere else in the world) probably should have heeded warnings, I just saw a news report a couple days ago about the overwhelming numbers of sharks in the water down there, and I guess if your the unlucky guy or girl who ends up in the water above thousands of sharks, your probably gonna get attacked...that's my 2 cents.

 

i worked on the cocoa beach pier for about a year. i saw about 6 or 7 bull sharks caught right there from the beach. most were about 4-5 ft long. big jaws. i caught a baby hammerhead surf fishing there one time.

 

lets see, first, that sounds like me and my brother in LBI in the first post, it was a couple years ago and we were out late one evening right at the end of a jetty, i was actually taking him surfing for his first time, he graduated from sponging, and about 25ft from us we clearly saw a 6-8ft brown shark, that was both our first time seeing one while we were out...first time surfing and seeing a shark was a good first impression for him. we paddled in, i watched it swim south and i went back in.

Assatuege, some sorta 4 footer jumped out about 5 ft from me,
another time me and mb 5 friends were out and about 20ft from us was alot of splashing and we could see a big tail flying around, we bunched together for a lil till we got some balls and forgot about it.
another time, just saw a fin about 25ft from me, didnt even bother me at this point

Has anyone heard about some guy losing his foot in LBI this past summer? one of my lil bros friends witnessed it but i rele dont believe him cause hes only 12. supposedly a school of blues came in being chased by a shark, the guards called people outta the water but the surfer stayed and ended up getting pulled under and they had to drag him to shore. the rest of the week the guards always called everyone out of the water when the blues were around...but i did hear about the attack till after the matter

 

I was in LBI all summer and there were a couple times in august when huge schools of blues swam in and out of us. . . thank god they were just the little guys but the guards didn't pull us out so maybe it happened somewhere up north

 

Same thing happened with me in LBI, except i did see a fin once.

 

Im gonna sound crazy but **** it... I stopped surfing 48th St, OCMD for awhile because the crowds pissed me off but recently since november every other time I surf there I see the same shark. That bastard knows its me and loves to mess with me. I respect that shark.

 

I believe it happened up near love ladies, mb a lil south, but somewhere up there, i at the time was in Brant beach