Great White shark (picture) being waterboarded for answers.
Great White shark (picture) being waterboarded for answers.

Breaking: Great White Shark cluster off the Carolinas grows “more intense and mysterious” baffling researchers and panicking coastal residents!

Chas Smith

By

Are sharks "exhibiting a sixth sense of something bad in the making?"

A cluster of Great White sharks, directly off of North Carolina, has grown more intense and mysterious over the last few weeks. Researchers and scientists first began noticing this convergence of “man-eating” beasts toward the end of January but the gathering was spread out across hundreds of miles. Now they are gathering together, bunched and close, off of Wilmington exactly like they are bunching by the hundreds, possibly thousands, off Aukland.

Researchers and scientists have tried to find a connection between the two towns, tried to discover what the apex predators are up to, but so far nothing and let us turn to the Raleigh News & Observer for booties on the ground coverage.

OCEARCH says the tagged sharks, ranging in size from 8 feet to nearly 13 feet, represent a tiny sampling of what is actually off the coast, meaning waters could be full of great white sharks.

Experts have not offered a clear explanation for what is happening off the Carolinas, though researchers believe the sharks could have been driven north by warmer weather in Florida.

The coast off the Carolinas is known as a shark foraging area, but the animals typically feed as they travel along the coast to the Gulf of Mexico.

Social media users have speculated on what might be causing the sharks to cluster. Ideas include the possibility that sharks are chasing a sudden wealth of food or following the noise of beach renourishment projects along the coast.

Some people have even wondered if the sharks are exhibiting a sixth sense of something bad in the making.

“Maybe the recent earthquakes in (Puerto Rico) and other Caribbean locations? They might just know what we don’t about the future,” posted Karen Lavigna.

“Sensing bad weather?” Jenifer Parker wrote.

Sensing bad weather? Earthquakes?

I don’t want to unduly panic the brave Tarheels but… the unique vinegar foundation of Carolina bbq sauce is known to pickle people up “nice n tasty” from the inside out, according to food critics and epicureans.

Might the Great Whites be collecting for a good ol’ fashioned fry?

Anybody want a peanut?
Anybody want a peanut?

Storm Ciara: Brave surfer battling Britain’s “Storm of the Century” swept five miles down the beach past “Cliffs of Insanity” and “Rodents of Unusual Size!”

Chas Smith

By

Against all odds.

Great Britain is currently receiving a strong whipping at the vicious hand of Storm Ciara. 500,000 once jolly Englanders are currently without power, towns are flooded, cars washed away and the death toll is rising.

Unsurprisingly, as we energy harnessers, we storm riders, are wont, a surfer paddled out at a southern beach into massive swell and was soon “covered by walls of water.” Hours later his board washed up on the beach.

Alone.

The worst is always feared in these cases, especially when the lifeboat sent to rescue is nearly swamped and sunk.

But, our hero was not to be so easily undone and let us turn to the respected pages of The Independent for the entire story.

A surfer who was declared missing in Hastings after his surfboard washed ashore amid the high winds and waves whipped up by Storm Ciara has been found alive after he managed to swim ashore at a beach more than five miles further east.

The man, whose name has not been released, was surfing at Rock-a-Nore in Hastings, which is directly in front of the lifeboat station and protected by the harbour arm.

However, the alarm was raised when his board was recovered but there was no sign of him in the water.

Two lifeboats and a helicopter were dispatched to try and find him, but had no success, amid waves reportedly over 3m (10 ft) high.

He eventually came ashore on the beach at Pett Level – a small settlement along a stretch of beach over five miles to the east of Hastings.

The route would have taken him along an uninhabited coastline largely composed of uncompromising cliffs, before he reached the western edge of Rye Bay.

“It’s a fair old distance to be without your board,” the press officer for Hastings Lifeboat Station Clive Mayhew told The Independent.

“The helicopter then landed there and he went to William Harvey hospital [in Ashford] for a checkover, and apparently he’s ok.”

Now, imagine swimming in the devil’s churn for five miles. Imagine watching the “uncompromising cliffs” sweep past, the Fire Swamp and Rodents of Unusual Size just beyond. How could hope be maintained?

This brave surfer is now my hero. A reminder to chin up in the face of wildly inappropriate odds. To perpetually sally forth.

Brave surfer? If you are reading, email straight away for your Cryin’ Jordy air-freshener.

Our gift to you.

"Frightening footage was uploaded on Sunday showing what appeared to be a dorsal fin breaching the waters of Narrabeen Lagoon just metres from homes and businesses."

“Monster” Great White Shark spotted grazing in Narrabeen Lagoon!

Derek Rielly

By

"Sydney's rain bomb takes a terrifying turn!" etc.

Australia’s largest city, Sydney, has had a wild old couple of days, near-cyclonic winds, Biblical floods and a twelve-foot north-east swell that had the waveless harbour delivering four-foot tubes.

And Narrabeen, home to inventor of the thruster Simon Anderson and two-time world champion Damien Hardman, got a little storm bonus when the banks of its lagoon were breached and a presumed Great White shark came in for a graze.

I ain’t so hot on the shark hyperbole so I’ll hand it over to the Daily Mail for a moment.

“Locals on Sydney’s Northern Beaches have spotted what they believe to be a monster great white shark in a lagoon that broke its banks during the city’s heaviest downpour in 22 years. Frightening footage was uploaded on Sunday showing what appeared to be a dorsal fin breaching the waters of Narrabeen Lagoon just metres from homes and businesses.’Great white spotted in Narrabeen Lagoon,’ the video was posted.”

Anyone know their dorsal fins?

Cheeky White or happy bull or inquisitive bronze whaler?

And behold, I saw a white shark and upon him sat death.
And behold, I saw a white shark and upon him sat death.

Watch: Probable “apocalyptic mass human extinction event” playing out as fisherman captures footage of 100s of sharks converging on New Zealand capital!

Chas Smith

By

And behold, I saw a white shark and upon him sat death.

New Zealanders woke up this morning excited that the greatest surfer of all time, Kelly Slater, is coming to their shores in just a few short weeks, bringing with him credibility for a long dismissed surf community. Bringing backhanded compliments and energy healing.

When he arrives it is very likely that none of them will be alive to witness his feet touching their shore for newly released video footage shows hundreds, possibly thousands of Great Whites converging off the coast, planning a mass human extinction event.

The disturbing video was shot near Kawau Island, not far from New Zealand’s capital and largest city. Let us read a first hand account of the horror before editorializing and working out a plan that might or might not include the sacrifice of millions of brave Kiwis.

Dipping a camera underwater (WATCH HERE) while on board a jetski wouldn’t be most people’s first response after spotting “hundreds” of sharks – but that’s exactly what Louis Giachetti did.

The Auckland fisherman captured what he says was hundreds of sharks hunting for food directly beneath him yesterday afternoon at Flat Rock fishing spot near Kawau Island.

“I didn’t freak out, it was just annoying they kept eating all the fish I was trying to catch,” Giachetti told the Herald.

Despite losing multiple lures to the sharks, Giachetti said the experience made it all worth it.

It is comforting to know that Mr. Giachetti didn’t freak out and was only annoyed. I hope he maintains the same steel spine when amputated arms, legs and feet litter his country’s streets. When the normally blue ocean water turns red thus making purple.

Very scary.

No more surfing in New Zealand. No more preparing for Kelly Slater’s arrival. It is time to go inside, lock the doors and pray the bloodcurdling screams of your neighbors can be muted by using SurfEars (buy here).

The above shark convergence, as terrifying as it is, is no one off. Weeks ago sharks practiced off lesser populated Aukland City.

Is Aukland City still around?

Any updates?

"Sexual assault!"
"Sexual assault!"

“Horror stingray strike” on pristine Australian beach leads to heart attack, near foot amputation, two-year bed stay and a beautiful fairytale ending!

Chas Smith

By

It's anti-depressive!

Of all the things we surfers, we ocean enthusiasts, fear most, I think stingray hits are number one. Oh sure a “man-eating” Great White may take a chomp, a Killer Whale may tease before torturing. Eels, puffer fish, saltwater crocodiles, rabid seals and grumpy locals can, and often do, inflict terrible damage but the lowly stingray, hiding in the sand, waiting for his moment to throw his barb into our tender feet is both too common and too painful.

We try to tough it out when getting hit, though, don’t we. Try to keep the tears at bay and carry on like brave little soldiers but come and read the potential horrors of ignoring the terribly sting. Of not urinating upon it immediately then having your best friends urinate on it too.

But wait. Can a fairytale love story come from trauma? Let’s read the story of Sharon Glenelg, a powerful executive who was struck while “going for a little paddle” near Adelaide.

It was the first day of their visit Down Under and Sharon was determined to show the wine distributors her beautiful hometown, but in the murky water she didn’t notice a threatening tail.

I took a step and landed on a stingray, which pushed its barb into the bottom of my left foot,’ she said.

Although it was bleeding Sharon was determined to continue the trip, and simply patched up the wound.

But on the flight back to London her foot ‘blew up like a balloon’ and she was told the barb had caused extensive nerve damage. A serious infection had settled in.

‘I had 10 operations during this time and was off my feet for a total of two years. There was a permanent PICC line inserted into my arm feeding me the harshest antibiotics… they turned the whites of my eyes orange.’

She was flown back to the Royal Adelaide Hospital after three months to be treated by their new foot clinic.

On two occasions doctors talked about amputating her injured foot but they were able to save it by inserting plates and screws around her third and fourth toes.

‘I have been left with neuropathy in that foot, meaning I can’t feel anything,’ she said.

Sharon describes those two years as some of the ‘toughest’ in her life, made lighter by the fact she reconnected with an old friend – who would later become her husband and father to her children Luka, 13, and Hugo, 11.

She also decided to devote herself to things she had always wanted to do but put off when she was working so hard, namely singing lessons, knitting and mosaics.

Sharon even studied to become a marriage celebrant so she could bring joy to her friends, something that occupied her time while she wasn’t able to walk.

So there we have it. Yes the sting was painful, very damaging, but because of it love was found, children were had, singing, knitting and mosaics all practiced and friends joyously married.

Even stringray hits can be anti-depressive in the right context with or without much urinating.

Jon Pyzel and Matt Biolos by @theneedforshutterspeed/Step Bros
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