A typical piece of hyped up reporting. First: "The unbelievable footage shows the unaware kite surfer coming within centimetres of the shark as he heads back to dry land."
Indeed, about 1000 cm I would estimate, or 10 metres if you want to use a more realistic gauge of the distance involved. But, "within centimetres" makes it sound within biting range so all the more scary, eh?
"Terrifying footage" terrifying for whom? The reader or the kitesurfer who, in the previous sentence quoted above, was claimed to be "unaware"? Difficult to be terrified when you don't even know what's going on!
And the kitesurfer was "head(ing) back to dry land". What's wrong with the term "beach"? Of course, "dry land" sounds further away from the shark and hence safer as, other than in the movie 'Jaws', sharks aren't known for leaping out of the water in pursuit of human prey.
The best bit is the statement from camera man Adam Cartmer: "You could see it wasn't going to attack - I was near it in knee deep water. It was a little disoriented".
Moreover, "The sighting comes after a strikingly similar shark was spotted in shallow waters at nearby La Perouse on Monday". Similar in that it had fins, a tail and was in the ocean, I'm guessing?
As Ian K said, there are probably 100 (if you count the small ones, thousands of) sharks in Botany Bay right now. But it's difficult to spot 'em if nobody is within eyeshot. The only ones that get seen are the ones where there are people present, usually lots of people, as this increases the odds of the shark(s) being seen. Perhaps that would explain the claim that: "sharks are drawn to unmeshed swimming spots in the warmer months." Wouldn't it have been better to have said swimmers are urged to stay inside meshed swimming areas as sharks are drawn into shallow water in the warmer months (if that is even true), rather than suggest sharks deliberately target swimming areas?
The world's oceans are full of sharks of lots of different types. If you spend time in it or on it, sooner or later you will have a close encounter with one.
And finally, when viewed from above, how come there are so many people who are able to recognise the precise species of shark in question? This one is supposedly a bull shark but I guess that makes a change from the ubiquitous great white. Jaws has a lot to answer for - as Peter Benchley, the author of the original book on which the move is based - to his deep regret, became painfully aware.
This type of reporting perpetuates the myth that Peter Benchley spent the balance of his life trying to dispel. But it sells newspapers, doesn't it?
www.livescience.com/8309-jaws-changed-view-great-white-sharks.htmlnarrative.ly/how-the-creator-of-jaws-became-the-sharks-greatest-defenderwww.boston.com/culture/entertainment/2015/06/19/why-the-author-of-jaws-wished-he-never-wrote-it
slalomfreak
> 9 months ago, 10 Feb 2017
