I saw that in the Times. I always have that in the back of my mind when I swim out there, particularly if there have been recent sightings or you pass a seal carcass washed up on the shore. Just have to counter the fear with the truth of low odds. Doesn't help if there are idiots on the pier though. The last encounter I read about with a white on the pier was another one that got hooked and bumped into a swimmer after the line was cut.

I haven't heard who it was yet. I have been too lazy to get in the open water this year and have been doing all my training in the pool. My normal crew goes Wed, Fri and Sun, but jiggle things around on holiday weekends.

Isn't this how Jaws started: a holiday weekend on a crowded beach? I am not swimming there for a while.

No, that started with a hot naked chick

I know him. Amazingly he's already home though full of stitches and morphine. The pics are a bit gnarly and it's going to be a long recovery but he's relatively lucky.

They upgraded the shark size estimate to 10ft. Manhattan Beach has banned fishing off the pier for a few days.

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Forget speedwork. Speedwork is the icing on the cake and you don't have a cake yet. - MattinSF

Basically they have 9 tenants, live life to the fullest, do not turn the cheak, and embrace the 7 deadly since. - TheForge (on satanists)

This video is disturbing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESzXLQhMMlo

Nevermind the stupidity of onlookers/fishermen.
If the city allowed fishing for predators at these highly populated beaches, it should be held accountable too.

Yeah, I saw the pics. Could have been much worse but that's going to be a painful recovery. Also just saw the ^ video, but only on my phone so not really sure what it shows. But someone should grab a copy before his lawyer tells him he's an idiot and take it down.

Eta ok watched and listened. These guys knew what they were doing, knew there were swimmers nearby, and laughed when there was contact. Assholes, hopefully they get what they deserve.

This video is disturbing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESzXLQhMMlo

Nevermind the stupidity of onlookers/fishermen.
If the city allowed fishing for predators at these highly populated beaches, it should be held accountable too.
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That is disturbing, fu^king assholes.

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Train safe & smart
Bob

I hope those losers get criminal and civil charges brought against them.

The gene pool of this country is dry! We really have become a nation of uncaring, unfeeling, self centered pieces of shit.

Hope this guy recovers

After watching this video it is a distinct probability that this guy is a triathlete. I have done that swim 100's of times and it looks like one of the usual OW swimmer/triathlete groups that do this weekend swim every week in the summer. Sounds like he is going to recover, but what a lottery it has been for our ocean swim groups. Only so cal fatality in many, many decades was a guy in solona beach swimming in a group just like this one, and he was a triathlete.

Gonna be a lot harder to convince folks that ocean swimming is safer than just about anything else you do with these two incidents. For sure Gerry knows this guy, or at the very least many of the swimmers in the group. Was the stand up paddle guy just out there, or was he a coach following?

Much safer swimming than riding on the road for sure.

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Fit Endurance Coaching - Head Coach|Facebook
USAT L1 Coach | BikeFit Certified Fitter | Contributing Writer - Triathlete Magazine | ROKA

In San Diego we have whackos whining that the ongoing recovery of seal/sea lion populations is a threat to swimmers. But they somehow ignore the hundreds of fisherman who literally throw bait into the water to attract large fish less than a 1/4 mile from where everyone swims.

Humans have a weird perception of the world.

Jackasses! All you hear is the guy screaming in agony and they are laughing. Then they tell the open water swimmers to get out of the water. Well duh! The only way out is to swim out and that takes time.

The national news just said he was an "endurance swimmer", so likely a triathlete

Perp claims he was fishing for bat-rays and only hooked the shark accidentally, Fishing for sharks form the MH pier is illegal (AFAIK).
He also says he did not cut the line earlier because there were swimmers in the water..
WTF?
He sure knew that he had hooked a shark and that as soon as he cut the line the shark would be heading for deeper waters ASAP.

Criminal....

Hello windschatten and All,

I heard the swimmer on the radio today and it appears he will survive.

He accused the fisherman of chumming and said he was in idiot.

Cheers,

Neal

+1 mph Faster

He's a friend of a friend, not a triathlete but an ow swimmer. Completed a Catalina crossing last year. Name is out there, Steven Robles. But any given Saturday or Sunday (or weekdays, I swim there Tuesdays) you'll find triathletes there. Pier is the LA Tri club Sunday morning meeting spot. They were out this morning.

And yes. Hooking a GWS is illegal in california a it's a protected species. Have to cut it loose once you know (and the video shows he knew ). Dude is actually an active poster on a thread on the roundhouse aquariums Facebook page (a small aquarium on the end of the pier)

ETA - I've been communicating with the director of the local aquarium on that pier, and he thinks hooking a GWS is a "grey area" Not sure I understand as the statute says you cannot hunt catch, etc or "attempt to hunt, catch" a protected species. Hard to see how hooking on a line is not at the very least an attempted catch. He says the DFG rep told him a GWS ca be hooked and played with no time limit as long as it's swimming (to breathe) and can swim when cut loose. Makes no sense.

Saw the swimmer interviewed on ABC news tonight. He's stitched up like crazy with a big bite across his chest...but he's going to be fine. A close call!

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/07/06/swimmer-shares-how-he-survived-great-white-shark-attack/

saw this video yesterday without audio- listened to it this am and the audio changes everything.
Is the sound in the background the swimmer screaming after the attack or gulls in the background, or both?

Either way those guys/gals are horrible people for contributing to this and laughing about it while happening.

The swimmer

Assholes exist all over the world. Get off the American hate train - American people are among the world's most giving per capita, empathetic and altruistic. Helping a stranger is commonplace here.

What bothers me the most is that they shut down fishing on the pier for 3 WHOLE DAYS!!! How about you just ban fishing on the pier for good. There is literally no real safe way to do it there; not only because of swimmers but because of surfers, beach go-ers, etc. I've never understood why it's allowed and will continue to not understand it. The last time I got hooked by a fisherman there, I almost fucking killed him I was so mad.

http://www.usatoday.com/...nthusiasts/12944323/

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