Why Only Idiots Surf............

[Jack Cook]

Got this in my work email today.

[rwdfresno]

It's just flipper! Although, I would still give a new meaning to wet-suit if I saw it in the waves.

[Steve Nelson]

I've only been to the ocean once..when I visited Virginia Beach a few years ago. While we were swimming a little girl started screaming "Shark! Shark!" I looked out and saw a pod of dolphins just 100 yards offshore..I had no idea the wild ones would get that close to a crowded beach. I was a really cool sight, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera handy.

SN

[Jack Cook]

I was told it was a Great White chasing a seal. That the wave action and effect of shooting throught water pruduced a bendig effect.

[mustangdriver]

We have a beach house on Emerald Isle, N.C. and while out there with some friends, we found a place that will take you to Cape Look Out in what looks like an old PT boat. We did that and right out in the middle of the ocean, our driver cuts his engine, and yells for us to look. The Dolphins were swimming right up to the boat. It was amazing.

[oscardeuce]

The flukes do appear horizontal, that would make it Flipper and not a shark.


Still......run away........

[BLR]

Ya...looks like a dolphin to me but still a great photo and an encounter that might leave a bit of a stain in your bathing suit.

I seen a real cool video a while back of a pod of killer whales making mince meat of a great white shark off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Brian....

[Junkyard36]

Yeah, I used to surf in my younger days. Being brushed by a shark is no fun. Ever see someone run, not walk on water??

I remember flying over Daytona Beach almost 20 years ago and seeing all kinds of 'shadows' swimming between people out in the surf. Kind of sobering.

Now, I prefer pools....

[k5083]

Need to work on your friend/foe recognition there Jack!

August

[Django]

I don't care who you are, seeing that shape in real time would scare the beejeezus out of you!!

I love surfing. I wish I could go more frequently.

[Bill Greenwood]

Does a shark have a triangular fin, not the curved one; so it may be a dolphin, looks too big for that maybe an Orca, any way it is big. Seems I remembe the story when it came out and it said great white. I have once seen a pretty big shark, 12' hammerhead underwater off Cozumel. I wasn't too scared until I realized everyone, including guide, was lining up behind me since I had the only speargun. In the 80's I was an Flightsafety Vero Beach as an IFR student. Lot's of Saudis there even then, FS was the low bidder for their airline training. A friend was a helicopter student and they used to hoover over the beach. There were hundreds of swimmers in the water and amoung them were dozens of sharks, mostly small but unseen in the murky water unless you were above.

[rwdfresno]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/surfer.asp

[Jack Cook]

Need to work on your friend/foe recognition there Jack!

When I'm in the water EVERYTHING is my enemy
Jack the only person ever to survive a Manatee attack

[Crew29]

As a former Floridian, I "surfed" very actively for about three years, and I never got over seeing anything in the water much bigger than a football. I've been close to dolphins and stingrays a dozen times, but was also freaked out until I was 100% sure they weren't sharks. The last time I was out surfing and actually enjoying myself, the girlfriend and I were chased out of the water by two blacktip sharks. My florida surfer friends say when you see a shark, lift your hands and feet out of the water and count to ten, then surf as normal. Take it from me, man thats hard to do! I've been out since, but any time you have to sit and wait (which is 90% of Florida surfing) its hard to not think about. I've been surfing hundreds of times, and in the ocean thousands. I've seen sharks once, but I know they've always been there. I miss surfing, hopefully one day I'll get back into it.....

P.S. Its funny how on murky days you wish the water was clear so you can see whats swimming around you... and on clear days you wish it was murkey so you can't see what all is swimming around you!

[Crew29]

Man, I should have looked at the title of this topic before my last post...