Ive seen a few beasties out there,

The latest and largest was a ray. definately an 'offshore' species that had swam in for a sunbake between fisho and possos in torquay.

the wing span had to be over 3 metres, in 4-5 ft of water (board had a 14inch fin on!)

I was praying there would be enough clearance and it wouldnt go me as I wasnt quite on the plane at the time.

Another beastie was the barwon river dolphin archie 2 years ago! He surfed off my bow wave for 30 seconds or so - that was awesome.

'Archie' entertained Red and myself a while back. Actually he scared the bejesus out of Red which was very funny at the time.
Due to the wind direction we had to walk the boards for a bit of a distance and because the channel drops off quite deep in close, Archie decided to swim under the boards as we walked them. Was pretty cool really.
Have also sailed over some big rays at Pt Henry.

Humpback whale decided to surface about 30 metres in front of me just a little way past the poles at Rye. It was the time when a small pod was reported entering Port Phillip. I jumped off my board not wanting to carve my signiture on its back with my fin.

I once saw a very large kitesurfer at Rye. I actually have respect for him getting out and about, it can't have been easy.

Often have 2 playful dophins follow me a little off Mornington Pier.

Pilot Whale at Cape Woolamai.

I sometimes get the odd sea bass jump in front of me, they can some times be 10 inches or so.
Other than that the odd seal pops up...............

it's just not the same here in southend essex.

Mentone Stingray - about a 1.5 m wingspan, freaked me out at the time. Apparently these buggers can jump out of the water when startled!

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jermaldan said...

Mentone Stingray - about a 1.5 m wingspan, freaked me out at the time. Apparently these buggers can jump out of the water when startled!

Was that that day we were out? The ray was down near the special zone buoy?

Back in the early 90s I was sailing at Gnotuk on a light win day on the old Bombora Big Toy and followed a pod of dolphins. The pod split in to 2 and swam away from each other for several minutes before joining up again. When they came together again they were breaching with several getting completely airborne. They swum up the coast and repeated this about 5 times. It is the only time I have seen this happen and have never been so close to dolphins in the wild doing jumps that I only thought happened in dolphin freak shows.

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K Dog said...

jermaldan said...

Mentone Stingray - about a 1.5 m wingspan, freaked me out at the time. Apparently these buggers can jump out of the water when startled!

Was that that day we were out? The ray was down near the special zone buoy?

Yup. Thats the one. All I can remember is thinking "This is not a good time to attempt a jibe! Dont fall in, Dont fall in, Dont fall in, Dont fall in....etc...

Down @ Area 45....
I came off at the end of the strip with Old Salty (Doug) following me. When I came up I could see a head in the water but no board or anything nearby. "How bizarre" I thought and called out Doug to see if he was OK. The bugger ignored me. "Rude pr%ck" I muttered and headed over towards him.
At that moment Doug sailed past me, travelling in the other direction. The head in the water was still there, now only about 5 metres away...except it was a seal!
If you've seen the state of Doug's sailing attire, you'd probably agree with me that its an easy mistake to make!

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drift said...

Down @ Area 45....
I came off at the end of the strip with Old Salty (Doug) following me. When I came up I could see a head in the water but no board or anything nearby. "How bizarre" I thought and called out Doug to see if he was OK. The bugger ignored me. "Rude pr%ck" I muttered and headed over towards him.
At that moment Doug sailed past me, travelling in the other direction. The head in the water was still there, now only about 5 metres away...except it was a seal!
If you've seen the state of Doug's sailing attire, you'd probably agree with me that its an easy mistake to make!

Now that is great - no longer Condom Man I am Seal Head!!

....do humans count?

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jermaldan said...

....do humans count?

Sure why not. I was going to count the beast you left on St Kilda beach

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K Dog said...

jermaldan said...

....do humans count?

Sure why not. I was going to count the beast you left on St Kilda beach

You mean that big brown shark? When you gotta go you gotta go!

Very early start for a dawn session at Green Point 2 years ago - just walking into the water when a BIG seal popped up a couple of meters away. He looked at me, blinked, exhaled and vanished. Very cool.

suprised no ones seen any sharks!

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NasiGoreng said...

suprised no ones seen any sharks!

See them -I don't even want to think about them. And if I close my eyes, they can't see me.

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NasiGoreng said...

suprised no ones seen any sharks!

There are no sharks on the eastern part of the bay, they are all down Altona way. (At least thats what I keep telling myself)

No food in the bay for them. Except the seals.... so if I see them, then I know, its possible for the other things.... [}:)]

port phillip bay is a shark free zone

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flipper4444 said...

port phillip bay is a shark free zone

www.heraldsun.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes

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purplehaze said...

flipper4444 said...

port phillip bay is a shark free zone

www.heraldsun.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes

Denial is still the best form of defense.

Surfing with a few guys at Cat Bay last summer, when one of the guys get a big "thump" on the bottom of his board.

We all sh@t ourselves. Then this seal pup popped its head out of the water, barked at us, caught a wave, and swam back out into Westernport.

A friend of mine has a 165lt Starboard Start. That is a beast. Its like sailing a double bed. A lot of fun though.

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purplehaze said...

flipper4444 said...

port phillip bay is a shark free zone

www.heraldsun.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes

What did I say about Altona.....!

Choco

It should be written into the conditions of use for these forums that the word "Sh@rk" is never written in a post.

All offenders would be stripped of their windsurfing gear and forced to kite surf wearing a very small mankini the wrong way around.

I am with Flip - there is no shark (spoon).

maybe we should make weekly shark reports on the kite forum hehe[}:)]

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purplehaze said...

flipper4444 said...

port phillip bay is a shark free zone

www.heraldsun.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes

come on guys... read the article... a little bit of skepticism every now and again is healthy.

fishermen spot great white... fishermen's spokesperson says they're in the bay due to a tightening of fishing permits

I used to sail around Station Pier when the Spirit of Tassie used to depart. That thing's a beast - created a wind shadow that stretches for over a km. Apart from getting skunked as soon as you sailed into the shadow, you'd get a lovely waft of burnt bunker fuel.

Apart from that, a dolphin (which I initially thought was a s***k) came to check me out once.

One time I was sailing off the end of South rd Brighton,about a km off the beach,heading out and a big white turned up about 20m downwind and cruised along next to me for a while.

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Goo Screw said...

One time I was sailing off the end of South rd Brighton,about a km off the beach,heading out and a big white turned up about 20m downwind and cruised along next to me for a while.

What's a big white?