Growing up chest deep in
the red triangle my experiences with sharks started early. Like most kids I got
rides up north from the older guys. Stuffed in the back with the piss stained
suits and wax I triumphantly waited for our arrival at the mysterious breaks of
the northern part of the county. This one day we went straight to the heart of
elephant seal breeding ground. Of course
being the youngest meant there was no hand holding, only taunting and the added
pressure of a dead seal bitten in half lying on the beach before paddle
out. Surfing past the fear, I caught my
waves and actually was able to forget about the threat that lay below.
Not content to let me be,
an older knee boarder decided to start telling me shark stories as the sun
started to set. His last story was about a friend who had been chased out of
the water by Mr. Whitey. He laughed. Big and throaty how only thick men can. He
pointed out the giant boil that formed just outside of us. “Yeah, it was one
just like that!” His hands flying through, doing how surfers do, talked the
story, as a splash of water crashed own right next to me. “Damn thing torpedoed
straight up and at us.” He laughed again. Big throaty walrus mustache laugh,
turned around and caught the last wave before dark in, leaving me to my
thoughts and the boil growing bigger the harder I couldn’t stop myself from
staring.
Surfers are a curious
breed. There is no other species that will intentionally put itself back into
the food chain. I mean think about it.
As a species, humans have done everything we can to remove ourselves from the
ecosystem that spawned us, going so far as to destroy the very earth we live in
to protect ourselves.
But not surfers. We
dangle our bodies over known spots of encounters in the pursuit of “few tasty
waves and a cool buzz.”
I mean think about it.
You don’t ever see the wolf go to his buddies“ hey guys, lets like put on some sheep
clothing and go hang out down at the watering hole around sunset.”
But surfers do.
We put seal clothing and
go out during peak feeding hours. But now we are safe from our own stupidity.
Yes once again capitalism has saved us and we can ignore the laws of nature and
go blindly to our favorites spots.
So in steps this new wetsuit.
Wholly jumping tuna fish, Batman a
shark free wetsuit!
That’s right. By disguising a
surfer in colors associated with poisonous fish, the theory goes the shark will
not attack. That is to say, they believe sharks have a built up a natural
aversion to thee fish over time. But what do we know about these killers.
JAWS.
Carcharodon carcharias. White pointers, blue
pointers (said with an Aussie accent), man-eaters, manila sharks are found in
all cold temperate and dang it, tropical waters, from 60°N latitude to 60°S
latitude. Seal crazy as a surfer is for waves, whitey migrates long distances,
sometimes crossing entire ocean basins. For example off the western cape of
South Africa, from May to September they snack on some seal burgers before
cruising over to my old hometown, the red triangle extending from Monterey to
San Francisco where they chill from October through March.
So that’s a little
knowledge for ya.
Migratory.
But this suit is making big claims.
Big claims. Read the article for yourself.
This wetsuit is based off of recent research that
suggests, at least at certain times, great whites hunt their prey visually.
Using their dark dorsal colors to blend in they cruise near rocky bottoms and
watch for unsuspecting seals above. When one is sighted, they accelerate
quickly to the surface and take a massive bite. Being a predator they have
little tolerance for a fight so they swim away and wait for it to bleed to
death before returning to feed on the carcass.
But safe from what.
This new research relies on a belief that White's are very visual. But great white sharks are nearly blind. And
they close their eyes while attacking. So how do they do it? Like all other
sharks, Whitey have an extra sense which enables them to detect the
electromagnetic field emitted by the movement of living animals. Every time a
living creature moves, it generates an electrical field and Whitei’s are so
sensitive they can detect half a billionth of a volt. A heart beat. From as far away as a
half a mile.
In other words they are much like a
bat, like the ones at the lake when you were a kid during the summer that caught
you by surprise and even though you swerved and twisted to get out their way,
they still missed you. Like this video here of this whale, it comes up right
next to the diver.
Mistake or intentional?
I submit to you nature knows
exactly what it is doing. It seems much of science or modern thought is having
to combat the hubris of our past ways of thinking. Sharks have been around 16
billions years and so know their way around the dinner table. One thing the
wetsuit has done is shed some light on perhaps the shark visually and hunting
abilities, but not shark safe suit. Most attacks I submit to happen because of
two factors. 1. A feeding frenzy. Surfers often find themselves in a chain of food;
bait fish followed by seals followed by dolphins followed by sharks. These are
the attacks that happen at beach breaks. 2. The isolated incident, this is
usually the inexperienced surfer or just one siting too far outside the pack,
the straggler, the sick antelope on the savannah.
So what does this mean? Am I really
suggesting not buying protection and
instead endorsing knowledge?
Yes.
Know before you go. Think about
abut the time of year and day you are surfing, stick to the shallows, on the
reef, in the kelp, where Whitey can’t swim or see through it. And watch the
video below; this guy is amazing and brave and will teach you real knowledge
about Whitey.
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