Apparently a very large great white has been seen two days in a row, in the passage next to the reef break at South Passage. I have been told it has been reported to water police but can't find any postings on shark alert. Both days it has chased windsurfers out of the water. My mate spoke to them as they came in, they were very shaken. They saw whole torso of the shark
Be safe out there, don't go out underpowered and try to keep upwind
Thats at lano I presume?
Wind, in gero anyway today, was a bit up and down so would have been a bit scary im sure.
Wind was good at Lancelin, actually great direction.
Not great having the thought of something lurking, hopefully not same shark that took guy in wedge. They are very territorial. Fisherman in wedge knew about the shark for quite a while prior to surfer bearing taken, according to coroner.
Select to expand quotebermand said..
Wind was good at Lancelin, actually great direction.
Not great having the thought of something lurking, hopefully not same shark that took guy in wedge. They are very territorial. Fisherman in wedge knew about the shark for quite a while prior to surfer bearing taken, according to coroner.
There's no mention in the coroner's written findings of this?
The sharks do follow the cray boats around when they're pulling pots but I've heard from numerous deckies that they won't pull the pots in close behind the break if they have a shark already following them.
www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/order-to-destroy-massive-shark-that-killed-perth-surfer-ben-linden-20120715-223qd.html
My mistake, it was mentioned in this report
Media like to cherry pick and go for the most sensational angle. I've a (bad) habit of fact-checking a lot of stuff I see as I routinely see stuff from work that I have personal knowledge of get turned upside down by media because they want a sensational angle for prime time. Although the inquest probably lasted a couple of full days the findings/summary are quite short and available from coronerscourt.wa.gov.au if you want to read it.
If you read the findings it's clear the coroner's agenda was to confirm the identity of Linden and establish how and when he passed away, nothing more. Perhaps in the future the coroner may hold a larger inquest and bundle all the shark related deaths with a bigger agenda of prevention, mitigation etc but this one wasn't it.
I went looking for some of the others in the last ten years but no luck, either there wasn't an inquest or the website doesn't go back far enough. If no inquest was held then the findings were released direct to the next of kin and are only available via FOI.
I would hate for someone to have seen something, for it to be local knowledge and then with no warnings an encounter occurs. That is pretty much why I posted here. There is a local windsurfer who sails here a lot. His advice keep close to reef as possible, he has seen this shark multiple times in channel. I have kited there maybe 250 times, only ever seen dolphins and sea lions.
I lived there for 4 years and pretty much kited every day, in winter I used to paddle the kayak way out the back (2-3km out) but after the attack at Wedge the kayak hasn't been in water more than waist deep.
All this to me says we have a lot to learn about gws lifestyle.
Ive long been an advocate of the theory that they follow the humpback migration north and south and
there's plenty of evidence that they do.
But they obviously have other behaviours too, hanging around a spot for a while, looking for a feed or a root or whatever.
Have never heard they are territorial, but if one is spotted in your local good to let people know for sure.
Jeebus
don't drop any gybes out the back
if you see me there, I'm not short tacking just staying close to the reef
Glad i read this after the lano to wedge down winder where we hugged the out reefs to bombing range! haha didnt see any sharks, lots of dolphins and a seal though..glad i wasnt the one who had to swim in from out the back after dropping the kite in 
Have never seen a GW, but sharks are pretty well camouflaged. I was sailing with a smallish shark (6 feet?) under me and I didn't even realise until it flicked it's tail and did a sharp right to get away from me. Kind of makes you wonder how often have you been out and you've sailed over a massive shark without even realising.
No further sightings, naive to think they are not there though, not uncommon to see large fins off Ledge. Just don't fall in. Good luck for race
Select to expand quotebermand said..
No further sightings, naive to think they are not there though, not uncommon to see large fins off Ledge. Just don't fall in. Good luck for race
I read something on the West from Fishieries that was discussing the population of GW sharks off the coast of WA, I would have guessed 300, 400, they guesstimated it at over 5000..
Mm seen a decent size shark last Saturday at southpassage. Cruising along the inside of the reef edge. Could only see the tail and fin, didn't look like a GW as it was brownish. kept going for reminder of the day. Got more trouble from Argo old grumpy kiter and windsurfers
Just did south passage.kept looking and looking expecting with semi-fear and anticipation... saw nothing :-)
Spoke to scottish kiter. 4m white spotted by boat three weeks ago also 5km down S from lanc island...200metres out. Friend got washed released kite and dragged in from waves yesterday he was fine
Just remember the NSW study into effectiveness of aerial shark spotters back in 2012 using dummies along the coast - less than 12% spotted. If they cant see em you sure wont.
