General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Shark Week and Swimming Volume Rss Feed  
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2007-08-02 8:54 AM

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Champion
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Subject: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
I haven't set foot in a lake since Shark Week began. Sure, I tell myself I'm still recovering from my HIM, but somehow I haven't let that affect my biking or running too much. I was actually hoping Shark Week would improve my pacing, but no such luck yet. So... anyone else been affected by all the televised carnage?

"Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know, the thing about a shark, he's got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, he doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah, you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin' and the ocean turns red and in spite of all the poundin' and hollerin' they all come in and rip ya to pieces."

-- Quint (Robert Shaw), "Jaws"


2007-08-02 8:56 AM
in reply to: #910808

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Expert
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Welcome to Super Mario World
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
I have the Swim Across the Sound relay on Saturday, thanks for the mental picture.
2007-08-02 8:57 AM
in reply to: #910808

Champion
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South Jersey
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume

Sharks live in lakes?

2007-08-02 8:58 AM
in reply to: #910808

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Expert
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Newton, MA
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume

Better safe than sorry. 

 

Shh...no one tell him there's no sharks in lakes. See how long we can keep him going.

2007-08-02 9:03 AM
in reply to: #910808

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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
Bull Sharks have been found in the Mississippi by St. Louis.
2007-08-02 9:11 AM
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Master
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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
The bull shark, which is considered one of the most dangerous sharks (and responsible for many of the attacks throughout the world), can and does tolerate freshwater.  It has been recorded in the Mississippi River as far upstream as Illinois.  There are populations in some lakes around the world that have relatively close access to the ocean.  Lake Nicaragua is one example.


2007-08-02 9:16 AM
in reply to: #910808

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Master
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Long Island, NY
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume

WorldWide, last year, there were 4 (FOUR) fatal shark attacks in the whole world! Only 38 documented attacks in the USA and 62 total attacks total in the whole world.  On the other hand, over 43,000 people were killed on US highways alone last year! That's an average on 118 people per day, every day.  In other words, almost twice as many people are killed everyday on US highways as are people attacked by sharks all year worlwide.  People, love sharks, fear your car!!

If that doesn't do it for you, an average of 44 people die each year from lightning strikes in the US, yet we don't immediately run inside once we hear rumbles of thunder do we?

I like my chances in the water versus our roads.

http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/studies/report-78932.html

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2006/08/24/71690.htm

 

2007-08-02 9:18 AM
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Expert
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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume

dck4shrt - 2007-08-02 10:11 AM The bull shark, which is considered one of the most dangerous sharks (and responsible for many of the attacks throughout the world), can and does tolerate freshwater. It has been recorded in the Mississippi River as far upstream as Illinois. There are populations in some lakes around the world that have relatively close access to the ocean. Lake Nicaragua is one example.

OK, I knew that bull sharks went into rivers and could live in fresh water but I never heard about lakes. I was going to make some smart remark until I saw this on wikipedia:

Scientists thought the sharks in Lake Nicaragua were a separate species until they discovered that Bull Sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) were jumping the rapids, much like salmon, to enter the lake.

 Yikes!

2007-08-02 9:26 AM
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Champion
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Menomonee Falls, WI
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
LaurenSU02 - 2007-08-02 8:57 AM

Sharks live in lakes?



They do in my imagination. Especially after I learned bull sharks can live in freshwater. I just picture some idiot going to Florida on vacation and catching a bull shark to keep as a pet. Then, when it gets too big for the bathtub, they throw it in the quarry where I swim.

I make my living by being creative. In my world, there is little room for reason and logic.
2007-08-02 10:36 AM
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Champion
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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
I wouldn't worry about sharks in lakes... now gators on the other hand, there's something to get the imagination going...
2007-08-02 10:39 AM
in reply to: #910841

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Regular
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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
dck4shrt - 2007-08-02 9:11 AM

The bull shark, which is considered one of the most dangerous sharks (and responsible for many of the attacks throughout the world), can and does tolerate freshwater.  It has been recorded in the Mississippi River as far upstream as Illinois.  There are populations in some lakes around the world that have relatively close access to the ocean.  Lake Nicaragua is one example.


Well that does it, I am canceling my entry into the Nicaraguan Triathlon.


2007-08-02 11:56 AM
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Rocklin
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
My 4.5 year old loves sharks and all these damn shows...I grew up in the Bay Area of CA, and there were always white shark citings nears Stinson Beach and Ocean Beach where we boogie boarded (in black wetsuits -- kinda looking like seals).

Then, while I was in Hawaii last year, a tiger shark bit a Candian tourist. She kept her leg since she was able to WALK her way away from the shark since it attacked her in 4 feet of water.

I'll stick to my fresh water lake tris thank you. Yes, sharks scare the poop out of me even though I know how rare the attacks might be.

P.S. Spent a year in FL, and you really do have to look out for gators. There are also bull sharks that travel up the brackish water into the rivers...enjoy your salty swims Sharkbait!
2007-08-02 1:12 PM
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Master
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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume

sdotson - 2007-08-02 11:36 AM I wouldn't worry about sharks in lakes... now gators on the other hand, there's something to get the imagination going...

 

Now you're singing my song!!  I would almost never get any OWS practice if I lived inland in Fla!

2007-08-02 1:15 PM
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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
I'm not watchin SW.... I really like that sort of thing but I'm not even sure I have that channel.

As I stated in a recent post "sharks" Ihave always been scared to swim in the ocean. I moved to San Diego when I was seven and have lived in California pretty much since then. I have never swam in the ocean... Until Monday.

I went in with my boy in Santa Cruz. We swam, body surfed and just played in and beyond the breakers. Spent about an hour in the ocean... Still can't believe I did it...
2007-08-02 1:20 PM
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Rocklin
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
Santa Cruz...that's great white shark heaven!!!

Watch shark week in Discovery Channel if you can...it's really informative on how little chance you ever have to have an encounter with a shark. However, one encounter is too many. Someone once said to me, "you have a better chance of winning the Lotto that getting bit by a shark." Well, someone in my Dad's office won the freaking lotto 10 years ago...so the odds aren't that bad.
2007-08-02 1:26 PM
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Elite
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Cheesehead, WI
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume

Better chance of winning the lotto?!?! Yeehaaa!

Jaws is my all time fave book/movie. A classic!

And I'm tuning into Shark Week when I can--sure glad I'm not a seal!

I am over my fear of sharks in lakes finally though but I'll still take swimming in salt water over lake water any day.



2007-08-02 1:28 PM
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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
I think the entire coast off California is a sanctuary for the Great White Sharks. We have a huge seal/sea lion population and well, what do you find in the grocery store? Hungry people.
2007-08-02 1:34 PM
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Rocklin
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
I did an open water swim in Carmel, CA inside the kelp wall (the supposed saftey net). I saw a couple of seals, and a number of sea otters just floating around working on shells...meanwhile me, in my black wetsuit with purple trim flailed about in the water like a wounded fat seal. This was in the pre-discovery channel days!!!!

Would I do that again...NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.
2007-08-02 1:38 PM
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Expert
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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume

"WorldWide, last year, there were 4 (FOUR) fatal shark attacks in the whole world! Only 38 documented attacks in the USA and 62 total attacks total in the whole world."

Yeah, but think of all the fatal attacks that DON'T get reported. They're fatal, remember?!

 

~B

2007-08-02 1:43 PM
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Elite
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Cheesehead, WI
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
getsome - 2007-08-02 1:38 PM

"WorldWide, last year, there were 4 (FOUR) fatal shark attacks in the whole world! Only 38 documented attacks in the USA and 62 total attacks total in the whole world."

Yeah, but think of all the fatal attacks that DON'T get reported. They're fatal, remember?!

 

~B

Ya mean like that movie "Open Water"???

2007-08-02 1:57 PM
in reply to: #911274

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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume

MonteChristo - 2007-08-02 11:28 AM I think the entire coast off California is a sanctuary for the Great White Sharks. We have a huge seal/sea lion population and well, what do you find in the grocery store? Hungry people.

Yup, just cuz you don't see them doesn't mean they ain't there.  It's not really a sanctuary, it's just "where they live."  I pondered but chose not to post a story from the July Malibu times about an interloper to a recent paddle board race.....  It would freak too many people out

here, sharky sharky



Edited by ChrisM 2007-08-02 1:59 PM




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2007-08-02 2:01 PM
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Melon Presser
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Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume

May I recommend _Shark Trouble_ by Peter Benchley ... yes, the author of JAWS. Seriously helps to allay shark fears. Not kidding.

Did you know that dolphins kill people, too? They will also try to ... uh ... engage in relations with you. Some interesting excerpts below.

The real sadness, though, is the number of shark and dolphin (and other oceanic) species that are endangered or in serious decline due to wholesale slaughter as well as negligence (fishing nets, reef destruction, etc.) by humans.

*** 

From the New York Times (July 6 1999

Officials at the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service, where Mr. Spradlin works, have begun an educational campaign that sends out brochures to marinas, schools and fairs in coastal areas where people and dolphins interact, urging caution and warning of peril.

"Dozens of bites have been reported," says one flier. "And people have been pulled under water. A woman who fed a pair of dolphins and then jumped into the water to swim with them was bitten. "I literally ripped my left leg out of its mouth," she said during her one-week stay in the hospital.

***

From CNN (June 4, 2002)

WEYMOUTH, England -- Swimmers are being warned to stay away from a "sexually aggressive" dolphin that has made its home at a popular tourist resort on the English south coast.

***

From random forums 

I read a report written in 1995 saying that a male bottlenose dolphin (nicknamed Tiao), who frequently visited a beach near Sao Paolo, Brazil, head-butted two
swimmers, hospitalizing one and killing the other.
Did anyone happen to see the tv program about dolphin attacks on National Geographic's High Definition channel? They showed several
dolphin attacks on people (some deadly), including an attack in Cancun on a 51 year old woman.
2007-08-02 2:22 PM
in reply to: #911337

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Master
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Dothan, Al
Subject: RE: Shark Week and Swimming Volume
Tri, you are correct about the decimation of sharks by humans. The practice of "Finning" really took it's toll on the shark population, but it is slowly
starting to make a come back. Finning is the practice of catching sharks (Via long line) and cutting their fins off and then throughing them back in
ocean to die. The commercial fishermen can stow alot more fins on board than they can whole sharks. The fins are then sold to Tiwan and China
because shark fin soup is a considered a delicacy over there. This practice has now been out lawed, however it is they are still sold on the black
markets. I have noticed a great return of sharks over the past year or two while fishing. Some places, I could not get a fish to the boat with out it
being hit by a shark. They are pest at times, but I am glad to see them making a comeback.
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