Hello SB Surfers!

[Smokers Suck]

Just saw this site on surfline, checked it out and signed up. I'm an SB native, been surfing locally since 1963. Learned at Sandspit, Hammonds, Campus Point, Rincon and Sands, now I mostly surf Ventura/Oxnard either alone or with my 16 yr old son when I have him on weekends. Switched from board surfing to boogie boarding a long time ago because it works out my whole body instead of just my arms. Used to scuba dive too when it was flat but a great white encounter off Ellwood dimmed my enthusiasm. I'm into clean air and water and creative technology (IT, music recording, animation, video, photography, vintage audio). Favorite morning - offshore wind with steep powerful hollow peaks on incoming tide with minimal sideshore current. Speaking of which - looks like the buoys are coming alive now - gotta go.

[JonS]

Just saw this site on surfline, checked it out and signed up. I'm an SB native, been surfing locally since 1963. Learned at Sandspit, Hammonds, Rincon and Sands, now I mostly surf Ventura/Oxnard. Switched from board surfing to boogie boarding a long time ago because it worked out my whole body instead of just my arms. Used to scuba dive too when it was flat but a great white encounter off Ellwood dimmed my enthusiasm. I'm into organic food, clean air and water and creative technology (multimedia, IT, music, animation, photography). Favorite morning - offshore wind with steep powerful hollow peaks on incoming tide with minimal sideshore current. Speaking of which - looks like the buoys are coming alive now - gotta go.

Welcome to the forums SS! Tell us more about your visit with the man in the grey suit.

:eek:

[Smokers Suck]

Hey, that was pretty funny - I open with "hello sb surfers" and someone named "sb surfer" replies.

As for my close encounter of the cartilaginous kind - it happened off Elwood beach many years ago when I had a Boston whaler boat and was into stocking my freezer with lobster, scallops, abalone and fish.

We were spearfishing for halibut and had anchored in about 20 ft of water. It was unbelieveably clear - you could see every detail of the bottom from the boat. We entered the water and started heading for the shallow sand channels where they like to hide buried in the sand.

On the way in I spotted a nice Ling Cod and took a shot at it but just grazed it, causing it to vibrate spasmodically and then swim away. I reloaded and then had an unexplainable "bad feeling" and turned around to look behind me to see the tailfin of a shark passing me by about 2' away.

I remember it was a good news/bad news situation. The good news was that it was not large - 7 to 8 feet max and it was heading away from me. The bad news was that it was a great white, not a relatively harmless blue and now it was turning around and coming back with it's mouth partially open with disturbingly large teeth.

I had always wondered what I would do in such a situation and fortunately my father who was a pioneering underwater photographer with major shark attack experience had given me good advice. He had said "Don't panic. If it gets too close try to hit it on the nose with something blunt." So I turned my speargun around and waited, with my dive buddy behind me (I'll never forget the look on her face - her eyes were huge).

When he got a few feet away I moved toward him in an aggressive manner and he turned to the left and began a tight circle a few feet away. We stared at each other while he circled, then he straightened out and swam away.

We surfaced, fortunately only about 40' from the boat and quickly got in after warning the other dive team who had surfaced wondering where we were. We yelled "Shark!" and they thought we were kidding but changed their mind when they saw how fast we were headed for the boat.

It was weird what happened when the shark turned around - I didn't panic, just got very focused and time seemed to slow down and it felt like it wasn't real, like I was watching a movie of myself.

I couldn't understand why it went down as it did - whites normally hit first, mistaking the target for a seal, then investigate later as they wait for it to bleed to death. I guess since he wasn't all that much bigger than us (I'm 6'3") and I acted aggressively he decided not to attack (maybe he went looking for that Ling Cod).

I figure next time I'll try flattery - I'll tell him he looks great in grey.

[JonS]

Great story -- thanks for sharing...

I have a Great White story of my own.

I was around 14 at the time (1975 - the summer of 'Jaws'), and it seemed as though the entire world was in a shark frenzy. Marineland and Sea World were paying huge bounties ($5,000 as I recall) at the time for dead Whites to display in giant freezers, and attendees were lining up by the thousands. My dad had a commercial swordfish boat, and that summer I was learning to be the harpoonist. Most of my days that summer were spent up on the bridge with a pair of binoculars looking for swordfish on the surface. Whenever we found one we'd "run" it -- guide the boat so that the basket at the end of the plank was directly over the fish, and we'd harpoon it. Well, for practice we'd take shots at Blue sharks since in those days they were more than in abundance. We'd see literally hundreds per day. All the while I fantasized about spotting a Great White, harpooning it, and earning 5 grand and, ... Well, one August day we were about 15 miles outside of (Santa) Catalina Island, almost halfway to Santa Barbara Is. The day was greasy slick, no wind. You could see for miles. I spotted a dorsal fin and tail from about a mile away, and notified my dad and the deckhand, and we turned in that direction. The dorsal stuck literally four or five feet out of the water... The biggest (by far that I had ever seen). As we motored closer it just kept getting bigger and bigger. Clearly it was a shark (and not a swordfish), so I did what I always did -- walk out on the end of the plank to take a practice throw with a harpoon -- only this wasn't going to be a practice shot -- I fixed an actual dart to the end, with the rope and floats attached -- my dreamed of encounter with a monster Great White was now a few hundred yards away. The dorsal was so massive that it literally had wakes coming off of it as it broke the water. As we got close to harpoon range I sudden began to feel fear. WTF was I doing out at the end of a 20 foot plank of aluminum tubing only 10 feet or so above what was in our best estimation a 20 foot Great White?!?! Weight estimate 3,000+ pounds... We slowed the boat down and soon we were right on top of it. At that point it seemed to roll over a few degrees on its side so that it could get a good look at me. I was trembing with fear. A couple of kicks with its tail and it took off in a steep dive and disappeared. I couldn't believe what I had just experienced. I have never been able forget that site, and I suppose that I never will. Ever since that summer 32 years ago I have never been able to go for more than a minute while in the water without remembering the image of that Great White only 10 feet away from me...

[pesrk]

Hello,
I too am a S.B Surfer from the 60's.Email me if you want,pesrk_9@msn.com = Paul Stearns San Marcos class of 62.