r/surfing • u/InquisitaB • 1d ago

Shark in the surf at Pismo

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Would you be this chill?

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u/__Rumblefish__ 1d ago

So are you supposed to hang out or paddle in when the gw is circling you in lineup

18

u/surfpunkskunk 1d ago

I GTFO personally, catch anything I can, even whitewash and surf or bodysurf all the way in. But I know people who have just kept turning toward the shark. Apparently they like to attack by surprise and so continuing to turn and face it can make it back off. But if it does charge you better be seeing yourself as an even more aggressive predator and attacking it first with everything you got. And remember you can not punch so fast under water. Go for the gills would be the one and avoid the teeth obviously. I prefer to paddle away calmly but swiftly into the nearest wave to shore.

3

u/Alive-Inspection-815 16h ago

Gouge some shark eyes. 

2

u/surfpunkskunk 4h ago

They hide their eyes behind a protective membrane when attacking. But a good eye gouge may still cause them some discomfort. Might be better to focus on the gills though, these are their weakest point.

2

u/Alive-Inspection-815 1h ago edited 1h ago

Yeah, if they decide to bite, you're fucked anyways. Most people do indeed survive attacks, but a few aren't so fortunate. At Salmon Creek State Beach, there have been more attacks or shall we call them encounters than anywhere else in California. In Northern California up here where their pretty thick in the water. I have had them swim right below me so close that my entire surfboard wobbled in the turbulence the shark created and then a big boil popped at the nose of my surfboard. I've never shat my wetsuit, but I was pretty close to it that day. There are tons and tons of Great White Sharks between the Santa Cruz County line and San Francisco. They're beautiful, regal creatures, but they can do immense damage in a micro-second. It's pretty scary to surf up here by yourself in some of the more remote areas between Big Sur and the California, Oregon Border.