Couple points of interest.
faaark the Brazilians the next comp is in Brazil and after there big sooky post on insta, now gets the yellow jersey at home and stays in front.
prettylucky considering they were looking at surfing against jack Robinson next heat. ( who would of kicked there asses absolutely)
So by dramatically broadcasting it the wsl is really obliged to cancel.
The comp brings in 5 million every year into the local area, that's not to count the coverage and tourism advertising on top........
personally I think it's gotten way way to crowded down there in the last 5-8 years so I hope less people come, growth isn't always good......

but for all the business owners and tourism operators it's hard hard yakka.
It has now been televised across the world that it is too unsafe to have a surf comp here, they are still saying they will be back next year but let's wait n see.
both surfers are extremely lucky to have survived, it is highly likely that the shark had been well fed from all the whale and these were more inquisitive bites than ones of hunger.
generally after feeding on whale sharks like to mate.
so these two guys really received "love bites"
For those of you still going on about mistaken identity etc , let's look at how the same shark attacked two people...... after the first person and board there was little or no doubt what the second human was.
This is most likely the same shark that got brad smith near on a decade ago............... and what have we done?????let it get three or four more people in the past 5 years......
you can jam your shark shields and buzz boxes up where the sun don't shine.
Again targeted fishing of problematic fish in areas is fishing not culling it needs to be done and that's it.
no more hippy bull ship

Bara said..

JulianRoss said..
Just thinking out loud here..
Would the event have been cancelled because of the first attack if there hadn't been a second. If not, then was the second attack/ incident the impetus for the cancellation.
So in relation to the second incident, was the guy paddling out when there was known shark activity (see Nth Scb post above), either:
1 a protester bent on cancelling the corporate funded competition
2 an anode like sentinal, in that he would keep the shark away from the competition, and therefore aiming to keep the comp going?
Hero or villian?
Either way, a speedy recovery to 2 pretty lucky (they survived) and unlucky (they got bit) surfers.

the event was cancelled due to ongoing shark activity on top of these 2 quick fire attacks. the alerts are pinging like crazy with sightings last 48 hours. ie it wasnt looking like getting any better.

the 2nd guy reckons he didnt know till he paddled out and thats entirely possible. if you dont check your mobile its pretty easy to do and he doesnt look like he even owns one! I told plenty out the back further south around 5 to 6 hours after the first attack who didnt know about it and no one knew about a whale carcass till pretty late in the day

Inadvertently or not if the cancelled pro jolts some action from McClowan then that 2nd bloke is a bloody hero in my book!

Signs on the beach, apparently DPAW on the beach and he was told to exit the water by fishes from their boat. The other went in and he caught a wave, then paddled back out.

I think he knew..

I want to provide some of the facts in relation to the second attack as I was standing on the beach and saw the entire thing.

The guy said that he didn't know about the previous attack. I find this hard to believe as the beach was closed and the DPAW staff were at the path telling everyone about it. Aside from this, the reason I saw the entire attack is because the fisheries boat was out the back of the surf signalling to everyone there was a massive shark. I watched all the other surfers come in straight away. This guy stayed out ignoring the fisheries boat. There were plenty of waves he could of caught or he could of even just paddled in. We were watching in disbelief as the fisheries continued to signal about the shark and he stayed out there. After about 5 mins the shark appeared out of nowhere and nailed him.

This shark was not just swimming around having a look or thinking about giving him a little love bite. It was clearly intent on nailing him. It first surfaced right next to him and he got steamrolled. I was shocked at the size of this shark. The dorsal fin, top side of the shark and tail fin were clearly visible. Easily 4m in length as has been reported. The shark was thrashing around and it was hard to see where the guy was. The shark then disappeared and by this stage the guy was separated from his board and started swimming back in. A minute or two later the shark reappeared and started attacking his surfboard. By this stage the guy was lucky that a few waves came and he managed to body surf away from the shark. The shark then disappeared again and the guy was only about half way in. By this stage I was expecting the worse case to happen. The shark then reappeard for a third time and continued to attack the surfboard. This shark was very aggressive. Eventually he managed to swim to shore and I was expecting him to have a missing leg or two. His wound was very bad with the gash deep enough for the bone to be visible but I am amazed it wasn't so much worse.

Looks like this tool who ignored all the warnings ,has probably cost the state millions in lost tourism ,a cancelled WCT and a chance for a local guy who was doing so well, to win it. Fxxking idiot

Razzonater said..
you can jam your shark shields and buzz boxes up where the sun don't shine.
Again targeted fishing of problematic fish in areas is fishing not culling it needs to be done and that's it.
no more hippy bull ship

Amen brother!

I think Medina would of been more scared surfing against Jack Robbo at the box in his next heat than any sharks

oz surf said..
Looks like this tool who ignored all the warnings ,has probably cost the state millions in lost tourism ,a cancelled WCT and a chance for a local guy who was doing so well, to win it. Fxxking idiot

nah ****ing hero!

if that guy tastes as bad as he looks , no wonder the shark spat him out !!

^^^Maybe we should send the journo out to lefties to test if it's safe yet?

peguin said..
Very surprising and damming article on WAtoday.
www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/funky-cold-medina-surfers-wipe-out-on-shark-fears-at-margaret-river-pro-20180420-p4zatm.html

Journo has not gone for the typical shark cull headline but laid blame at surfers completely.

yeah this is the typical shark hugger line - blame the surfers, "natural selection" etc etc

It lets them divorce themselves from any guilt when they see the human tragedy side of it. Sickening

sign the liberals petition to get smart drums, vote out labor at the next election

all we can do for now.

www.petition.org.au/shark-safety/

Just have a look at the slswa twitter feed to see just how many sharks are reported each day.

Well today for example a 3m white at Esperance surf club at 09:46. And then at 10:46 a 4m aggressive white chased surfers out of the water at the same place. Maybe same fish but a metre is quite a bit.

Yesterday ten 2.5m sharks between Cape Naturaliste and Prevelly from the heli.

Day before eight 2.5m fish in the same area.

Day before eleven fish in the same area including a 3m white.

Ok eight footers aren't a big deal but given the current circumstances I'd probably crap my wetsuit if a fin popped up. Even seeing a dolphin today made me double take.

Go back from then and there starts to be one or two 3.0, 3.5, 4.0s a day.

Legion said..
Well today for example a 3m white at Esperance surf club at 09:46. And then at 10:46 a 4m aggressive white chased surfers out of the water at the same place. Maybe same fish but a metre is quite a bit.

Yesterday ten 2.5m sharks between Cape Naturaliste and Prevelly from the heli.

Day before eight 2.5m fish in the same area.

Day before eleven fish in the same area including a 3m white.

Ok eight footers aren't a big deal but given the current circumstances I'd probably crap my wetsuit if a fin popped up. Even seeing a dolphin today made me double take.

Go back from then and there starts to be one or two 3.0, 3.5, 4.0s a day.

Re the heli spotting it's worth keeping in mind that according to a study in NSW ( fark me they are doing so much more than WA) aerial spotters only spotted 12% of anchored dummy shark silhouettes over a trial period.

So add movement and they maybe see 5% of what's there on any given patrol.

LateStarter said..
I think there's two clear issues to come out of this debacle:

1. The WSL is showing a clear powershift towards the Brazzo dollar and there's been a definite change of the business model. I fear that its only a matter of time until the World Tour becomes a Crusty Demons style spectacle on man made waves in Stadiums Worldwide.

2. The State Government is absolutely sitting on their hands over the Shark Issue. The subsidised Shark deterrents are unsuitable for many water applications. They are also unproven. Two of the Abalone divers taken in SA in recent years were wearing these devices. There are also rumours of devices being returned locally and where people have had to sign non-disclosure agreements to get a refund on faulty devices. Helicopter Patrols are incredibly expensive and not entirely practical. Then the eco-barriers are doing nothing to protect the surfers and divers who are most at risk of attack.

Its time to man up and make some difficult decisions. Whats being done at the moment is clearly not working. Something has to change...

"They are unproven" Not true,

"two abalone divers taken in SA in recent years wearing them" also un true.

Something has to change, Maybe start with facts would be a good place..

Both surfers in the recent attack knew their was a large shark in the water when they went in. Stupid cant be helped..

Kerr-e said..

Greenroom said..

oz surf said..

Thanks for your informed perspective Greenroom.

On a slightly different tack, does anyone have updates on the progress of independent testing for units other than the Freedom 7? The government rebate program was introduced to protect both Divers and Surfers, but it is only the device for Divers which is presently covered.

Not being fesicous here, having been a long time reader it Sort of comes across that you have some sort of financial investment in the repla product. You might not, we all love to support local businesses for sure and if they do work it truly would be great, just sort of reads this way having read many of your posts you seem to push this one product allot over the other, just curious as Dave did post looking for investors on here at the start if I recall correctly. Anyhow I hope one day some footage is released with these things working on an actual great white.........