Discovery ran an incredible documentary called “Air Jaws” last night that depicted the incredible phenomenon of enormous white sharks off the southern coast of South Africa that leap clear of the water to catch their prey.
Incredible. At one point researchers had 27 large white sharks in the water around them feeding on a whale carcass. This was more than had ever been seen in place before.
Anyway, it was incredible. The area was none as the “circle of death”. If you swam there- not so good.
Damn! I was planning on doing IMSA at some point. Maybe that’s not such a good idea after all.
Is that the one where they put a camera in the “seal” decoy and watch the GW come roaring up to get it from about 30 feet down???
If sharks had thumbs, they’d rule the world!!!
Several years ago they had some video of a great white jumping completely out of the water somewhere near Catalina. The researcher then mounted a camera looking down through the bottem of a surfboard and captured images of the shark coming up out of the depths. Just like a trout grabbing the lure. Big, fast, spooky.
Jay
Obvious bulls__t…
The Mavericks big wave surfing contest just south of San Francisco was postponed this year because there was a dead whale in the water and a lot of Great Whites chowing down on it.
These guys will surf a 50 foot wave but are afraid of a little biddy fish. Sheesh!
That’s the one. The screen was just filled with dark water. Then… WHAM! this shark just materializes out of the depths at like 20 mph going vertical. Holy shit. It had my skin crawling.
Now that my friends is an incredible motivator to slip into a black wetsuit and jump in the nearest body of saltwater
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I was thinking. This “flying shark” thing is pretty scary but imagine if jellyfish could fly. That would really be a problem.
It was wild. It would have been interesting if that camera man fell off the whale carcass.
So…who is signing up for Pacific Grove??? 
I’ll be content to train in the Columbia River, where on occasion I have been near sturgeon that jump out of the water. These ugly pre-historic fish can get up to about 300 lbs. Wouldn’t want to them to hit me, but at least they’re not contemplating me as lunch. I saw a show this week about a swimming race in a lake up north where everyone in the group was attacked by lamphrey…yechhh!
That did not look like a smart thing to do. The benefits were not commensurate with the risks. I couldn;t believe that guy got on that nasty, smelly, slippery whale carcass.
I was thinking about that documentary half-way into the swim at 1/2 IM South Africa last year - the swim start was at “Shark Rock” and off the coast a couple of miles you could see “Seal Island.”
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National geographic had it in their mag a while back. The power those fish have is amazing.
I used to surf kayak down the coast from SF until one day my partner’s boat was picked up by a 20+ white shark. The shark shook his boat like a dog shakes a chew toy. Lucky for him, he was in a plastic whitewater boat and it popped back into shape after he was let go. He made it into shore before his boat completely filled with water.
I was thinking about that documentary half-way into the swim at 1/2 IM South Africa last year - the swim start was at “Shark Rock” and off the coast a couple of miles you could see “Seal Island.”
You can see the Farralon Islands from Alcatraz, and they just happen to be the biggest Great White breeding ground in the world. The waters around here are probably the most dangerous in the world if you’re talking White shark attacks. We get a 2-3 every year, relatively few are fatal however. Thats a pretty high number if you take into account the fact that the water here is very cold and we have far fewer swimmers, surfers etc compared to Australia or South Africa where Whites also like to dine.
Did you see how quick they could turn when that one missed the seal on the initial attack but kept after it? I was cheering on that seal!
The Mavericks big wave surfing contest just south of San Francisco was postponed this year because there was a dead whale in the water and a lot of Great Whites chowing down on it.
These guys will surf a 50 foot wave but are afraid of a little biddy fish. Sheesh!
Consider this … Mavericks was named for Jeff Clark’s dog, and we all know dogs attract sharks.
Also … sharks are seldom found at “Jaws”
Ahhh, these guys are worried about sharks? There’s a 40 foot wall of water behind them…
“the swim start was at “Shark Rock” and off the coast a couple of miles you could see “Seal Island.”
Gosh, what a great sounding event! It would be of no use to keep a wary eye out for sharks, would it? You wouldnt see 'em hit you and you wouldn’t want see ‘em hit you.