only the guys iron clm chases!

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Good question. I don;t have the answer for you but I have done Alcatraz. The year I did it the water was dead calm and the current ripping us toward the swim finish. Awesome.

About five minutes before the horn went off and we jumped into the water from the boats I saw a very, very large (remember I live near fresh water where there aren't many things bigger than, say a cat in the water) black shape arch up partially out of the water. I turned to the guy next to me and asked, "Did you see that?" He was like, "Ahh... Yeah. Matter of fact I did..."

Another fella standing there said, "That was a sea lion. They won;t bother us. They are just curious about all the commotion."

It was a cool swim and a great race. I don;t know about the sharks. My guess would be it is significantly exagerated.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

There have been numerous triathlons and even more swims from Alcatraz over the years with no shark attacks. I'd be more worried about the ones taking your $295.

Last year they had around 1,500 swimmers, including me. They had only about a dozen that were eaten by sharks, so the odds are really in your favor.

I wouldn't want to be a slow swimmer in the last wave though. They are the most vulnerable.

Just Kidding!

Oh there are some small bottom feeding sharks like sand sharks and (I think) leopard sharks. But the dangerous Great Whites are not known to venture in there. They do breed in Tomales Bay a few miles to the north and are very common off shore at the Faralones though. You would have to be quite a ways off course to worry about those.

I spent countless hours sailing and windsurfing in the bay near Alcatraz and never saw a big shark. Given our exploitation of the seas, if there were big sharks in there, we would probably eat them before they could ever eat us.

Mike

beware...
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blsharkattack.htm

Tha's huge. Great race though. Worth every penny of $295 IMO.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

The rumor that there are sharks around Alcatraz Island is just that, a rumor. Do you think that race directors are going to take the chance at having one of their many participants be attacked by a shark? Of course not, the lawsuits would flood the court system. Have you ever heard of any triathlons in the Farallone Islands? Of course not, it is quite populated with white sharks.

Besides, there is a scientific reason to why there are no sharks there. The salinity of the water inside the SF Bay is too low to the liking of sharks.

Run a search on google for shark attacks. Stinson beach is around the corner where there are many recorded Great White attacks on swimmers and surfers. The time I was in SF on business I caught a news clip showing a great white off Fishermen's Waff hawking the sea lions. Even knowing this I did the Escape in 2002. It ain't over to the fat lady sings. Do the race & have fun. Stop a second or two & enjoy the Golden Gate while you are making the swim to the Marina beach. Sight on the Art Center Dome. Easiest open water swim I've ever done. The odds of getting a bite taken out of you is very very slim.

Here is a site to check: http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/2000.htm

Smitty

They are definately in the Bay area. But attacks are rare. Besides they prefer bigger things than swimmes as this photo demonstrates.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/...ry/blsharkattack.htm

"The time I was in SF on business I caught a news clip showing a great white off Fishermen's Waff hawking the sea lions."

I find this very hard to believe... If it's true, then the animal must have been ill, since the bay is just not their habitat. I have never heard of any white sharks in the bay, and I have lived in the area since '76.

I did Escape from Alcatraz this past June and spent the entire Winter and part of the Spring worrying about being eaten by a shark. Then I read a little book on Alcatraz swims and it said there has never been a shark attack on an Alcatraz swim and it said there have been something like 20,000 swims (local SF swim clubs do them all the time). After reading that, I stopped worrying and in fact was not eaten by a shark.

That triathlon was a great experience. Kind of the ultimate sightseeing triathlon.

LPage - How can you be so sure you were not, in fact, eaten by a shark?

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jg

You make a good point. I can't be sure.

i think you're more at risk of getting killed in florida. In florida triathlons you have to deal with poisonous snakes, alligators, sharks, bacteria, and that crazy ameba thing that eats your brain.

Alcatrez just has sharks.

There are no sharks in the bay. Well, maybe baby ones like fish. There have been shark attacks up the coast, but NOT IN THE BAY. I'd worry more about a boat runnning you over on the swim.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com