Shark warning? – Featured Blog

You’re standing on the beach and just spotted a fin cruising near to the line-up. How do you get the attention of the ou’s in the water to give them a head’s up to get their leg’s up? Screaming like a banshee doesn’t always work cos if the surf’s biggish or the guys are sitting far out, they aren’t gonna hear you no matter how loud you holler.

Waving your arms about like a spastic chicken just conveys there’s an issue, but isn’t necessarily interpreted as being a shark warning. You could be yelling at your grom to come in, or to tell some guy his cabbie has just been broken in to, or a whole host of other things. 

Take this weekend for example. CarPark John and a few others were trading peaks on the wildside, and a crew walked down the beach after having surfed another spot further up and started waving wildy at them. John and the ou’s reckoned they were just trying to tell them that the peak they’d surfed was better – and that they should move down there.

​Nup. Turns out that whilst Merv was on a wave at the other peak he got dropped in on by a finned local, and after a stare down Merv decided to give the wave to him and call it quits and go home.

They finally did get the message across about the friendly fin in the area to John’s crew, but it took a bit of time getting lost in translation.

So how do you specifically indicate “SHARK” to those in the line-up?

The dive sign for shark is to put your hand vertically on your forehead to resemble a fin. Which works fine when you diving and the ou you signalling to is a few metres away. But there’s no ways you’ll spot something like that from the line-up over 100m away. 

Reckon the best bet would be to raise your board over your head and wave it about like the guys in the shot above at Ballina beach in Aus, a super sharky spot. At least anyone who’s read this will know immediately what it means then if they see waving boards!

​If you don’t have a board? How about making a triangle shape using your arms to try mimic a fin? Also likely to get lost in translation.

Any better idea’s out there?

The punishment for that good run of swell continues into it’s second week. The bay was pretty dismal, although a few bucks worth of petrol woulda seen you getting wet in some fun stuff round the corner. Charts still looking rather dire for the coming week, although next Monday might see a reprieve for the bay.

For what we’ve been lacking in waves, the sunrises have more than made up for it. And some lekker calm weather as well. Although most peeps would happily swap it for some cold fronts and waves!

‘Some really big pods of dolphins have been hanging around all week, likely due to the shoals of lil feeshies close in shore. They’ve been cruising the beachfront on most days, in no great rush to move on. Loads of them out in SF as well. Saw them do some blatant drop-in’s on two ou’s out at Anne’s over the weekend.

​It’s actually kinda daunting having them surround you when a waves coming, cos as they’re surfing the wave towards you, you have to try work out how to duck dive between em so you don’t collect a dolphin headache.

Plenty of other sealife active at the moment as well. Big whale carcass washed up a few k’s down from Kabeljous, with plenty of finned friends lurking close by in the hope of grabbing a quick feed. Heads up and legs up.

The ballies are starting to hit froth-mode with the Master’s SA Champs coming up at Seals this week. An absolute A-list of entrants for this year’s comp, so the standard of surfing will be sky-high. Just hope a bit of swell pops up so the guys get the odd decent wave and don’t have to grovel in the shorey.

Nelson Mandela Bay Surfing (NMBS – the ex EP) are hosting the event, and are doing some fund-raising by raffling off a Dennis Ellis Boardroom surfboard to the value of R4000. If you’d like a shot at winning a brand-new stick, then go grab a R20 ticket from Surf Centre, the Boardroom or Streetcred Chef. Draw is on Saturday at SA Champs

In the absence of waves, surf photag Luc Hosten has had to get a bit creative. Here he does a great job of turning some wind-blown sand into a New York cityscape. 

There’s a new surf factory out in SF aptly called St Francis Surf, new home to shapers Greg Smith, Eric Stedmann and Isaiah boards. Pull in for a new stick.

Another big fin spotted at Ballina in Aus this week – they’ve had their fair share of attacks in the past year. Bunch of ou’s on the beach trying to tell their mates that there’s a big local in the line-up. Wonder what the universally accepted sign is for seeing a shark? No good just yelling cos often with the noise of the shore pound your yells won’t carry to the line-up. I guess just flailing your arms about like mad and waving your boards about has to be the way to go?

Whilst we go through the surf doldrums in the bay, one of my fave waves in Indo was pumping all week. Life ain’t fair….