The Peconic Puffin Windsurfing Blog

Shark Joke

Lifted from Jerry's Facebook page.

Shark Ready For His Closeup. The Photographer Not So Much.

I'm sure this Great White means no harm.   He's just curious.  Wants to see what's going on.  Then wants to eat the participants.

Borrowed from the discoveryocean Instragram feed (recommended!)

There's a Great White Shark in the Long Island Sound

Fish.

There was and is something cool about watermen and waterwomen referring to sharks as "Fish".   The landlord, the man in the grey suit, Fish.

Yeah well...

OSEARCH (the talent agency that represents Mary Lee and a bunch of other Fish) says they've tracked a great white into the Long Island Sound, and this is apparently a first CBS News reports.   Surely they've made the rounds for years (centuries) but still we shall Take Note.  A ten footer is hanging locally.

Enjoy!

Shark Humor

via @thelifeofsharks

Shark Mary Lee Has Gone Retweeting

Ah Mary Lee.  A ginormous Great White Shark that got in good with OCEARCH and then into social media.   Like everybody who is anybody (every fish who is like anyfish?) once she found Twitter well, she just couldn't resist sharing.   Until she fell off the radar last summer (did she drop her iPhone?  Eat it?)   Her account went silent...

...until recently, when she began retweeting about a NEW shark...Helena is a 12 footer who gets all the love these days.   And Mary Lee just can't stop retweeting about her.   What is Mary Lee hiding?

I liked Mary Lee best in the old days, as long as she was miles away from me! 

(photo:  Go left.  Left!   Left left left left left...)

 

If A Shark Eats Your Mast, Don't Try to Get It Back

"She's back!" Scott texted.

Yes she is.   Mary Lee, three thousand five hundred pounds of Great White Hell is coming for to eat you up.   The good people at OCEARCH track her and other sharks for the betterment of science.  'Cause sharks are really great.  Just look at the pictures.

In photo #1 Mary Lee skids to a halt after jumping on a boat to eat some dude.

In photo #2 a cheap windsurfer tries to grab a pair of masts that Mary Lee coughed up like a hairball.  Dude doesn't realize that if he pulls he's going to end up with two bottom pieces.  What, he's gonna stick his arms in her mouth to get the tops?

Anyhow Mary Lee was in Atlantic City yesterday, and is headed north.   While we've had some good ocean sessions at the Bowl and Ponquogue of late, methinks East Landing on the Peconic is sounding pretty good.

(Photos courtesy OCEARCH.ORG)

Mary Lee Is In Town

Somebody:  Who is Mary Lee?

Somebody else:  Great big shark.

Somebody:  The Jaws kind?

Somebody else:  Yup.

Lord Scotworth The Earl of Kielt announced Mary Lee's presence this morning.   Like clockwork (or calendarwork) this big fish returns to the waters of greater Puffindom...a review of the archives shows that exactly one year ago today The Peconic Puffin first reported on Mary Lee.  The good people at OCEARCH maintain a shark tracker that keeps an eye on a whole lot of individual sharks, including celebs like ML.

There's wind in the forecast for Sunday.   Can you say Sebonac Inlet?  Bay sailing here I come!

(Map pinpointing Mary Lee courtesy of OCEARCH.

Bitten by the Sea Snake

"Can I give you some constructive criticism?" Hulse asked.

"No" I replied.   I had just returned to the beach after a few minutes of humiliation in the impact zone.   Couldn't get out, couldn't get in gracefully.

"Well you're going to get some anyway."   This I knew when I said no.  Saying "no" just seemed like more fun.

"You've got to bear off."    This was true.

"No shit.  I tried bearing off but the board was getting turned by the current"

"Always with an excuse," Hulse said.

"Yeah, but this excuse is real!"  Also I had been bitten by a sea snake.   Look at my hand.

The following story is not true:   On my first ocean run in a year, and at Cupsogue (where I hadn't sailed since 2008) on the 93 with a 5.5 I had just caught the sail from my only sweet jibe of the day banking off some swell, when what looked like a wooden branch popped out of water (a fallen tree out here, I wondered) and then the top of it stretched forward and bit my left hand.    I was more surprised than anything...WTF?   Sailed back to the beach, took the board out of the water, and showed Scott.

"That blood is going to attract Mary Lee."  

That's all I need, to get eaten by a shark after being bit by a sea snake.

"Mary Lee is down at Hatteras," John Natalie said.   This was true and good, though she was near Democrat Point two weeks ago.

My hand was starting to swell up a bit from the sea snake venom.  I tried sucking it out and spitting, but it didn't seem to help.   "Salt water will be good for it" Jeff suggested.   So I launched again.  And couldn't get the nose of the board to bear off...I seemed to be in perpetual swirl mode.   So I came in to be abused by Hulse.

All of that is actually true except for the sea snake parts.

What really happened was, like all good wavesailing dings and damage, I was just at the shoreline.    I'd sailed in from my first run, right up to the beach, and stepped off.  Out went the water, and holding the boom with my right hand I reached for the front footstrap with my left hand...overhand...when a wave came in and popped the back of the board up, mashing my hand into the boom.   It hurt like hell.  I got the gear up onto the beach and then sat in the sand to let the pain pass, and then a sea snake slithered up and bit my hand right where it was mashed.   What a one-two combination!  But I'll take boom/snake over snake/shark any day.

Okay I'm still making up the snake part.  It bit me when I was derigging.

(Top:  John Natalie taking a wave upwind.  Photo by Jeff.  Bottom:  My hand, happily not in Mary Lee's belly.  Also on the water:  George Pav and Lord vanderWolf.)

The Misunderstood Shark? I Don't Think So.

Sharks get a raw deal when it comes to public perception, is the thinking of the learned and the green. "You're more likely to be killed by a falling coconut or a cow than by a shark, they say.  For us watery people that comparison does not serve.  Ain't nobody made so much as eye contact with a shark whilst standing under a coconut tree or on a cow farm.   We worry about sharks when we're IN THE OCEAN, dressed like seals and acting not much better.  No windsurfer, kiteboarder, SUPper or surfer has ever been even grazed by a falling coconut while in the lineup waiting for the next set.

Then there's the live and let live crowd.

"It's their ocean,"  they say.

"Yeah well it's my leg" we say back!

I don't misunderstand sharks.  I understand perfectly:  If a shark attacks me, I am befuckled.   And I am not comforted by the "sharks don't want to eat people" line of thinking:

"Many will take a sample bite, and taste it with taste buds just behind their teeth, to be certain it is something properly edible. If it does not taste like food, they will often spit it out at this time, and swim away.

This explains why so many “attacks” on humans are just a single bite; most sharks do not feed on mammals and do not recognize the taste of the humans to be food."

Oh thank goodness. I'm not being eaten, I'm just being tasted.  Good-bye thigh!  

Poor misunderstood shark.

(Top:  Illustration from a Wall Street Journal article.   Bottom:  Ain't no pictures I've seen of a shark sticking its tongue out to lick something...see if it likes it.  They be all like this.)

Shark Attacks Surfer Mick Fanning Video

Champion surfer Mick Fanning was unhurt by the shark, but how scary is this video? And what is going on with sharks this year? This took place during live competition in South Africa. That is a big shark. Yikes.

How to Survive A Shark Attack

This is excerpted from Surfer Today's article "How to survive a shark attack".  I've left out all the more commonly known stuff about avoiding dawn/dusk, muddy water, bleeding in the water etc.   Particularly to the point is the bit on "If the shark grabs you with its mouth".  Are you feelin' me, homeboys?

If something brushes or bumps you underwater

Leave the water straight away to investigate. Minor bites in water are often not felt when they occur, and bleeding into the water can entice a shark back for more.

If you spot a shark

Stay cool, but shout loudly to warn others in the area. Don't antagonize or try to scare the shark away. Leave the water as quickly and unexcitedly as possible.

If you can't leave the water

Be very still and stay quiet. Keep your eyes on the shark as it swims. Sharks often retreat from prey, then circle back to gain speed and strike. Get out of the water as soon as it's safe to do so.

If you are diving and are approached by a shark

As above, stay very still. If you are holding any fish or catches, release them, then swim to safety when possible.

If you are circled or bumped

Circling and bumping mean the shark is either curious or intent on attacking. In either case, you should assume you are in imminent danger and be prepared to defend yourself.

Use anything you are carrying as a weapon, as a last resort utilizing hands and feet. Strike at the sensitive gills and eyes with repeated, short, sharp jabs. Be relentless. Hit as hard as you possibly can until the shark gives up and leaves.

If the shark swims toward you in a zig-zag motion

Back up against something - or someone - solid. Defend yourself as above. Don't give up until the shark does.

If the shark grabs you with its mouth

Be as hostile and vicious as possible. Latch onto the muzzle of the shark with any free limbs to avoid being thrashed. Then claw, kick, elbow, and generally endeavour to injure the eyes and gills. Do not play dead. The shark will simply attempt to swallow its catch.

Once free

Get to shore as calmly and quickly as possible, instructing anyone nearby to ring for an ambulance. If you have a bite and are able to apply pressure to the wound, do so right away, while leaving the water, to minimize blood loss.

If you see someone has been bitten

1. Help the victim to shore and keep them warm by wrapping them in the nearest available towel or cloth.

2. Apply pressure directly to wounds with any available cloth or fabric. If blood soaks through, do not remove the original cloth; simply add more as needed. Apply force also to pressure points directly between the injury and the heart. Common pressure points include the groin area, above the elbow, and behind the knee.

3. If pressure points do not slow the bleeding, and medical help is not immediately available, a tourniquet may be the solution. Wrap the wound in a stretchy fabric as tightly as possible, and insert a stick or rigid pole between the bandage and skin. Twist to tighten until blood flow slows considerably or stops. Use this measure only under extreme circumstances, where no other choice is available.

4. Elevate the bleeding limb to a position above the heart; if possible, at least 12 inches.

5. Keep the victim still. If a limb appears disfigured, or broken bones are suspected, leave the limb in place. If possible, pad with soft material, applying ice to the outside of the pad.

6. If shock is suspected, treat appropriately: call 911 or your local emergency number, lay the person down, begin CPR if necessary, and don't let him/her eat or drink anything.

While shark encounters are no doubt on the rise, attacks resulting in death or injury are still exceedingly rare.

Shark Mary Lee Heads South

Mary Lee has left the building.  Or the coast of Long Island, which is good enough for me.   When we last reported on the lovely 3,500 pound great white shark, she was idling away the hours off of Gilgo, whilst anything with a brain larger than a peppercorn kept its distance.   But now Mary has headed down to Chincoteague, perhaps in search of horse meat.   If you check out Ocearch's excellent shark tracker, you'll see that Mary Lee spent some special time just north of Seaside Heights.  Good eats in Jersey?

Great Big Shark

The only people I want to hear telling me that sharks are beautiful creatures that pose no danger to humans are windsurfers and SUPpers who have had a shark display interest in them while out on the water.   Happened to me once, and it sucked.   No fun at all.  
Yet sharks have as much a right to live as deer ticks and mosquitos and cockroaches, and thanks to the good people at OCEARCH (who research and track apex predators de la mar) we know that a 3,500 pound great white shark, 16 feet long going by the nom de fish Mary Lee is currently cruising off of Democrat Point, eating whatever the hell she pleases and taking no shit from anybody.   Mary Lee is tagged and wearing a microphone, so both her position and dialog can be tracked.   Her position is the more interesting, as the dialog varies little:

Mary Lee:  "Get the f*** out of my way."

Everyone else:  "Okay."

(Maps:  Mary Lee's track from awhile back.  
Note the visit to the middle of Long Island in the past.   Right now Pete Roesch says she's off of Robert Moses Park, with a Superlight stuck between her teeth.)

Shark vs. Dog

Be Yutiful Waves

Me, Jonathan Ford and a few dozen surfers (K finally got crowded) enjoyed 4-6 (and sometimes 5-7) foot lefts and rights.  Oftentimes one had to bail out when what looked like a promising shoulder became le big closeout crunch-to-be, but those waves that held were fast and fun.   Sah wheat.   

(This shark was the only person or fish not having fun at K Road yesterday.  Photo by Jonathan.)