Shark Villa

[stoneaxe]

PonoBill, your brother lives "Somewhere on Cape Cod Bay" so you must be aware of the rapidly expanding population of Great White's out here... there is even a "Great White" report now coming out of Chatham... they tag them and post really clear pics of them lingering at the surf line... sheesh, I'm glad I ride a SUP now... no more legs hanging in the water. Surfing my SUP, I don't think much about them, but when I am on a desolate paddle near inlets, I get sketched out sometimes, like when a big ole' bull seal glides by... just under the surface...

Scariest is when you're surrounded by seals and then they all suddenly disappear. Jody had a 16'er swim under his board close enough that he "could've poked it with his paddle" a few weeks after the 1st CCBC. I was at Whitecrest the following weekend in some very sweet waves very happy I didn't have my feet dangling like the rest of the crowd. Had to be 100 seals in the water that day too.

[freetobeme]

Ya boys I have to admit the recent surge in jaws activity here has made me super nervous during surf sessions...almost to the point its not enjoyable.  When proners are around that helps my mental game but i always sup away from them so im still an easy target or at leas thats what im thinking.  Hope my thinking changes over time or i may become a touring/racer only type of dude.  any jedi mind tricks?

BUT hey, thats what Rhode Island is for right 

[PonoBill]

That's easy, you're in far, far more danger driving to the beach, once you're in the water you're safe from nearly all the murderous stuff people do to each other. In relative terms sharks are friendly and harmless.

[SlatchJim]

Iceman,
You have unwittingly re-established stability as the most important physical characteristic in my next SUP purchase.  My insurance company would like to send you a thank you card.

[Easy Rider]

I read somewhere once that more people die each year from vending machines falling on them than do from Sharks.

[SlatchJim]

*puts the change back in his pocket and slowly walks back to his desk.

[PonoBill]

A little Google research--it must be true, it's on the web:

person's chance of getting attacked by a shark is 1 in 11.5 million, and a person's chance of getting killed by a shark is less than 1 in 264.1 million

» Odds of being killed by a dog - 1 in 700,000.

» Odds of dying while in the bath tub - 1 in 1 million.

» Odds of being killed by space debris - 1 in 5 billion.

» Odds of being killed by poisoning - 1 in 86,000.

» Odds of being killed by freezing - 1 in 3 million.

» Odds of being killed by lightening - 1 in 2 million.

» Odds of being killed in a car crash - 1 in 5,000.

» Odds of being killed in a tornado - 1 in 2 million.

» Odds of being killed by falling out of bed - 1 in 2 million.

» Odds of being killed in a plane crash -1 in 25 million.

» 13 people are killed each year by vending machine's falling on them.

One person per year is killed by sharks (average)
And most importantly
» 314 Americans had buttock lift surgery in 1994.

In reality our odds are much worse than those--the odds include everyone that lives in Ohio, for example. If the odds were recast including only people who spend more than five days a year in the ocean it would be much different, but still, even four of five fatalities per year for all the people in that smaller sample would still be fine odd. Watch out for those dogs though. I'm keeping a close eye on Sam--he's a deadly little bugger.

[SlatchJim]

Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

The real bad news is that there is nearly zero chance of being killed by a shark on land.  If you lift it out of the water, it could in theory, fall on you and squish you like a very dumb and unlucky bug.  So that means that the only actual chance of you being killed by a shark is while being in the water, which we all are.  Only a minute percentage of the populace goes near the ocean each year, so death by shark is orders of magnitude higher for us.

Now for the bright side.  Your odds of being killed by a dog, car crash, plane crash, falling vending machines or out of bed are damn near nil while a paddle is in your hand and a board and water are under your feet.  I will not mention irate machete wielding fathers because I choose to believe that to be a statistical anomaly.

[bts]

In the FWIW file, "some dude" did get his board bitten last year while SUPing out at White plains on Oahu.

3 bites in Hawaii last year was low.

12 international fatalities last year was a little high (ISAF stats)

[csx355]

If you really, really want to spook yourself this is an interesting place to spend a few minutes. 

http://sharkattackfile.info

[Beasho]

Please Do tell when anyone has been/is attacked on a SUP.  As one of my mentors opined "When it hits me, and I go flying, I figure as long as I don't land in teeth I am OK."  I have been investing in this theory for a while and am still OK.  That despite the fact that a local prone guy, Tim West, was hit, went flying and got a free tooth in his board.  Another guy to the South (Bean Hollow) was hit on two independent outings in his Kayak.  He failed to tell his wife after the first incident for fear she would outlaw his adventures.   

Last year a shark was cruising the line up at Mavericks.  I was out there a few days earlier fishing.  I'll ask Bill to re-run the odds when I am catching a Lingcod, on a squid, that pukes up an Octopus while I am standing on a board with a Red Vermillion in the bag between my feet.  At least I'll have the GoPro running and keep you posted. 

PS: If you are concerned about Sharks it helps to go out in rough conditions.  Your brain will be consumed with standing and you'll end your session thinking 'Wow that was dicey but I got a great workout and wasn't even worried.'

[pdxmike]

I'd worry if your dog asks you to take him to get something from a vending machine. 

Interesting way of looking at these statistics, Jim--a lot of "dangerous" activities seem a lot less so when you think of the more dangerous ones that you're avoiding when doing them.  Plus, there's still the reality that no matter what you're doing, you're almost certainly more likely to be killed driving there to do it. 

[SlatchJim]

Yea, I know I'm in trouble when my dog asks questions like...hey! Wait-right-there! You can talk?

Listen to me worry.  I officiate 'adult' mens basketball games where prison records are recorded on the contestants faces in tattoos.  Sharks? Pfffft.  The last thing I have to worry about is sharks.  Life is fatal.  Gotta enjoy it while it lasts.

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

all the more reason to  ride a sup.. I have seen 4 sharks in 46 years   3 however were in a 5 year span  near santa  cruz, at Manresa, 4   mile and  further north atescadero.   1 in mexico none in san diego.  the 1 in mexico was very large  15 plus feet. others 6-8.

However what scares me a re bull  sharks  Hello east coast, can you say  rivers too?

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

oh  one more thing when I was in Kauai years back they had a Polaroid photo of the tiger that reportedly chomped of Bethany's  (Last neme?? ) arm,  in the little video rental store in hanalei.  The thing was held by the tail nose touching the ground. two women in front of it the women  side by side were not as wide as  the shark and as I recall they only came to about  the dorsal fin making the  nose to the dorsal fin length around 5 feet,  the whole thing had to be 14 feet or more,

it is amazing that she wasn't killed.