symondrake » Sharks

It’s a shark-eat-shark world

Symon — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:39:00 +0000

I love great marketing ploys. I also have a fascination with sharks. Imagine my excitement when I came across this desktop wallpaper.

Click here for the big picture.

Flipper… shark repeller!

Symon — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:47:00 +0000

Q: What do you get when you cross Flipper with Jaws?
A: A fish that will bite you in half then save you from drowning.

But seriously folks, as a follow up to my Surfing With Jaws story, I would like to retell the events which happened at a local beach (about 45 minute’s drive from here) in 2004.

Four people were doing lifeguard training about 100 metres off Ocean Beach, Whangarei when they were menaced by a 3 metre great white. Frightening stuff indeed (I wonder if it was the same shark that menaced me?

Incredibly, a pod of dolphins came to their rescue and surrounded them until they could get to safety. The dolphins ‘herded’ the swimmers to shore, continuously swimming tight circles around them and slapping the water with their tails to scare the predator away, which at times was only a couple of metres from them. The ordeal lasted a lenghty 40 minutes and the group were in no doubt that the dolphins were trying to protect them.

It sounds almost too good to be true doesn’t? Lovable Flipper and his friends protecting man from certain death by Jaws… At the time it made global headlines. What is more startling, is that it isn’t the only time this senario has played out.

In November 2007, Surfer Todd Endris was badly mauled (sharks maul?), by a 12-15 foot shark and was in desperate need of a miracle. I wonder if he prayed, because miraculously a pod of dolphins surrounded him and safely got him to shore, where he was air-lifted to hospital (read the story here).

I have always had a bad attitude towards dolphins. Mainly due to the fact that so many people love them more than unborn children. I guess it’s not the dolphins fault that mankind is so badly misguided.

So in conclusion, I say hooray for Flipper… shark repeller!

Surfing with jaws

Symon — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 07:57:00 +0000

It was the summer of 99… oooo yeah (in my best Bryan Adams voice). Me and my good buddy Les were surfing at Elliots’ beach, Far North, New Zealand. It was a brilliant summer’s day, the waves were small but clean, and I was out the back by myself waiting for the next set (Les was grovelling further in due to his board being too short).

While waiting for the next set I saw a huge form cruise slowly past me, about 10′ away and about 4′ from the water’s surface. It took a couple of seconds for my mind to register what it was… a huge shark, longer than my 9′ longboard (10′-12′ would not be an exaggeration). For a brief moment I was in awe of the creature, until I realised that it looked remarkably like a Great White, and that my legs were in very close proximity to it’s jaws.

Anyone else ever had a terror-rush? It’s something you never forget.

I prayed silently while trying to gently catch a wave in using only my fingers to paddle with. Somehow, I managed to ride in (an angel must have pushed my board . I came up beside Les, who was in wastedeep water, and pointed to the water out yonder. We both saw the shark’s silouette in the oncoming wave… it was a truly awesome sight, albiet for only seconds. Wonder had overtaken fear.

Needless to say, we didn’t go surfing again… that is, at least for a couple of hours.

I’ve read recently that it is not the shark you do see that is dangerous. It is the shark that you don’t see that is dangerous, as sharks use the element of surprise and attack their intended morsel unseen from underneath. So, next time you are out surfing or swimming, remember… if you don’t see a shark, be afraid… be very afraid.

Good reasons why I don’t like sharks

Symon — Sat, 03 May 2008 00:07:00 +0000

In 1975 the movie “Jaws” was released. I was too young too see it, being only 3 years old at the time. Interestingly enough, the film conjured up so many scares that beach attendance was down in the summer of 1975 due to its profound impact. When “Jaws 2″ screened my siblings (being a decade older than me), having seen the film, scared me silly with stories about a huge killer shark that ate people. My lifelong love/hate fascination with sharks had begun. Funnily enough, one thing I would love to do before I die is to go cage diving with a Great White. Below are 11 good reasons why I’m not fond of sharks…

1. Sharks eat people

What’s up with those statistics like “there is more chance of dying by a falling coconut than by a shark attack”? Are they supposed to be comforting? I’ll have to remember them if I ever come face to face with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. There have been 2 recorded deaths by shark attack in that many months. Haven’t read of anyone dying by falling cocnuts lately, have you?

2. Multiple viewings of the “Jaws” movies from an early age

Even though the shark looked fake, I was too scared to swim alone in swimming pools for years!

3. My dad’s shark stories

When I was growing up, dad would tell me about the time when he narrowly missed a close encounter with a massive thresher shark. The shark apparently was following the scent of the bleeding fish on his spear (He was spear-fishing). Dad climbed onto a rock as the thresher cruised past. He would also tell me when he was once fishing from a local wharf when a massive shark cruised right beneath him. Stories like that combined with a my young, very vivid, over-developed imagination, made “Jaws” seem very real.

4. Reading numerous books on shark attacks (with pictures)
I don’t recommend reading them while you are having a meal of spaghetti and meatballs.

5. The shark wasn’t working
When I was 14 mum and dad took me for a trip to Universal Studios. I had dreamed for years of seeing “Bruce” in action (the robotic shark from the original movie). Califonia is a long way from New Zealand. The day we were there, the shark was out of order. I think I cried.

6. The USS Indianapolis
One of the most famous shark attacks is that of the USS Indianapolis, sunk by Japanese torpedoes in the Pacific Ocean in 1945. It took several days for rescuers to reach the ship, because the mission had been so top secret that no one reported the ship missing. By the time Navy rescue craft arrived, only 317 men were still alive out of the almost 1,000 that survived the initial sinking. Tiger sharks were responsible for most of the deaths.

7. Seeing a 10ft shark swim past me (up close) while surfing
It happened about 7 years ago, while surfing at “Eliott’s Beach” Northland, NZ. They say if you see a shark, then it probably won’t attack you. Very reasuring… not.

8. The recent discovery that Great White’s jump, and hunt in packs
Ever seen footage and photos shot from Seal Island off the coast of South Africa? Could easily be humans and not seals. Bombs off the rock anyone?

9. “Jaws” was inspiried by a true story
In July 1916, almost sixty years before the movie Jaws ignited a nationwide shark phobia, a single “rogue shark” terrorised the New Jersey shore. Five people were chewed up in a week, sparking a panic that kept beach-goers out of the water, inciting frenzied coverage in the press, and launching the greatest shark hunt in history.

10. The photos in the local takeaways

At the fish’n'chip shop up the road from our house there are photos on the wall taken from a helecopter of several large sharks cruising up and down the beach… in shallow water… where people are.

11. Youtube
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… The video below is probably a contributing factor as to why I haven’t been surfing in 2 years.