Shark attack near Lower Trestles is second of the
year.
As reported bySurfline, The Orange
County Register etc. a woman was attacked by a
shark last evening while bodyboarding at Church right south of
Lower Trestles. It was the second attack of the year, the other
happening just north in Corona del Mar.
The woman was wearing swim fins and chomped on her thigh. Two
surfers helped pull her out of the water and fashioned a tourniquet
out of a leash to stop the bleeding.
She was airlifted to Scripps hospital in La Jolla.
There is not much more information known as of yet, whether or
not the woman has survived, what sort of shark, etc. Video of a
shark breaching near Lowers has been shot this year.
The beach will be closed for 72 hours.
Shark attacks in Southern California are not common. I have a
question, though, no matter where in this world you surf. Do you
even consider the possibility of being nipped before paddling out?
Does it even cross your mind?
Will it now?
Also, these Southern California attacks seem like isolated
incidents but if there was suddenly a spate of bites do you think
the state and local governments would start culling?
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At what point do human concerns outweigh a fish that is
neither endangered nor threatened?
Just in: Shark Attack Death on
Reunion!
By Derek Rielly
Ninth fatal shark attack on Reunion Island in six
years. Crazy, no?
Like terrorist attacks in Paris and London and so
forth, it ain’t easy to keep a handle on shark attack
fatalities in Australia and on Reunion. You have to re-read the
latest news to make sure you’re not scrolling through an old
story.
But, it’s always new, there’s always more.
Yesterday, a bodyboarder who was “devoted to warning people
about the animals was mauled to death” near Saint Leu. In six
years, there have been twenty one attacks, nine fatal.
From The Daily Mirror,
Adrien
Dubosc, 30, died off the French island of Reunion in
the Indian Ocean just two months after one of his best friends died
in almost identical circumstances.
Mr Dubosc was a member of Shark
Watch Patrol, an organisation dedicated to cutting down on shark
deaths on Reunion, which is plagued by man-eating bull and tiger
sharks.
Despite this, he loved the fish,
and regularly posted Facebook pictures of ones he had seen,
together with biological details about them.
Just after 11am on Saturday
morning Mr Dubosc entered the sea at Pointe au Sal in Saint-Leu
with his bodyboard, off a beach where watersports are officially
banned.
A police spokesman said: ‘The
young man was in the water with two friends, when a shark attacked
him, biting his right thigh, and his groin area.
‘The victim was pulled out of the
water, and emergency workers arrived very quickly. Despite cardiac
massage, he died within half an hour of the attack.’
The beach was packed at the time,
and members of Mr Dubosc’s family were among those who watched the
horror unfold.
Frederic Carre, a local
sub-prefect, said members of a medical-psychological emergency unit
attended the scene, and were treating many of the
witnesses.
On February 21st Mr Dubosc’s
close friend Alexandre Naussac, 26 and another trained shark
spotter, died on a nearby beach that had also been officially
closed to watersports.
The attack happened in
Saint-Andre, and saw Mr Naussac being bitten in the femoral
artery.
The thigh wound caused blood to
pour out of Mr Naussance, as those he had been bodyboarding with
also desperately tried to save him.
Who wants to sail the high seas and have the
adventure of a lifetime?
Do you recall two years ago when the Rip Curl
surf charter vessel Quest 1 (formerly the Indies Trader II) sank
whilst touring the Mentawi islands? Surfline
reported:
At around 2:30am, somewhere between Lance’s Left and The
Lighthouse, American passenger Pete Nevins went below deck to find
a flooded engine room. “There was bubbling coming up from behind
the starboard diesel, the twin screw,” he said. “We thought we had
the water under control, but we didn’t. And about an
hour-and-a-half later, we decided we should probably get off the
vessel. Because once we lost the engines and all the power — there
was no back-up power — we had lost all electronics, and at that
point we didn’t even know our position. We had to abandon ship. It
was a frenzy at first — people were just jumping off, going under
the ski, all that stuff… But in the end we regained composure and
got everyone into the life rafts.”
Once safely in the rafts, the stranded passengers and crew
made a single phone call, to an agent in Padang, then all
communication was lost. And after watching the last pieces of the
Quest 1 disappear beneath the Indian Ocean, they floated into the
sunrise, unsure if help was on the way.
Six hours later the legendary Martin Daly happened upon them and
all were saved.
Two days ago Pete Nevins and other passengers filed a lawsuit
against Rip Curl Inc. and others alleging negligence. Shall we read
the suit? It would be negligent not to!
Negligence. Plaintiffs are an active group of surfing
enthusiasts who were passengers aboard defendants’ legendary
surfing excursion vessel, the Quest 1, when it sank in the middle
of the night on the high seas off the coast of the Mentawai
Islands. The vessel was devoid of any emergency damage control and
lacked operable emergency position indicating radio beacon. As the
vessel filled with water, the captain panicked and abandoned the
ship on a Jet Ski, leaving plaintiff’s behind. Plaintiffs floated
in a life raft in complete darkness for several hours until dawn
realizing defendants had taken no action to notify the Indonesian
coast guard or other rescue resources.
Oh of course, and again, these are mere allegations and I am
certain Rip Curl is looking forward to answering them in a court of
law. In the meanwhile, though, don’t you think Rip Curl should use
the professed adventure in a wonderful new promotional brochure? In
my mind it reads…
Come Search with Rip Curl!
Bored of the same old same old? Barrel, air, yawn? Well Come
Search with Rip Curl! Our boats allegedly have no emergency damage
control! When they begin to sink the captain is certain to
allegedly panic and flee, allegedly leaving you and your best pals
behind in the dark with one life raft. While no one is allegedly
coming to get you, you’ll all have time to bond like you’ve never
bonded before. And at the next office Christmas party you’ll have
the story that beats all others. Don’t delay! Space is limited!
That’s good right? Have I been in the wrong career all along?
Should I become a travel brochure writer?
Maybe.
I’ll call Rip Curl when offices open Monday for an official
response and also to see if they are hiring.
Wish me luck!
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Just in: Chas Smith to enter surf
contest!
By Chas Smith
Get ready for the Dignity Health Pismo Beach Pro
feat. the second best feel good surf story of the year!
It was just announced that Pismo Beach, located
on California’s central coast, has secured the funding to host a
World Surf League 1000 off the famed pier this November and
congratulations to all!
What began as a dream for Andy McKay, local donut shop owner, is
now a reality as the doctors from Dignity Health emptied their
collective piggy bank and became the title sponsor alongside
Sylvester’s Burgers and Central Coast Surfboards.
Maybe I will enter? Pismo Beach is where my family would flee
each summer for fun in the California sun. It was almost always
foggy and the water was only slightly warmer than hometown Coos
Bay, Oregon but it perfect in my young eyes. I would sit on the
pier and watch rippers tear apart the jumbled windswell then go
attack it myself.
I would paddle out the back on my rainbow Hawaiian Shapes twin
fin, take off on the best waves (the ones that broke all at the
same time guaranteeing maximum speed straight toward the beach),
throw my hands up in the air and hoot. Almost all the waves in
Pismo Beach are the best (ones that break all at the same time
guaranteeing maximum speed straight toward the beach.)
I think I could do well in the contest. I think I have
experience that Jesse Mendes, Yago Dora and Soli Bailey do not.
I think I will enter. What are the rules regarding that again?
Do I just pay or do I have to send in video of myself ripping or
how does it work? I feel we’ve discussed this before but my memory
is in disrepair.
In any case, wish me luck and see you in November. My charge
through the Dignity Pro Health field will be the second best feel
good surf story of the year!
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Let's protect our pros!
Safety: Time for the Owen Rule!
By Chas Smith
Let's force our beloved pros to wear pillow ballon
helmets!
In October of 2009 the National Football
League commissioner Roger Goodell was called before the United
States congress to answer questions about the League being
potentially negligent in its protecting its players from concussion
and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
A lawsuit by ex-NFL players was filed in 2011 that was settled
in 2013 for $765 million but a federal judge overturned the deal on
the grounds that it would not be nearly enough to provide for the
players covered under the suit. In 2015 the cap was expanded to at
least $1 billion.
The Will Smith film Concussion also opened in 2015 and
dramatized the true story of Dr. Bennett Omalu who fought the
National Football League’s alleged suppression of his CTE
research.
The scandal is ongoing and may someday cost the NFL multiple
billions.
Which brings us to the World Surf League (WSL).
Owen Wright’s brain bleed from what he says was a duckdive out
at plus-sized Pipe, coincidentally in 2015, puts the WSL in massive
potential danger. Owen said in a recent
interview, “If you try and duckdive a 15-foot second
reef Pipe wave, you’re only going to be a foot under water with 15
feet of wave coming down on you. Something is going to give… and I
gave.”
Pipeline is not the only heavy reef wave on tour breaking in
shallow water or featuring shallow sections. The Box, Cloudbreak,
Teahupo’o are all very dangerous and Kelly Slater claimed he nearly
drowned at the last Bells event due the exposed rock shelf on the
inside.
Are the professional surfers on today’s tour, plus all the tours
since professional surfing has been a thing, due billions of
dollars for potential brain bleeds?
Should the professional surfers on today’s tour probably wear
helmets?
Owen Wright never claimed to hit his head on either board or
reef. It is a truly unprecedented injury. The sort of injury that a
helmet is not known to prevent. But wouldn’t a helmet help
dissipate the shock of the duckdive? Or couldn’t a helmet be
developed, maybe larger like an oversized pillow or ballon, that
encapsulates the professional’s head?
I think our surfer’s head health is worth the unfortunate
aesthetics! But maybe it’s cool to wear a pillow ballon on the head
while surfing! The
Inertia published 5 reasons why surfers should
wear a helmet in 2013. When the original NFL concussion lawsuit was
settled.
Does the WSL have multiple billions to give potential brain bled
surfers?
Helmets!
I will be following up with the World Surf League when offices
open Monday.
I am the new Ralph Nader.
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Jon Pyzel and Matt Biolos by
@theneedforshutterspeed/Step Bros
