Great White at Kingscliff Beach
Beached Great White at Kingscliff Beach.

“Distressing” video shows Great White shark dying after beaching itself near where surfer was attacked and killed

"One of the locals was chased in last night by a big shark, then this shows up this morning…"

Four years back, Queensland surfer Rob Pedretti died after being attacked by a ten-foot Great White shark at Salt Beach, in front of popular holiday resorts Peppers Salt Resort and Spa and Mantra on Salt, and forty miles north of shark-attack hotspot Byron Bay.

Lennox Head-based writer Longtom described the death in the sorta poetic manner only a man who lives and surfs with the spectre of Great White attack knows.

Poor bastard had his leg ripped off in the jaws off a fired up Great White. He did not survive the attack.

Soft, wintery day. You get a lot of them around here this time of year.

Warm sun, high cloud drifting in. Clean babyfood with little cats paws of wind ruffle on it. A fit wiry sixty year old would think of nothing but enjoying a little shred.

Day before the attack was a dreamy day. Head-high sets rifling down the bank. Moderate crowd. The water was stacked with bait. Slivers of cut glass in the morning sun. A yellowtail kingfish the size of a small pony swam straight past me. Crystal clear water.

There’s no safety in that. We’ve learnt the published guidelines on avoiding White shark attacks are straight up BS. They like clear water, sunshine, small surf. The mistaken identity theory was the first casualty. White sharks, we learnt, are curious to aggressive.

What makes a looker, into a circler, into a bumper then a biter we don’t know.

Neither will Rob Pedretti or his buddies that tried to drag him in after the attack. The attack happened around ten am.

Paramedics were there by 10.40. The police cat scrambled from Tweed Heads, went out the bar, turned south, went past Fingal headland, then Kingscliff creek and the rocky reefy corner of the coast before it got to the open stretch of beach in front of a series of resorts and a new suburb called Casuarina.

That took just under an hour. Rob was already gone by then.

Under a blue sheet on the beach, soul hopefully transporting to a more peaceful place.

Yesterday, on the same stretch of sand, a Great White shark, ten feet or so, beached itself.

“A crazy site this morning down the road. Word has it one of the locals was chased in last night by a big shark, then this shows up this morning. We reckon potentially was chasing bait fish in close through the gutter then beached itself. Never a nice site seeing any animal washed up, even if it is a gnarly white!”

 

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In one of the greater ironies, a rescue crew from the nearby Sea World, itself a watery prison for marine mammals, tried to shove the Great White back out to sea, eventually failing, must’ve been sick etc.

The irony wasn’t lost on anyone.

Sea world “rescue” crews. Meanwhile keeping countless animals in captivity..

And forcing dolphins to work for treats, pimping them out for their “animal adventures” where people pay hundreds to swim with them.

Obvious questions, I suppose: are you distressed by the vision of the Great White in the paws of the tractor or are you of the mind that a fish if a fish ergo what’s the prob?

 

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Gabriel Medina and Charlie Medina
Gabriel Medina following epic win at Olympic qualifier and, inset, back when the ol team was back together.

Estranged father of Gabriel Medina breaks silence three years after acrimonious split!

“I love you, we are together forever.”

In the northern hemi winter of 2021, the surf world was torn asunder when Gabriel Medina split, in a professional as well as a private sense, from his mammy Simone and his step-daddy Charlie Serrano.

Charlie was the ubiquitous, unsmiling, ever-supportive pillar behind his equally taciturn looking son.

The split was driven, it was said, by Gabriel Medina’s surprise marriage to actress and model Yasmin Brunet, whom Medina has since divorced.

“They have always lived through Gabriel’s career. Imposing discipline, giving strength and controlling everything closely. Now, he is no longer a boy and shares his life with his wife. It is undeniable how passionate they are,” said a friend.

The millionaire three-time world champ slashed his mammy’s five gees a month allowance down to three-and-a-half, and Simone and Charlie sold the fabled Gabriel Medina Institute in Maresias, which they got in the breakup deal, for around two-mill US.

Charlie and Simone got a house in a lux condo and the not so flashy joint they lived in before Gabriel got his first title.

Simone also got a little under a million US in cash.

Gabriel got to keep the six-unit luxury condo he developed with Charlie and a house in the middle of a forest where he now lived, briefly, with Yasmin and a dozen adopted dogs.

Following the split with his parents Gabriel got back in touch with his real daddy, Claudinho, whom he installed in one of his houses.

Simone and Charlie, meanwhile, concentrated on the burgeoning career of their other prodigy, Gabriel’s sister Sophia Medina. 

Shortly after, Gabriel Medina quit the 2022 tour citing the fragility of his mental health.

Now, following Gabriel Medina’s blitzkrieg in Puerto Rico, Charlie has made his first public post about Gabriel in 166 weeks. 

“Congratulations Gabriel, proud of you always, once again you wrote history, you touched us once again with your talent and determination, the gold is on the way, keep looking forward, I love you, we are together forever.”

Gabriel Medina responded with a three-pack emoji, a red love heart, a Brazilian flag and what is either a sword carrying woman in a niqab, a hard-working Asian who masks while collecting glass bottles out of trash cans for recycling or a Japanese ninja. 

At one point, Gabriel’s mama Simone dives into the comments after one fan suggested “Gabriel doesn’t need a Coach, Coach, Professor and Staff. Gabriel is unique, born ready, a Genius!!!!”

Her reply?

“A lot of talents are lost without a foundation, one house without a foundation doesn’t stand. I know a lot of families that do that for their children even though they are geniuses, and I know it’s not easy. Together we are stronger. Only we who are familia and chew the same bone know what we need one day. God bless you…”

Inspirational! 

 

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If you cannot give me three facts about this surfer, you must watch Road to Teahupo'o.
If you cannot give me three facts about this surfer, you must watch Road to Teahupo'o.

Surf fans scramble to meet new Olympians day after final tickets punched

Homework time.

The 2024 Paris Olympics just very well might be the pinnacle of competitive professional surfing. The highest of highs and now under five months away. Teahupo’o is, of course, one of the most stunning waves on the planet and will provide a fabulous stage for heroes and heroines to shine but the surf fan has some homework before the torch is lit.

Namely, who are Cody Young, Alan Quinones, Lucca Messina, and Bill Stairmand? Oh we are familiar with the World Surf League stars and starlets, the Jordy Smiths and Carissa Moores, and will be happy to see them shine but the Olympics are custom built for upsets and imagine our embarrassment when, sitting on couch with aunts and uncles, watching the action when one of them asks, “Who’s Sol Aguerre?”

Faces growing hot and red whilst we attempt to mumble something that sounds reasonable while not knowing even though surf fandom has a very low bar.

Shameful.

Thankfully, the legendary filmmaker Paul Taublieb is here for us. The Emmy-award winner has just dropped Teahupo’o Surf Camp: Road to Paris 2024 on the Olympic channel. The 40-minute documentary follows hopefuls as they head to Teahupo’o in order to be coached by local Tahitian Tereva David. There, they train, surf and share their backgrounds etc. Essential and especially when the eyes of aunts and uncles are burning holes.

Enjoy here.

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Toledo (pictured) king of small waves.
Toledo (pictured) king of small waves.

Pressure mounts on Filipe Toledo to vacate Olympic slot following stunning Gabriel Medina World Surfing Games win

Chants of "we want Yago!" filling the humid air.

The final final final Olympic qualifying opportunity is now, officially, in the rearview (I think) with every ticket to Teahupo’o now thoroughly punched (maybe). Surf fans were thrilled, yesterday, as Gabriel Medina righted his competitive ship and stormed though all comers at the World Surfing Games thereby gifting his nation, Brazil, a bonus third slot that he will occupy.

Assuming that Joao Chianca is healthy, the land of order and progress has a legitimate shot to take gold and silver and the place of broken skulls, though a historic medal sweep is certainly off the table with Filipe Toledo also on the team.

While, in most cases, it would seem fortuitous to have a two-time world champion in the fold, Toledo presents a unique case what with abject terror seizing his heart, rendering him unable to even paddle, much less surf, the “Cave of Skulls.”

Now, the world’s undisputed small wave king has angrily defended his timidity, openly declaring that he owes nothing to no one, before taking the year off citing “mental health.” Surf fans, with generally muddled minds, have listed to the li’l lion’s meows and accepted the various excuses proffered, even praising his pre-Olympic vacation as “stigma busting.”

The question, though, is will Brazil’s “passionate” fanbase be as understanding?

Imagine that the ocean cooperates come July 27 – August 4 (the Olympic surf window). Imagine postcard perfect Teahupo’o, those ultramarine swells bending into giant tacos as they touch the reef. Imagine the eyes of the world watching John John Florence, Jack Robinson, Leonardo Fioravanti otherwise known as the United States, Australia and Italy, being taught a sharp lesson by the aforementioned Medina and Chianca, or Brazil. Imagine the civil pride, green and gold uber alles, but then frustration as Toledo bows out China’s Siqi Yang in the first round knowing that it could have been Yago Dora there instead, bronze medal dangling around his bronze neck.

Toledo, no doubt, beginning to feel the pressure to vacate. Will he stare down an entire sport mad nation, mustering vast resources of will, or will he wilt as is his wont?

More as the story develops.

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Chris Cote on Gabriel Medina’s dominant win at Olympic surf qualifier, “He made it look easy!”

"He won every single heat he surfed with power, wild aerial surfing and he did with with a smile on his face. We’re seeing a reignited Gabriel Medina."

In today’s episode of Toxic Positivity, WSL/ISA shill Chris Cote reports from a wild final day at the ISA Games that saw Gabriel Medina win the men’s gold medal, elevating Brazil to the number one, thereby getting ’em an extra Olympic slot, and with a dominance not seen since…well… maybe a first!

“Gabriel Medina needed to win and guess what, he showed up in a huge way in Puerto Rico,” says Cote. “He won every single heat he surfed with power, wild aerial surfing and he did with with a smile on his face. We’re seeing a reignited Gabriel Medina.”

According to Cote,

“The maestro is back and this week proved it. He smashed his way through the final day, made it look easy and may have locked himself in for the third Olympic spot for team Brazil. It was just as he planned it. He got priority in the final, blocked everybody else, won the gold medal and is the ISA world champion.”

But will he be given the vacant third men’s slot? Sources say yes, but as Chas Smith reported earlier today, “The brightest analytical minds are, currently, sorting through the data to see which Brazilian will lay claim to the third Olympic slot as the qualification rules and regulations are more difficult to sort than the formula for cold fusion.”

It’s either Gabriel Medina or the just-as-spectacular Yago Dora.

Both would be considered among the favourites to win Olympic gold at Teahupoo.

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