"From a Great White in the Tweed River to a giant bull stalking a popular swimming spot, a wave of shark sightings is sending shivers through the Gold Coast."
Gold Coast surfers are being warned of a massive spike in shark activity with a Great White spotted among surfers in the Tweed River and thick hulled bull shark sharks strolling through swimmers in front of Mick Fanning’s old Gatsby House at Bilinga, as well as sightings at North Burleigh, Palm Beach, Caba, Casa, Kingscliff etc.
A surf cam and a drone captured the almost-final moments of the surfer as the Great White, a protected species in Australia since 1999, turned the tranquil tableaux into a scene out of the fabled Jaws series. Kelly Slater was quick to lend his perspective to the event writing on Instagram, “Lucky to be alive.”
According to witnesses interviewed by the state broadcaster, “The man was sitting on his board and the shark literally bit the board behind his butt.
“The board just popped, like it exploded, and it flew up in the air and by this time there was a man up on the rocks going, ‘Oi, come in.’ The board exploded, one half went that way, the other half went that way, there was just whitewash and debris everywhere.
Anyway, the region’s daily newspaper has reported a mass of sightings in the last week, which includes a Great White in the Tweed River, filmed on a GoPro by longboarder Harris Robinson who’d been shredding the little peelers refracting off the breakwall.
“I’ve only ever seen four Great Whites in my life. I shot across the Fingal Bar and it came around the corner and there’s a bunch of fishers off the south wall waving us down. You can see a little figure and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s a dolphin’ and … they’re really frantically waving and (I asked) what’s up?” Robinson reported.
“He’s like, it’s White … big shark there. You could clearly see the jagged edge of the fin and I was like ‘Holy crap, that’s definitely a White’ so I stuck my GoPro in.”
Apart from the Great White hit on Nick Slater out the back of the nets five years back, you ever think of Great Whites when you’re shoulder to jaw at Snapper or Kirra? I get it occasionally on those deep bits when you’re traversing across Greenmount to Spot X and Kirra but rarely the shiver of imminent death like around Forster-Tuncurry, Wooli, Ballina etc.
The games the mind plays.
A shiver of sharks….
Can’t believe it took me that long to figure out…
“there’s a bunch of fishers off the south wall”
Who the fuck says “pedantically”??? when referencing seeing a white??
I know Typical GC wrong boarder looking fuckwit
Spent a bit of time in NSW/Queensland in the 80’s. Tallows was my sure thing. Decent peaks inside the bay at Byron too. Hillbilly was nearly empty week days and Broken was always quiet. Ballina’s waves were so fun. 10 years tripping round, never thought “ shark” once.
Did think shark crossing Moreton to Stradbroke, that was sketchy, but Straddy so good.
Did the paddle to Puni’s as well, 90’s, pre dawns from Manganui. Didn’t feel the vibe, but Moreton was always sketchy. Always
Waves ‘reflect’ off of walls, not ‘refract’. How tf can nobody in surf media get this right?
they do both brother.
No – they reflect off of walls. They can refract around walls. But this is reflection.
Correct.
They refract around walls and sometimes the refracted swell reflects off the wall. Sometimes a different swell train reflects off the wall and is phase enhanced by the refracted swell line- which is what was occurring on this particular day.
V. common occurrence at these East coast breakwalls.
Also enhanced by refraction on the tidal delta.
Don’t disagree with that. But wording in this particular article is wave ‘refracted off the breakwall’ which is physically impossible. The correct word in this case would be ‘reflect’
Think of it as a mirror.
Light reflects off of a mirror, it refracts through a prism.
While it is possible to refract light reflected off a mirror, the sexual shortcomings of it all renders it meaningless.
I’m thinking Swellnet is starting to rub off on you…
Hey mate did ya see Dane Henry from Kingy has made the semis over at the world juniors? Fuck he rips and I’m really hoping for some big things from him
I apologise unreservedly. Who knew!
All you Aussies need to man up. The thoughts in the back of your mind at certain surf spots here in Nor Cal have always been a part of Surfing.
White shark researchers give presentations at surf shops and schools. People love nature, and don’t want to go back to the 1900’s when wildlife was being destroyed for profit.
Did you ever read the study of shark populations in Ca? They dove Lowers, Malibu, Rincon and Steamers and the most sharks spotted were Lowers, then Malibu, then Rincon, then Steamers…..
Didn’t read that one but the ones down at lowers are the six foot ones eating stingrays I’m pretty sure. The California white shark project has been studying the populations at Tomales Bay. There are about thirty large adults that stay there all season.
They put decoys in the water and they got investigated by a shark on average every four hours.
The guy that just got attacked at Pt Arena had a white shark tattoo lol
My daily was Surf Beach. Had an encounter and swore I’d never go back ( like skating ramps) last summer got desperate. Inside banks near the river looked so fun, pretty soon I was over it and was surfing outside banks, breaking my rule. Very fun when everything south sucked to mexico.
After three sessions back, i texted a buddy. “ You went back?!” He sends me a link to the tagged sharks in Lompoc area, you can watch them patrol back and forth. Study even named them. There were 3 near the river mouth the last day i surfed. Good rights too off the south bank.
Have not gone back since I saw the tag data. But I know it’s good, today, now
I know the site you’re talking about. There was an eighteen foot female that was always around Pt Conception Morro Bay area.
I just think of the same way as when you decide to go rock climbing in Yosemite. If something happens you knew the risks.
What site is that? I don’t there are any west coast sharks currently being tracked by Ocearch.
It’s a personal ig page of a shark researcher that I follow but I’m drawing a blank for the account name. When he posts again I’ll tell you.
Faaark that. If the sharks don’t get you, the box jellyfish might. If they don’t, the snakes are slithering everywhere. And if you evade all them, you got saltwater crocs crossing the road. No wonder they all drink like fish up there!
hate to bring up something surf related, but there has been some very fine waves on the North Shore recently…..and there was even a surfing competition there today.
if anyone is interested there’s some good footage on Utube
Somebody get eddy a case of beer and a microphone pronto!!!
Eddie doesn’t drink alcohol
Even better…
Trump sounds just like Darwin!
The paddle out from soft rock to the headland at Caba was always a bit freaky. As was surfing up the beach at Caba. Thought in at the cove was safe. Then old mate gets bitten and chased in by a bull shark and a white chomps a bloke’s board in half. Both next to the Caba rocks. Locals Only indeed!
Then you got that fella getting killed in half a metre of water at Greenmount. And the recent thrashing of dozens of sharks basically on the sand at Rainbow Bay. Ain’t nowhere to relax now.
Turn of the century I surfed way up the beaxh at Tallows by myself for 2 weeks. Not a care in the world. Now? Heart falls out of my chest paddling out Cosy Corner. I just wanna fucken escape the rat race on land when I surf. Not freak out about Jaws in the water every time I paddle out.
Fuck me. Can’t even take a dip in the Tweed River now without second thoughts. Defo won’t be tossing the ball out into the middle of the river and letting the pet mutt swim out and get it! My mum would never forgive if I told her Fido got swallowed by Jaws!
Need some new fucking legislation unprotecting the unendangered fuckers! Took Japan less than a few months for them to take action against the bears terrorising the northern prefectures. Deeds not words mofos. (I’m an Aussie, so no Trump or Miller references please!)
sounds like a bit of an unwanted immigrant issue. Nothing a few armed ICE agents can’t take care of, so Donny’s you’re man.
Hypothetically, which is the immigrant? Us or them?
Depends if you ask our indigenous brothers!
we are the immigrants.
ICE agents up on top the Caba headland looking down. Guns drawn. Better yet, hanging out in the pandanus trees like those goats in Morocco!
The goats taste good in Morocco. Had some last night.
yep , the problem is we the people are the immigrants , and ol sharky has been around for 100’s of millions of years!
then the Kooris came for a 100K years….and then 200 years ago, white fellas appeared…….but ol trumpy seems to have problem with the idea of anybody questioning his incredible rational ideas….so taco turns ice into his personal gestapo……..being continued….
Worst I ever got it was surfing Fingal alone, no one on the beach, cloudy day. Fucked. The only times I crossed that stretch from Greenmount–Kirra is on pumping swells, so just catching waves all the way. Is this zone gonna become Reunion Island soon or what?
Yeah, Fingal, gives a few chills. But Ballina, man, brrrrrrrr.
Yeah nah that zone seemed fucked. Even Suffolk tripped me out tbh
surfing South Wall solo the other day with bait balls everywhere.
lasted 5 waves.
I don’t even consider North Wall/South Wall/Sharpes these days. Don’t care how good it looks.
Think of your whole life and all the millions of things you’ve done. Surfed, travelled, laughed, (petty) crimed, jobbed, married, familied, saved, spent, hangovered, footied, lived.
Then you go for a quick paddle one day and get chewed to shreds by a prehistoric beast. You don’t even see it coming til your leg’s in its throat, let alone say goodbye to loved ones.
just feels like such a pointless, wasteful way to go when, in some circumstances, it’s preventable – don’t go out or go elsewhere. But this is the current debate: proliferation of sharks and attacks is fundamentally changing the way a large subsection if society lives. Surely human safety takes precedence?
Sharpes was one of the half dozen waves that I got to surf in Aus. It was so fuckin good. Better than everywhere else that day and not a soul in the water. Had an amazing 75 mins in the water before conditions changed for the worse.
The idea of watching that place go off and not being able to paddle out is heartbreaking.
we still paddle out bruz.
Five waves take me an hour. How fast you punch em out?
deffo less than an hr- might have been a 30 minute heat.
it was easy with no one out and a rip next to the wall.
I wish I had known you were down here cuz I would have taken you for an early at kingy backbeach on a back bank or out to Cudgen reef. Certainly gets the heart rate going hahaha
Yeah was never interested kingy always had a few sharks zipping around it seemed like!
You want to know something wild? Some of the Fingal crew used to go spearfishing out at Cook Island! Can you imagine swimming back from there with a bag of dead fish and just a harpoon for protection hahahaha fuck that.
Crazy thing is I never used to worry about noahs when I was growing up but now with all the fishos I know telling me how many more they see my eyes are scanning everywhere when I go for a splash. Give zero fucks what the “experts” or shark rooters are telling me cuz I have grown up here and its a fuck load different these days
That’s fucking skitz holy shit.
Yeah I have a mate I chatted with today near Caba and he mentioned that he’s definitely had to be way more conscious about it nowadays. So weird
My mate used to do the dawny every day up two tits – Caba beachy. Laughed at me when I finally called it a day meeting him, called me a poozwah. In the last 12 months he’s stopped sirfing out there on request of his missus. Then he put the hard word on his teenage son, so he’s stopped too.
The irony? They both surf the headland, which is where the two Caba attacks happened!
Funnily enough , my scariest shark encounter was also out Caba headland. Maybe 25 years ago. Overcast, noone out, soft southerly so a bit protected. Decent sections running down the beach. Felt eerie though coz the peak was right off the back rock. Took off on one, and literally as I got to my feet, about a 10 foot dark shadow went straight under my board. No way it was a dolphin. Way too girthy. Got straight back down and belly boarded into the rocks with my feet vertically skyward! Cut the shit outta my legs and exited right near the LOCALS ONLY rock!
My wife wouldn’t go shark diving with me so I took her to Tuncurry and Forster
So many days feeling safe twenty metres from shore at Tuncurry not realising White Death was beneath me!