Call in the drones, the joint is crawling with sharks…
The NSW town of Ballina confirmed its position as the shark capital of Australia yesterday with a stunning display of fireworks at North Wall, activity that shut the stretch of beach from North Wall to Lighthouse down.
The clarity of the water, a dazzling turquoise relatively common in winter, meant the happy pod of sixty six-foot long bull sharks was spotted by drones as well as spectators watching from the rock groyne that gives North Wall its name.
Between 2011 and 2016, Ballina hosted eleven shark attacks, including 2015’s Great White hit that killed Tadashi Nakhara, and serious hits on bodyboarder Matt Lee and Sam Morgan. At the time, the town accounted for almost ten percent of the world’s shark encounters.
In 2016, Dan Webber, who is the brother of Greg Webber, watched as the surfer Cooper Allan got what is described in these part as a “Ballina hickey” from a Great White.
“I was standing in waist deep water, about five metres away, when I saw a shark in the face of a wave between me and three guys sitting further out,” said Dane. “A few seconds later, I heard a shout, followed by the nose of a board sailing through the air.”
The joint finally got shark nets in 2017, but were removed a year later, over concerns they might catch a migrating whale.
Fifty surfers stayed in the lineup yesterday which prompted the town’s mayor David Wright to call ’em “selfish”.
If I wore the mayoral robe I would’ve said, how the fuck did Ballina ever get this crowded?
If you just want to scare hell out of ’em, click here.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
There’s a theory that a single dead shark will ward off any others. Last year a fairly big shark washed up on the breakwall at North Wall during a solid swell. A lot of the local fisho/surfers were telling the authorities to leave the fucker there and let it rot.
Sharknado
If a shark is in the line up and a pro surfer is not , then was a shark really there?
man you complain a lot for someone whose people are running the country.
First Reunion, now NSW.
I’m starting to dig this sharky trend in surfing .
Just need to foster a healthy new breeding population for SoCal and maybe France.
Please leave France off the list . At least I’ll have one shark free holiday a year . ( I once caught a little Blue Shark in a net north of Lacanau but it was definitely no man eater ) .
Night Glow Exshark do do do do doo …
Had a dozen of em come in for a look on the other side a few weeks back.
Cruised around the wall for hours and wouldnt leave.
Party wave in and we watch nice waves run off lonely for rest of arvo.
They can hunt in packs these pricks, once one bites the rest come in quickly.
I keep asking, Why the fuck are Bulls being tagged here.
They aint exactly endangered.
They need thinning out.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
That BullSharks steal surfers rights to surf is a complicated situation but stealing lefts is an act of Treason !
The Thought Police will vaporise you for such seditious talk, Bicko! Lefts are evil.
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. Lefts are evil , a Galileo moment ?
“Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”
It’s still a good read, isn’t it?
Possibly more relevant than ever ?
Man.. that book made me a punk at a young age, drove me towards it. Now in early middle age it’s still a go to for predicting the next wave of outrage or senseless thought/speech control dogma of the mindless masses.
“It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodoxy.”
We’ll never be allowed to thin em out with a little ole cull..
Says the guy down the road from Raglan.
Raglan made me really want to go switch with some skill. Practiced a lot, but never got good at it. Can do a decent smooth jump around to slow turns and the odd cover up, but can’t take off switch on a shorty. And too old now :-/
Ry Clarkes old man made him switch to a Goofy when he was young due to all the lefts round their place.
Craike’s dad was on the ball for the Not For You WSL waves of Kalbarri .
We need Red Bull Sharks to give us wiiiiings.
NSW Mid North Coast ? Or South Coast ? Don’t tell me but I am very jealous of the waves , not the sharks . Looks dreamy …
The other side of where those 60 bulls were sunbaking.
Sharkiest spot around those parts in my opinion, but the wave is worth it.
I wouldnt exactly call it a secret mate.
Thanks NB , I got it . The Mexican side of the Richmond Tigers / Bulls ……..
Few good Tigers of late JB. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
When younger and dumber, I used to paddle across that river to get to this wave. I think I couldn’t force myself at gun point to dip a toe in now.
People just weren’t getting eaten at the time on a regular basis so the risk seemed minimal or non existent ? I surfed a bank inside a River mouth on the mid north coast early 80s , muddy brown with a mate from those parts and never even thought about death from below and was more worried about breaking my neck on the shallow sand bank or getting washed onto the breakwall .
Thats why you did it Lemon.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Yeah, got a few of them. Race, race, carve!
Is that old 2m+ king brown still sunbaking on the access track at the South end of the beach these days? I have no idea how long they live. You guys really have it all…
Haha, you obviously got some good memories.
Dont know if its the same one, but i do know theres more than one.
Drove overnight from Vic for a junior comp 20+ years ago. After 18 hours driving, we fell out of the car, and in a daze wandered down the track looking for waves in the midday sun. Vaguely thought it was weird that a burnt black tree log was lying across the path. A few metres away the absent minded fatigue gave way to shocking survival instinct. Scared the crap out of us. Had to go back and park at the other end of the beach… Never seen one like it before or since
I hope you had driven round……would have been a really bad day if you had had to paddle back across the river !
Fuck I hate Bull sharks. Those lefts are dreamy, cunce of things making everyone go in.. selfish fucken sharks keeping those runners to em selves. They need to dip out, by baited hook or crook!
… witnessed a bunch of grommet bodyboarders dog-paddle / kick their way across a certain river-mouth yesterday, not long after dawn. The tide was running out and it rained pick-handles just two days prior.
Ignorance is bliss … eh!
As someone who has spent a large amount of their life working in/ contracting to local government, what is stopping you taking matters into your own hands. Seriously, you plead not guilty and they throw it out. Tell LT to get a decent tinny, some chum and a fucken rifle.
Ok… Any locals out there? Short sharp surfs to lessen the odds or just roll the dice and not worry to much?
Obviously a little crowd is more appealing than the solo sessions of old?
This’ll sound like BS but I was having a surf with one other bloke today and a fucking white rushed me, circled me then rolled underneath and gave me a good eyeballing.
Straight in over the rocks, surf over.
Clear water, bluebird day.
I just got back to having solo sessions.
but yeah, shorter sharper surfs was my strategy.
Still some spots I haven’t surfed since 2015.
I wldnt worry bout it
They don’t seem to like ya.
Fark Lt that’s some verklempting shit.
Sounds like a good time to go fishing LT. Seriously, why fuck around?
perfect little point runners and one guy out.
I used to night surf your point, Broken H too…. minding my own business, no one ever out. Now Ballina is a death paddle. ? At some point, you’ve gotta go fishing and even the odds.
Do we know why there was so much activity – mullet running?
Scary scenario. Would be a nervous surfer if I was living up that way.
i stay out. alWays. won’t happen to ME!
Best option is to stay out of the water altogether south of the Tweed.
Spoken like a true local!
They look so tiny
In this stunning drone footage
Batter and eat them
But sharks are big fish
Mercury fills their sweet flesh
Do you want to go mad?
These look like guppies
Tender morsels to swallow
In one greedy gulp
Remember when they were called Flake?
Glory days, son.
And mum I love this fish because it so easy to eat and miraculously has no bones .
MAKE FLAKE FRIED AGAIN
before grandpa flake makes mince meat out of you doo doo do doo do do doo doo ……grandpa flake .
a pod of dolphin
but it’s “shiver” for
selachimorpha
Yes I can see why people would like to avoid Mercury …….
Mercury, Latin Mercurius, in Roman religion, god of shopkeepers and merchants, travelers and transporters of goods, and thieves and tricksters, unless they were up to mischief .
‘sharks close the town’
They walkin up the boat ramps?
‘
Clogging the aisles at Bunnings! Oh you ain’t seen nothing like it.
“Bullshark Susan” has a cat bum mouth and would like to speak to the manager about her tiles.
But the manager was “Bullshark Karen” who knew that “Bullshark Susan” was lazy. Lazy Bullshark Susan.
What goes around comes around ?
fans of a sausage sizzle I suppose.
Scoop! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Oh… now… I understand!
For the life of me, after chasing powder round a plate all weekend, could not create a link to that last night so just typed it like a dumb cunt
Catch and release or catch and kill?
Oh man I’m in a world of hurt so..catch and a very stern talking to
I bought a Mavic 2 Pro. It has an 8km range. I have found far better things to do with it than look for sharks. Seen some pretty decent backyard tits and also trying to rig up a piss bomb system. Hasn’t quite got the accuracy necessary to deliver a piss bomb on a junkie at the bus stop yet but getting reasonably close now. More to come.
Where’d you get two and half gees to throw at a children’s toy?
Punching children for their expensive toys has always been free
I am a surprisingly astute businessman despite the trackie dacks.
Cash biz?
Yeah me Eftpos machine is playing up mate. Do you have cash? Oh sorry did I fuck up the ABN on the tax invoice? My mistake. You know the drill.
Have you progressed to
Using Bunning’s ABN?
Works for most Tradies
What do you mean my company name isn’t Wesfarmers Limited? Are you calling me a liar cunt?
Does using the wrong ABN ‘accidentally’ fly? New to the game and it seems like an easy out
It is a very short term solution that usually creates a bigger problem when some cunt lodges their BAS statement and a week later you start getting phone calls from the ATO.
Word
Do you use it to check the surf like Jack Robbo from your bed?
Won’t you think of the poor people that have to sit next to the piss bomb junkie. Anyhoo, you can also add dog poo to the piss bomb, did it as kids when you had to make your own fun.
Bloody Clubbies are trying to steal your gig . Hopefully you look more intelligent , in the tracky Dackys than boof head in the read shirt ?
https://www.abc.net.au/news….
Interesting figures at the end of the article about numbers of sharks spotted by Official LiveSaving Drones at various sites in NSW .
you would have no chance getting a skinny. have you conserved using your drone to remove dog shit and drop it back onto the dog owners car?
I aint no population ecologist but surely these fuckers will start to cannibalise one another soon.
A lot of us to get though first…
Send the northern rivers anti-vaxxers in first
leave my hot yoga anti-vax mums alone!
you find ignorance appealing longtom? I assumed Wiggs would be the one chasing the doughy tail..
Anti vaxxers aren’t ignorant, they are woke or hate their kids.
Just think how cool those kids will look in shoes made for Polio and not by Polo ?