I’m not freaking out or anything, but I’ve been reading the recent posts about frequent shark attacks not-too-far from the shore in Florida. Since I’m heading to IMFL in November, I was just wondering if the organizers do anything to protect the swimmers. Divers with sonar guns (that’s what they did at the olympics in Sydney)? Do sharks get scared away by the crowds surrounded by motorboats? What about in Kona, or anywhere else sharks could see 2000 swimmers and think, “Lunch!!”. It seems to me that with all the kicking and clawing, there is going to be some amount of blood in the water (kicks to the face tend to do that), but I don’t know how much is needed to attract the hungry fishes.
I remember being asked to leave the water at the end of the World Surf Lifesaving Champs in Sydney in 2000 because I’d cut my ankle (1 inch cut) and there were concerns that the hammerheads 1500m away would detect it…
SMELL
A shark’s primary sense is a keen sense of smell. It can detect one drop of blood in a million drops of water (25 gallons or 100 liters) and can smell blood 0.25 mile (0.4 km) away. Its paired nostrils are on the underside of its snout. Water continually flows through the nostrils, giving the shark olfactory information. Unlike humans, shark nostrils have nothing to do with breathing - they are not even connected to the mouth.
SWIMMING
Shark swimming is more like flying than swimming.
Some sharks are fast-swimming (up to 40 mph or 64.4 kph) predators that live in the open ocean.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You do the math… 1 drop in 25 gal’s of water, up to .4 km away… by an animal who can swim 64.4 kph.
1 bloody nose is all it takes… yikes.
I’d still take my chances. It frightens me more when I get caught out on the road in a thunder and lightening strom.
I am a lifelong surfer from Sydney and have seen my fair share of sharks.
All my open water swim practice back home was in the surf - although I am conscious and aware of what is going on in the water - there is no use being paranoid.
With 2000 plus bodies thrashing about in the water - the last place a shark is going to want to be is near the commotion - they typically feed on slow moving or still objects in the ocean - that resemble an injured fish or marine animal.
For IM FL - you will be fine - the water will be a bit cooler - they are always around but typically increased water temps bring in more fish which equals a greater feeding opportunity for these creatures which equals more sharks.
By November - there should be less of them around in the pan-handle - otherwise you’d hear of attacks year round!
Don’t let these current attacks damage your race prep or race day.
140.6 got it right. This should not even be a blip on your radar screen. I’ve lived in Florida my whole life - spend countless hours in lakes with gators and oceans with sharks. Statistically, you are more likely to get whacked by a car, another racer or have a coconut fall on your head. There is no way a shark, or gator for that matter, will stay anywhere near the race once 2000 crazies hit the water. The nice thing about IMF is that the water is crystal clear, which even for me gives me greater comfort (unlike swimming in Florida lakes that are dark, Alctraz that is murky, etc.). That said, be cautious during practice swims - stick with the crowds. I rarely swim solo, and if so, swim closely parallel to the shore, paying attention to location of baitfish and murky areas. I also tell the lifeguards what I’m doing and swim with my breathing side toward the beach so I can see any warnings. I once swam into a swarm of large baitfish that was being torpedoed by at least 3 decent size sharks. That was a “shorts-checking” experience - I got out of there like crazy, then sat on the beach and watched that awesome spectacal. Sharks are actually pretty cool.
I think you should take into account that the vast majority of people taken by sharks its most likely because they looked like something else. A spear fisher who tucks a kill in the belt, a surfer who looks like a big turtle…
As a life long water baby I have spent many hours in the open ocean. Although I’ve seen many sharks and had one or two closer-than-I’d-like encounters I am yet to see anything threatening from a shark.
I think 140.6 had it right when he suggested that multiple bodies will do more than enough to keep any sharks away. I’m pretty sure that a wave of age groupers doesn’t resemble bait fish…
Sharks - although a predatory animal - are highly over rated and the press - movie studios etc etc have doe a lot to scare the crap out of the general population.
If there was any real risk of attack - the RD’s would not host the races where they do.
As a lifeguard - one of the things we did to get rid of sharks on our local beaches was to get near them in an inflatable boat - and smack the crap out of the surface of the water with a firm object - the sound and commotion usually scared them away.
Helicopters also have the same effect.
Next time you are in a local race - drop under the water for a second and listen to the noise that a swim in a race makes - the noise is annoying to sharks and they’ll keep clear. Imagine it with 2000 plus folks flailing away
I’ve surfed with them and will admit that they do concern me when they are around - but…they will generally leave people alone. A large mass of moving people is not appealing at all to a shark.
I went to Kona for the first time last fall and was hoping to actually see a shark swimming around in the ocean (not an agressive one though) and I swam every day and saw a few dolphins but no sharks… maybe next time
This is the result of the fear-mongering media. The fact is that ONLY 12 people have died from shark attacks in US waters since 1882 (when they started recording this information).
You have a much, much better chance of getting hit by lightning in T1 than nipped by a shark in the water.
Not t o freak you out or anything, but…
The day after IMFL last year, my husband and I were walking on the beach at Seaside (@ 30 min. drive west of Panama City) at around 8 am and in a matter of about 5 minutes saw two 6 ft. sharks swimming Eastward. They were no more than 20 feet from shore where the water would have been waist deep.
Yes, I am signing up for IMFL 2006!
A total of 25 incidents for swimmers was reported worldwide. More people die from dogs and rattlesnakes by a fairly large margin. And don’t even get me started about drunk drivers.
i was just down at panama city beach a few days before the attacks happened. i did a fair amount of swimming in the gulf while i was there. the one thing that gives me the willies every time i think about it is i took my seven year old daughter/fish out to one of the sand bars with me once. on the way back in we had several rays swimming around us and lots of bait fish all around. i’m sure the sharks were close by as well. the whole time we were there the gulf just seemed more active than in the past. we noticed many more creatures in the water than usual. i suppose that’s what brought the sharks in.
If you ever flew a plane low over any stretch of Florida beach, you probably would never step into the water again. Sharks everywhere. It’s their turf. I used to surf the Sebastian Inlet, and once flew overhead and saw a handleful of sharks swimming around the surfers and even following some in. But do they bite - rarely. Think about the odds. Tens of thousands of sharks on the Florida coast, and bites are quite rare. I go back to my earlier post, you should be more concerned about riding on the road, than sharks. Use simple common sense when alone, and in a tri, trust me, those sharks split. The cacaphony of 2000 swimmers hitting the water at once scares the bejesus out of them!
There are far more sharks in the water than many people realize. I’ve seen 10 ft long bull sharks about 200 m off shore from a public beach while scuba diving.
The thing is that although they are plentiful, they very rarely attack humans. Usually a case of mistaken identity. The best advice is not to swim in murky water.
