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PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 12:25 am 
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Location: Ettalong Beach, Central Coast, Australia
Just seen the news footage of a huge great white who scared three kayakers fishing off a Northern Sydney beach today. One fellow fell into the water, and a nearby tinnie picked him up, while the shark got way too close. Maybe just for once it was a good lot of stinkies? Presumably it will turn up on YouTube soon? Not something I want to see anywhere near me.

I gather all three were in Hobies.

Geoff.


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 2:36 am 
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And following that a 51 year old man was taken by a shark whilst snorkling with his son off a beach near Perth Western Australia today. Eye witnesses saw a fin then thrashing then blood. The man's body has not been recovered. I'm glad I'm in my Adventure Island...Pirate


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 10:03 am 
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Location: Danville California/Kahana Maui
At least the AI doesn't look like a sea mammal from below and they will have to get through a lot of plastic and aluminum before it gets to the meat. Not like sitting on a surf board.


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 3:02 pm 
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jholtco wrote:
At least the AI doesn't look like a sea mammal from below and they will have to get through a lot of plastic and aluminum before it gets to the meat. Not like sitting on a surf board.


Well that depends on whether you are using the Mirage Drive:


Here's the story written by the kayakers themselves : http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=22720

This bit is a serious warning however:

Was he/she attracted to the yaks in particular? What part?


Quote:
Totally. I posted this earlier but will repeat - the shark only went for the hobies. The mirage drive, though a wonderful invention is I believe a magnet to sharks who can detect the pressure waves set up by the flippers. Proof = as soon as Johnny and Justin moved away the shark left the tinny and went straight for them at speed. Steve was peddling when he got tipped. The shark never really came near me but went from hobie to hobie. Do I have an answer - I would recommend raising the mirage drive and adopting a paddle in a repeat scenario. Apart from detecting pressure waves, the MD also looks like 'seal flippers' to the shark which is possibly why he was so interested in the hobies.


Geoff.


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 6:57 pm 
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Now that was a great story and a 20 foot great white would scare anybody but the AI with the ama's and ika's looks less like the other mammals in the water on surf board or single hulled kayaks from below the surface. I'm glad those guys are safe and I'm sure they are already back fishing. Thanks for sharing the story :x :x


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 9:57 pm 
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jholtco wrote:
but the AI with the ama's and ika's looks less like the other mammals in the water on surf board or single hulled kayaks from below the surface. I'm glad those guys are safe and I'm sure they are already back fishing. Thanks for sharing the story :x :x


We already had had an AI off Hawaii get a bite on the nose, from a big shark, so don't get too sure. It also tipped the fellow out, from the impact. Fortunately did not overturn the AI though. And he climbed back in while it was chewing on the nose. Punctured the plastic. These fellows were also in Hobies, and one was tipped out by a solid nudge, but managed to get back in without getting eaten. Then he climbed into a tinnie, which was as well.

There is a video of it up now:

Daily Telegraph

Geoff.


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 10:34 pm 
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Quote:
AI with the ama's and ika's looks less like the other mammals in the water on surf board or single hulled kayaks from below the surface.


I would have thought the AI would look like three seals swimming together and its well known that White Pointers cant count :? . Its certainly believable that the Mirage drive might attract sharks, since its designed to emulate a penguin.

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:16 am 
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I'm sceptical that the mirage drive would be more likely to attract a shark attack than a paddle kayak.
This comes from Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_attack
'Sharks are equipped with sensory organs that detect the electricity generated by muscle movement called the Ampullae of Lorenzini;
.....another theory for the low fatality rate of shark bites is that the electrical receptors, which pick up movement, do not pick up the same signals from a human as they do a wounded seal (which creates a disturbance in the water similar to a human swimming), and so they are more cautious.'

So it seems sharks are attracted by the electrical impulses emitted when muscles contract and that sharks can differentiate between the impulses from their usual prey and those of something unfamiliar to them.
A mirage drive would emit no such impulses as far as I am aware. Sure the movement mimics a penguin flipper but are sharks attracted by sight? If that was the case I'm sure we'd be hearing of more attacks on Hobies. In the AKFF forum there was some discussion on mirage drive pressure waves being attractive to sharks but a paddle would also exert a pressure wave and without proper research I don't think you can conclude that a mirage drive is a shark magnet. :wink:
As far as I am aware Hobie's aren't overly represented in kayak attacks. All types of kayaks are prone to an attack. Remember though a kayak attack is an extremely rare event and an actual attack on a kayaker thrown into the water even rarer:
http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/u ... ayaker.htm

PS - Geoff I could be wrong but I thought it was an Adventure that the kayaker was thrown from and not an AI??


Last edited by stringy on Sun Dec 28, 2008 3:16 am, edited 3 times in total.

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:33 am 
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stringy wrote:
PS - Geoff I could be wrong but I thought it was an Adventure that the kayaker was thrown from and not an AI??


I was referring to the Hawaii event, and I understood it was an AI?

Geoff.


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:46 am 
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G'Day Geoff,
I'm not sure if it's the same attack but I remember reading a while back about an attack on the nose of the kayak, the kayak tipping over, the kayaker righting it and getting back on and making it safely to shore. The shark left puncture marks on the kayaks nose which the media were very interested in. I haven't been able to find the article but I was under the impression it was an Adventure.


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 3:46 am 
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This is the attack I was thinking of:
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index ... 174.0.html
It wasn't in Hawaii though!


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 4:00 am 
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The link wont let me in before joining up Stringy. Can you cut and paste it please.....Pirate


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 10:34 am 
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The point I was trying to make is compared to being on a surf board in the water, which I try to do as well but not very well, the AI with all aluminum and plastic it would take a few bits to get to any meat "my meat". A friend of mine wears one of those $600.00 shark detracters on his anke when he surks, it makes his wife feel better about him surfing.


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 Post subject: Sharks and sounds
PostPosted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 12:17 pm 
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Location: CLEARWATER, MN
I have been SCUBA diving for over 30 years and quite a few divers (and several marine biologists) have related to me that low note sounds do attract sharks. Supposedly wounded large fish and hurt seals splash around on the surface generating low notes which travel quite easily through water. Remember Roy Scheider beating on the UW power cable in JAWS 2?

Diving friends told me that it is safer when wearing swim fins
to not splash with the fins when on the surface. They have had sharks
appear and investigate the splashing...while other diving partners
were swimming beneath the surface and the sharks never paid them
much attention.

I wonder what the sound of the Mirage Drive is like compared with simple Kayak paddling? I have a hydrophone and will try to record the difference next spring, when our lakes open up again.

Sharks can detect low electrical fields (a 'baby' great white was kept in an aquarium in San Francisco...and she kept hitting one spot on the side... turned out there was some electrical equipment on the other side of the wall)

I looked at the Ozzy video of the event...it appeared that the Kayaks were
all dark in appearance. I wonder if the boat coloration made a difference
on the shark attack. I used to own US DIVERS scuba gear...the tanks came in bright yellow...the dive shops down in Florida always kidded me on owning 'yum-yum yellow'. It seems that yellow tanks were
investigated by sharks more than the grey ones.

I own a papaya-yellow AI...maybe I don't want to haul it down to Florida after all, LOL.


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 12:30 pm 
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Location: South Florida
A note from FL--

There must be dozens if not hundreds of people in FL who fish from mirage kayaks. If the fins attracted interest, i.e., sharks were attracted to them, you would expect mirage-drive fisherpersons complaining that their catch was being eaten by sharks at a higher rate than ordinary kayaks. I've heard no such comments.

I have had 2-3 "shark attacks" on my lure, but always at some distance from my boat, not near my boat. Those were visible surface attacks. I have hooked up w/ sharks on underwater lures, but, again at some distance from my boat.

Keith

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