RE: Shark season

From: g olesek (g_olesek@yahoo.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Fri Aug 18 2000 - 01:13:04 PDT

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Message-ID: <20000818081304.15748.qmail@web1609.mail.yahoo.com-DeleteThis>
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2000 01:13:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: g olesek <g_olesek@yahoo.com-DeleteThis>
Subject: RE: Shark season
To: wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis
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Wind_Talk:

If you have serious concerns about sharks (that are
distracting you from concentrating on sailing) and/or
you do not consistently make your outside jibes, or
have problems jibing in strong, gusty wind, then you
probably should not sail the coast.

However, I think that drowning, broken gear or body
parts, and death from hypothermia (when you break down
far off shore) are much more serious and realistic
concerns. These problems, along with getting punched
out for a ROW violation should make the new coast
sailor pause more than the remote possibility of a
shark attack.

Check your gear, learn about the subtle ROW issues by
watching others wavesail, and learn how to read the
regional buoys. It is important to always know what
the swell is going to be doing during your session.
Like in HI, the swell in this part of the world can
come up very quickly. It might “look” head high when
you are rigging up, only to find out that it is triple
overhead an hour into your session. The beaches
around here can be very unpredictable and dangerous,
and it is not just because of the sharks.

I agree with Brad James; take a trip to the surf
museum in SC to look at the map of Nor Cal's greatest
hits. While some spots might have a higher frequency
of attacks, it shows that there have been hits in the
whole red-triangle area, including OB and HMB.

On the pee in the wetsuit issue, I have been told by
my Doctor friends that old blood platelets are passed
out in our urine. Another reason not to do it, but I
think that this is really not going to be the reason
anyone gets hit, especially while sailing. This might
be a more serious concern while surfing, hard to say.

While there have been few attacks in CA over the last
several years, the hits here are far less in frequency
and severity vs the tiger hits in HI.

I have seen, from the beach and bluff, several whites
in the water in the seven years I have been
surfing/sailing in Nor Cal. They are out there, all
year round, it is their beach... ;-0

This month's issue of Surfer magazine has a FAQ on the
subject and the online version has video footage of
the most recent hit in South Africa included with the
article.

http://www.surfermag.com/great_white.html

If you do not want to see this footage before
attempting to sail the coast this weekend, don't click
this URL... ;-)

The University of Florida keeps The International
Shark Attack File. A review of the statistics will
show that while there have been more attacks over the
past twenty year (mostly do to the increase in
population and the increase in rec water use) the
percentage of fatal attacks have continued to go down.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/ISAF/ISAF.htm

Also, check out the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation
which is based out of Nor Cal.

http://www.pelagic.org/

I saw the main scientist from the Pelagic Shark
Research Foundation speak at a HMB Surfrider meeting
last year, with slide show and video, quite
interesting.

Bottom line:

Do not surf/sail alone and surf/sail with people who
know basic first aid and CPR. If you do not know
these skills, take the Red Cross courses before
heading down to the beach. Be an asset, not a
liability...

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Next message: Eyes4Hire@aol.com-DeleteThis: "Re: Conditions/Sharks"
Previous message: Ed Scott: "Re: Conditions/Sharks"
Maybe in reply to: Tom von Alten: "Shark season"
Next in thread: Greg Harris: "Shark/wave rules madness!!"
Reply: Greg Harris: "Shark/wave rules madness!!"
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