So many possibilities!
As mentioned three days ago, shark season has arrived in Australia with as much fanfare as the aromatic jasmine flower blossoming all over the country.
In a month or so, there have been six attacks: a bodyboarder in Western Australia (“traumatic leg injuries”), three swimmers in the same North Queensland harbour, one of which was fatal, and a surfer at Ballina with leg injuries caused by a juvenile white pointer (those kids).
At Bondi and nearby beaches, shark sightings have become commonplace.
Yesterday, the lineup was emptied at Tamarama when a shark surfaced so close to a surfer he gave it a little stroke as he jack-rabbited to shore.
And, today, the Bondi surfer and former semi-pro, Beau Walker, had beached his final wave when he saw a “fifteen-foot” shark shadowing another local surfer, Mick Malouf.
“He came running down to the water yelling, ‘Get out of the water!’ I asked him how close it was and he said it was two metres behind me,” says Malouf, who saw a wall of salmon in the wave in front “belly flopping” out of the water. “He’s seen a few sharks in his time (Beau grew up in Byron Bay) so he knows what he’s talking about.”
In response to that, and an earlier sighting at North Bondi, lifeguards closed the beach.
Meanwhile, a click or so off Moffatt Beach on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, a fifteen-foot Tiger belted a man in his kayak.
Kyle Roberts was knocked off his kayak by the shark who then circled him and his sinking craft while he radioed for help.
From ABC News.
Surf Life Saving Queensland (SLSQ) duty officer David McLean said Mr Roberts was in shock when lifeguards reached him on jet skis.
“There was no blood in the water — nothing else to attract any sharks — just came out of the blue, completely broadsided him, and as he stated, he’s very lucky to be here,” Mr McLean said.
“It had punctured the kayak — he managed to get back to the kayak and hung on and fortunately there was an air bubble at the front of the kayak which managed to keep it afloat until we could get to him.
Mr McLean said while Mr Roberts was waiting for help “he was starting to panic, especially when the shark was starting to circle him”.
“He would have been through a fair state of panic and that was evident in his voice when he was talking on the radio,” he said.
“He was paddling along in his kayak, the shark’s just hit him, knocked him up in the air, out of the kayak, and he ended up 1.5 metres from his kayak.”
Can you imagine?
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Faark. Im boarding a plane back to Sydney for the first time 5 years. Now i’m seriously debating bringin boards at all.
It’s finally happening…. the elements are coming together… climate change-induced extreme weather and a serious uptick in shark activity… could we finally see Sharknado ravaging the East Coast of Australia?
My theory, no proof
Commercial fishing banned in late eighties I think, in major rivers and harbours in NSW.
I wa living in Ballina at that time
Saw the odd Noah, but used to paddle the river to south wall and surf Ballina bridge on big swells.
No attacks or even nibbles heard of
.
Twenty year later of no fishing and I don’t surf North wall or shelley cause it’s just too spooky, can’t enjoy it
plenty of supporters of that theory Bex
E-Lo: “Tennis is so beyond borging, I fall asweep every time I watch it.”
So-Gold: “Hey!!! Take it easy E-Lo! You wanna end SUP on some billboard?! No. Know you don’t.”
Just wondering if Elo calls his Fijian Stand Up Step Up an ELongated ?
if it was, he had a cracking rack on him.
Great to see she was no Chinook Salmon . The Fish John West reject ?
I am no John west.
I con-Kerr !
Was Kayaking Kyle fishing and in that case did he nearly get bitten biting off more than he could chew ? ( The Alien Greenough went trawling for tuna in that area on a surf mat and not only survived but inspired fin templates from that point on with the catch . )
He’s one of a group of guys who go out fishing a bit offshore on their kayaks at 5.30am.
Yes that’s right, humans sometimes contribute to their encounters with sharks.
Don’t invite that windy Saint Ana around for a smoke !
And SDS takes the (Olof)Palme D’Or .
It must have confused the smell of fixie chain oil for salmon grease. Speaking of greasy salmon, the last time I was at Bondi I got a sneaky wristy from a sunburnt swedish backpacker.
Was it a Sven or a Svenja or something in between and did you feel Björn Again after the Swedish version of the Soggy SAO now known as the Bondi Iced Vo(l)Vo……….
don’t remember her name but do remember it was her first day in Australia and she got so sunburnt she glowed like a radioactive salmon.
First day and already grabbing a handful of meat… they don’t fuck around the Swedes, do they?
I think we’re missing the obvious correlation between the Jasmine blossoming, and the sharks biting.
I mean, the clues are laid out in the story.
Are we talking Jacarandas introduced into Australian from Brazil of all places ?
for some fucked up reason they are celebrated with a “jacaranda festival”. can’t quite remember where, something in the haze in my noggin says Grafton but I could be of by a couple of thousand miles. just a bunch of hippies on a float claiming.
Grafton it is , late October early November ! A long time ago Country Cousins, from up that way ,came to Sydney, saw the lights, and asked my Nan if it was Jacaranda Festival . Only thing be smoked up there at the time were farmers burning sugar cane .
Well, that’ll liven up my next surf there …
https://www.news.com.au/tec…
Faaawkk!!
Kill a few. Hang them off a buoy out the back. It won’t cause the end of a species.
Kayakers?
Wouldn’t they just swim down to the next beach? Just asking.
That could be mitigated. It would be better to mimic natural predation by removing the liver like an orca, and allowing the carcass to drift around on the sea floor.
Doing that would actually show respect for the intelligence of Great Whites by recognizing their ability to apply risk/benefit analysis.
Perhaps stapling a spreadsheet of the same to carcass might also help them decide.
haha just spilled my coffee over me and everything – you owe me new laptop and set of clothes
That’s a myth… it’s actually the Chinese removing their livers to make traditional medicine.
I get what you’re sayin’ *wink wink*. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on myth.
Swedish backpackers?