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The shark is an animal that has survived from prehistoric times but the number of shark attacks are much smaller in number than the number of people hurt and killed in car accidents. If you are in Florida your chances are the greatest of getting hit by lightening there. Florida has the highest number of lightening strikes in the United States. It would be unpleasant to be bitten by a huge shark or getting in a car accident or being hit by lightening. The chances are greater to get into a car accident or hit by lightening. Life has no guarantee. To me the time we have is a gift.

This big shark stalking photograph will keep the faint hearted out of the water but the surfer will ride on unless that fin starts circling. In my opinion most sharks bite surfers mistaking them for seals.

To me lightening is very abstract and random. Kevin Bering had an experience with it in Autralia this year in an open field that had the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.


I believe that if a large predator is stalking you on the land or in the water you can sense it.

does this kayaker make it out of the water in one piece? i wonder the odds of a shark attack are in this situation....

I think Grant knows that guy. He said the kayaker was bit in half now all his friends call him Bob.

We use them to keep the crowds down and limit the tourists in the water. Bob Sank a good friend of mine. Have not seen him in a white.

That picture originally came from a magazine article in African Geographic. You can read the story and check out other interesting photos at the following link.

http://www.whitesharktrust.org/pages/mediaarticle/media25.html





I found this picture as well.

Thats a whale shark, they feed like a whale does, mostly crill. i was body boarding of Wakiki when a swell approching me outlined a 20-footer about 60-70 feet outside my position. I was paddling out, and skirted around its position to get to an outter reef that only breaks when its 10' plus. I did not know if it was dangerous at the time, but with lots of people out that day I figured my odds were fairly good. Never let a shark spoil a good day of surf when you have lots of food around you and good waves to ride. The break is called Kuna's and only breaks on a large south swell. Its possible to connect several sections and make it all the way to the beach, about 1/4 mile.

Hey Ron did you read the article? For some reason National Geographic keeps calling your "Whale" shark a "Great White" shark. You should call and correct them.

Later I saw that your full name was included in smaller print. I just wasn't playing favorites about using full. real names. If I forget to use my real full name when I post I expect somebody to bring it to my attention and I expect you to edit in after Magilla either S. or Schaus.

Thanks for setting up our forum. It's been a excellent resource and well used place to exchange information.

Magilla,

The problem with being so strict on the enforcement of the full names rule is that it's viewed by many as militant when in fact it's such a small issue. If people are being offensive to other members or posting dirty pictures I could see you editing those posts but when someone forgets to put their name or chooses not to and you immediately edit their post it feels like big brother is looking over your shoulder.

With all respect to Tim everyone who posts here contributes to this forum and it's longevity and I think that given the choice everyone would rather see fresh pictures of Australian breaks from Seabass versus none from Tyson.

Some people don't like being edited or censored when they went to the trouble of posting good pictures or a good post and for whatever reason didn't put their full name. Everyone here pretty much knows who everyone else is even if they use only their first name so when your on them about such a miniscule thing it's like a dad preaching to their son every time he does something wrong.

I know your a great guy who contributes more than anyone to the lake surfing community but the tenacity of your enforcement of the names rule and slight profanity like "Holy **** look at the size of that wave" may push certain individuals to just start using email to communicate with their friends in the surfing community.

How can you have a mandatory real names rule on a public forum? What about the privacy of the contributors to this forum? Maybe you should have mandatory sign-in that allows people to use a "forum name" after they've gone through the sign-in process and given their name and an active email.

I went onto the forum the other week as John Miller and called RobD a girl (see Feb 16 post "Girl Surfers" on page 2 of this forum). This proves that the real name rule doesn't work.

Show me one public forum where there is a real names rule. I bet you can't.

Tim I thought the same thing. WHY IN THE WORLD would you put yourself in a situation like that! Who knows what could happen. I wouldn't feel all that safe in a plastic boat not even half the size of that fish.

The rules of this Eastern Surfing Association Great Lakes District forum are that one must post using real full names and there will be no profanity allowed. These are some of the reasons for this policy:

There are people coming onto our forum who are new.

There are people with the same first name.

There are prople who are regulars who come on here but don't know who the new surfers they are talking to if they use just a first name or alias.

There are people who would love to come on here with alias names for both good and bad reasons.

In my opinion alias names and first names only encourage snipping and bickering. We have had VERY little of that on this forum and we like that. It's more fun to talk about surfing than to fight about surfing.

If I add a full name it is keeping things on the even keel. If I edit profanity it is also keeping things on the even keel.The E.S.A. is a family oriented competitive organization and oriented towards surfers of all ages. If the material that someone wants to post on our forum is adult content by it's nature than it belongs in emails and not on this forum.

It is my duty as the Co-Director of the Eastern Surfing Association to be responsible as a Co-Director.