I just read a story on CNN about 13 year old surfing star Bethany Hamilton who lost an arm in a shark attack in Hawaii.
It got me thinking about your experiences with sharks in triathlons. The reason I bring it up is that I have many custmers voice a concern over sharks during saltwater swims and I always tell them "It isn't even a factor- don't even think about it".
As far as I know, I'm right.
My own personal experience with sharks is that they are either relatively shy and hard to find, or just basically ignore you. I've seen them while diving on three occasions, including some pretty healthy specimens right off the Discovery Channel. It was tough just to get close enough to get a photo of them. Then there are the "tame" little nurse sharks who wait around for tourist divers to feed them and pet them. I know no shark is tame, but these things seemed pretty darn placid.
Any of you guys got any shark experiences? I remember Ed Giroux of Aerospoke once told me a story about doing a race in Florida where the swim pack swam into a school of Hammerheads. One bumped him in the chest. He looked down and was like, "Holy sh@#!" but the race came off without a hitch. Many participants were saying, after the race, "did you see all those sharks out there!"
Let's hear from you salt water girls and guys....
Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
It got me thinking about your experiences with sharks in triathlons. The reason I bring it up is that I have many custmers voice a concern over sharks during saltwater swims and I always tell them "It isn't even a factor- don't even think about it".
As far as I know, I'm right.
My own personal experience with sharks is that they are either relatively shy and hard to find, or just basically ignore you. I've seen them while diving on three occasions, including some pretty healthy specimens right off the Discovery Channel. It was tough just to get close enough to get a photo of them. Then there are the "tame" little nurse sharks who wait around for tourist divers to feed them and pet them. I know no shark is tame, but these things seemed pretty darn placid.
Any of you guys got any shark experiences? I remember Ed Giroux of Aerospoke once told me a story about doing a race in Florida where the swim pack swam into a school of Hammerheads. One bumped him in the chest. He looked down and was like, "Holy sh@#!" but the race came off without a hitch. Many participants were saying, after the race, "did you see all those sharks out there!"
Let's hear from you salt water girls and guys....
Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com