Ape Anonymous, 1437368853

Apparently the US Navy did extensive research on colours and shark attraction. Green / army green is the least likely to attract them. Looks like vegetable matter. Yuk!

Luke G, 1437369612

How does that work when sharks are colour blind?

trolleyboy, 1437370045

Wonder if Jeep will reconsider their yummy yellow leaders jersey?

atticus, 1437370959

Traditionally companies don't get involved in environmental issues unless there's profit to be made, usually that'd be market driven - i.e by following fashion - though in this case there may be top down impetus. At present few surfers wear striped wetsuits but what if professional surfers started wearing them, simply for safety, and canny marketers morphed it into a fashion? There have been more unlikely fashions trends, wetsuit shorts, fluoro zink, so don't discount those black and white striped steamers.

freeride76, 1437371333

I got my latest board with the black and white stripes. My fav little short board at the moment is yellow. Might have to get the spray paint on it tomorrow.

reeflingo, 1437372926

Time for the yellow leaders rashie to go. This is no tour de france. The only thing those blokes have to dodge is the drug testers.

Cylinders85, 1437372945

My board is yellow its getting retried.

reeflingo, 1437372966

Are you trying to be a turtle or something? Get that black spray paint out pronto!

Ape Anonymous, 1437373211

Contrast to surrounding "tones".

the-spleen_2, 1437373273

[quote=reeflingo]Time for the yellow leaders rashie to go. [/quote]

Not while Adriano is wearing it.

reeflingo, 1437373383

Are you saying that he needs to be drug tested? ;)

caml, 1437374294

Hold up a second fashionistas ! I paid 50$ to get black n white stripes painted on the bottom of my board but then I did a spot check & dived under and looked up at my special paint job . It wasnt even noticeable ! I honestly think that this idea is a hoax , like be real now does the shark swim under then make a decision based upon the colour ?

udo, 1437374597

Caml, any surfers on the coast youre at stick to a certain board colour or keep away from yellows or any specific colour ?

Ape Anonymous, 1437374694

Is a sharks sight more refined in the ocean than a human's ?

caml, 1437375012

Aa & udes .well I always got my board yellow until a year ago I started to pay for the black n white stripes . But then did the diving underneath check & found it was very very unnoticeable . So my opinion is that it's too late to have a colour that prevents attack in shallow water GWS attack zones

caml, 1437375165

Maybe if a shork was south efrican he may decide at j baai ! Shorks bru fookin shorks ! Target practice could be fun !

paddlepaddleduckrepeat, 1437375335

I simply paint "not for consumption...human!" on the bottom...still here today.

Ape Anonymous, 1437375401

Shiny lure-like surface with meat attached..
Disregarding colour, sharks also use electromagnetic fields to hunt. Larger muscle will pulse more energy (larger electro-magnetic field), and may be why sharks tend to go for the large thigh muscles??

What did Kelly say to Mick : "Good Karma"

Faunt Leroy, 1437375472

Or a camels?

donweather, 1437378894

Watch that slow mo footage again. The shark swims past Mick then does a 180 degree turn and attacks. It clearly checked him out before going in for the kill. So it was looking at something before it made it's decision.

penmister, 1437382274

Those wetties make me swim away. ...

mick-free, 1437388101

This guy was surfing Salad Bowls at Jbay finals day last year. At the time I thought what a tool. But maybe not now,

[img]http://i.imgur.com/AM0qIMq.jpg[/img]

mick-free, 1437388140

[img]http://i.imgur.com/v8cRDYH.jpg[/img]

Chris White, 1437388299

Hahaha that's gold. (Pardon the pun)

dingostick, 1437388865

Looking at the shot in the story of Fanno's 'yummy yellow' boards, it looks like they also come with dog scent.

southey, 1437389106

[quote=mick-free]This guy was surfing Salad Bowls at Jbay finals day last year. At the time I thought what a tool. But maybe not now,

[img]http://i.imgur.com/AM0qIMq.jpg[/img][/quote]

Being in Africa I'd be more worried about being mistaken for a Zebra on land than a seal in the ocean in that suit . I can see the headlines now , man survives shark infested ocean , only to be ambushed by lions the moment he stepped ashore . .
Oh about that talk of sharks going after larger thigh muscles , I heard a rumour that some deluxe , amasing , chiseled , good looking old fuk was seen at cash converters in Lincoln selling boards by the dozen ! ;-)

mick-free, 1437389541

hope he doesn't see this thread Southey....man he is getting pretty worked up with you...what did you do, de-hymen his daughter or something?

btw the Calamari fisherman we were staying with reckons the juvenile population of whites is out of control in the waters off jbay. Reckons open season over the next few years.

Sheepdog, 1437389916

work/health/safety might move in lol....... perhaps have competitors permanently on skis.... the ski rider may become the caddy like golf......... Better scope for approaching sets..... Tactics...... Less good waves going unridden....... I suppose a surfer will get run over and killed, then that'll fuck that up......

southey, 1437390300

Mick ,
" I'm just a slightly smaller bloke , standing in front of a slightly larger bloke , giving him the bird "
'cause I'm faster and smarter than him . Oh and it's fun ! I don't mind people laughing at or with me as long as everyone has some fun .

cory, 1437393099

Hey Stu,
I would love to hear the WSL's plans for next years comp at J Bay given that they are the responsible entity that decide where comps will be held and determine they are safe. What if the worst case scenario happened in South Africa and someone was injured or killed? Surely WSL would be slapped with the biggest lawsuit in sporting history? It's one thing to be a recreational surfer and choosing where you surf as well as if you go out but these guys don't have that choice given its their employment. A lot of the surfers commented about when they feel safe to have a warm up surf...

mikehunt207, 1437395105

Would a shark eat a zebra? Stripes and all, reckon so, but more likely cause it smelt it or picked up on its heart rate or thrashing in the water . Hard to believe a predator that has been such a efficient hunter for so many millions of years would have to rely on its poor eyesight to hunt for food? they have much more developed senses than that. Water looked pretty murky too. Jury is out on the colour theory. For sure the most exciting thing the wsl has seen this year, prob a massive bump in viewer numbers. I guess now with such a public figure nearly getting eaten("oh my god! nobody is safe!) the shark haters will be sharpening their keyboard fingers. The WA gov just announced shark nets going up this summer in albany and perth .

southey, 1437396118

Old mate in this photo has a pretty big cut ? On his left foot !?
You'd reckon that would outway any advantage of Zebra chamelion .

cory, 1437396556

Research is the key to understanding Sharks and living in harmony with them. I downloaded a free app a few weeks ago called Global Shark Tracker. I find it interesting to see different sharks in various areas behave so differently. All threats aside they are truly amazing and magnificent creatures...

Blackdog, 1437398409

The big eye theory might work for magpies, tigers, savage dogs and so on but to old whitie you probably just look like one of them big squid. Mmmm calamari

southey, 1437399417

[quote=Chris White]Hahaha that's gold. (Pardon the pun)[/quote]
Hey Chris I saw yours and Hard's posts on FB . V Funny . Too early ? Maybe if Mick or Jdub see it .
Apparently not to early for DH though , although in his defence he did go finless as he heard that local sharks had a thing against Finning !

mick-free, 1437402834

Be funny if a lion seeing that Blood and zebra suit just bolt out of the bushes and start munching away. Then Kelly could retire having seen everything!

mick-free, 1437403248

@cory I used it in South Africa good for the real big ones. A mate said who was attacked and spending his life filming and docos on them. They are killing machines. That's it. Thats all.

mikehunt207, 1437410836

@mickfree, yes he does look like a tool and not necessarily cause of the stripes but also looks like he could handle any shark that came at him too.
I always thought you were meant to draw a big eye on the bottom of your board if you were worried about sharks? Predators don,t like they prey to to see them, ambush attack, an old boy told me that many years ago. No dumber than stripes anyhow

wingnut2443, 1437433060

Where do you see that it goes past? First sign of it is from the right, behind Mick, then the dorsal fin appears when it is right next to him.

gannet, 1437433564

Now we know why Julian dons the Hurley stripes.

pale-rider, 1437433898

don't knock wet shorts still waiting for them to come back, Occy Green Iguana Style, only shorts to leave your nuts unrasheded on a week long surf trip

wingnut2443, 1437434023

Sorry, donweather, I can not see the shark at any time other than just before it appears behind Mick. How do you conclude it "checked him out" first?

Here's the footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=859&v=DRoSzD53VYs

ACB__, 1437453177

That's almost exactly what SAMS have done. Follow the hyperlink in the article above.

daboots, 1437455124

Just set up some big balloons anchored by some buoys along the line up with some Gopros looking down from the sky. Then have a couple of guys looking at the screens to monitor for sharks. I don't think such a set up would be too expensive these days.

Most likely there is also already some video object recognition software that would allow recognition of a shark shape and swim pattern. For sure the military have that sort of software already in place. Obviously murky waters would be a problem but it would still cover most days.

Such system could even be easily used on any other beach as a standard.

My 5c...

daboots, 1437455632

I'm talking about aerial surveillance rather than sonar-type tech. The buoys would just be to keep the Gopro-holding balloons in place. Although just normal bottom anchors would suffice.

Instead of having lifesavers looking out from the tower they could be looking from above. This without having to use drones, which still have fairly limited battery time. A couple of Gopros with beefed up batteries would do the job.

mick-free, 1437469481

Wingnut can't punch up a link but smh reporting shark researcher said it was a classic attack from behind. Just read it.

Toppa, 1437470622

All the talk about yellow boards, if you watch the footage of Mick's board being lifted into the rescue boat it is actually 'white' underneath? Apolgies if someone else has mentioned this earlier.

udo, 1437470970

Toppa , you colour blind ?

bondisteve, 1437473133

G'Day all.
Having read through many posts on many sites I feel I should repeat here what I have posted in other sites. Obviously there is a lot of concern and forward thinking.
Guys this one is relatively simple.
1. Enforce the wearing of booties into the water...no blood.
2. The GoPro drone will be released in November. It is reportedly very good. Use it for shark surveillance. Even in Infrared.
3.Wakeless motorised surfboards could be considered as a first response to a surf observation. Keeping the surface relatively clean whilst dealing with the problem as skis stood by even while, possibly the contest continued. This is JBay after all and sharks are there regardless.
4. Convince the African authorities that placing two or more fit and possibly bleeding humans in the lineup without adequate defence(ski assist) is "Colosseumesk" and not in the best interests of Pro Surfing.
5. Not awarding points for risky finishes on the rocks.
Ta and good nite.

Toppa, 1437475418

Sorry mate, I think it might have been Pete Mel's board that I mistook for Micks.

bondisteve, 1437694921

And here is some more!
You can now share the very moment you paddle over a waterfall in a kayak—live.
Live video-streaming app Meerkat announced a beta program on Thursday that enables some GoPro GPRO, +3.68% users to live-stream their footage directly from their GoPro device.
The company, which competes directly with Twitter Inc.’s TWTR, +0.28% live-streaming app Periscope, said the camera can be connected to the app via Bluetooth, and then prompted to stream by shaking the mobile device that is hosting the Meerkat app.
So there will be GoPro drones and the new app to stream live.
Great!

Rustymullet, 1437695264

[quote=reeflingo]Time for the yellow leaders rashie to go. This is no tour de france. The only thing those blokes have to dodge is the drug testers.[/quote]

Rustymullet, 1437695471

[quote=reeflingo]Time for the yellow leaders rashie to go. This is no tour de france. The only thing those blokes have to dodge is the drug testers.[/quote]
All this talk of yellow , are we missing the other yellow stuff that sharks might be attracted too???i was thinking of patenting a rubber pipe that feeds out of your wet suit for emergencies

halleys-comet, 1437806451

My 5 cents worth; the SAMS testing on black and white stripes was done with tiger sharks. I'd only seriously consider using the b&w stripy wetsuits and bottom of surfboards here in WA if they test successfully on Great Whites. My theory is tiger sharks are primarily warmer water sharks, where the poisonous sea snakes are often b&w striped in colour, hence their aversion to these stripes. In WA it's the whiteys that have the history of bites and fatalities, not tigers (unlike places like Hawaii and Reunion).

simba, 1437807359

http://www.sharkcamo.com/ningalooreef.htm

halleys-comet, 1437833669

Thanks Simba, that link was a good read, I'll still want more thorough testing with a variety of whiteys to justify striped wettie, or board, testing preferably done in WA where I'm based these days.

simba, 1437873049

I dont know if this has been mentioned here before but sounds positive now ocean and earth have come on board with sharkshield.
https://www.sharkshield.com/video-tag/testing-and-scientific-research/

simba, 1437874172

Shark Shield developing the world’s first Proven In-built Surfboard Shark Deterrent with Ocean & Earth Media Release 20 July 2015 Shark Shield, the world’s only scientifically proven and independently tested electronic shark deterrent, and Ocean & Earth are developing the world’s first proven in-built surfboard shark deterrent. Lindsay Lyon, Shark Advocate and Managing Director of Shark Shield said, “The near miss Mick Fanning faced overnight further instills the need to create a safe environment for not only our elite surfers but for everyday surfers who love the sport. We believe this new product launching in early 2016 can do just that and take away the stress from surfers and families alike.” Designed to not only protect surfers the new product is aesthetically appealing and has no impact on current surfboard manufacturing or the shaping design processes, and zero to minimal impact on surfboard performance. The patented innovation leverages the Ocean & Earth grip pad by mounting the miniaturised removable electronics in the kicker area, with a thin adhesive sticker on the underside of the board as the antenna

halleys-comet, 1437875946

Thanks again Simba.
I'm also keen to know if Dave from Katana Surfboards in Perth has done any more testing on his electronic deterent? check it out; surfsafe.net.au
Cheers

udo, 1437878751

If the detterent vid on there site is the best they have.........I put little faith in Sharkshield keeping me safe.

trippergreenfeet, 1437881772

Walter Starck has been working on testing/proving striped wetties for 30 odd years but I haven't found any solid work by him on GWS - Google Scholar turned up very little on that particular subject...majority of his work focuses on tropical waters although he has done some work in cold water such as NZ.

simba, 1437882955

just heard from a mate that a large shark was spotted at flatrock and nth wall in the last couple days and serious enough for the cops to get everyone out of the water with sirens blaring today at shelley beach ballina.

udo, 1437985494

Fanning surfed Snapper today ......riding a yummy yellow bottomed board.

udo, 1437986467

Have I read SurfSafe instruction correctly : The surfboard must be bottom down in seawater at all times for the device to work
And it has a flashing greenlight on the underside when operating
A red and greenlashing light on the underside when battery has 1 hr of charge left ?

udo, 1437987731

The installation to a already glassed epoxy surfboard.........leaves a 900 mm long airpocket in the bottom

Question for glassing Gurus.........is this going to delam the bottom if exposed to any heat ? I say yes .

theween, 1438067759

[quote=mikehunt207]Would a shark eat a zebra? Stripes and all, reckon so, but more likely cause it smelt it or picked up on its heart rate or thrashing in the water . Hard to believe a predator that has been such a efficient hunter for so many millions of years would have to rely on its poor eyesight to hunt for food? they have much more developed senses than that. Water looked pretty murky too. Jury is out on the colour theory. For sure the most exciting thing the wsl has seen this year, prob a massive bump in viewer numbers. I guess now with such a public figure nearly getting eaten("oh my god! nobody is safe!) the shark haters will be sharpening their keyboard fingers. The WA gov just announced shark nets going up this summer in albany and perth .[/quote]@mickfree, yes he does look like a tool and not necessarily cause of the stripes but also looks like he could handle any shark that came at him too.
I always thought you were meant to draw a big eye on the bottom of your board if you were worried about sharks? Predators don,t like they prey to to see them, ambush attack, an old boy told me that many years ago. No dumber than stripes anyhow.

'Dumb' is how you come across mike - we aren't 'shark haters' if we value human life over that of a fish.

Timm-Dah, 1477269307

Timm-Dah, 1477269505

Hey,

I don't see any difference between a SAMS wetsuit and all this Yoga pants fashion wave that is now starting to sweep through. (http://d3mz051w0m9hpc.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/colorful-yoga-pants.jpg)

If it stops ya from getting chomped, what's the big deal?

I do agree tho that I think it is more to do with the illusion of a sea-snake from the movement of your arms and legs then a shark finding it confusing based on colours etc.

From below, a person will easily look like a seal on a bright sunny day. Especially the body-boaders with their flippers etc. The silhouette it creates and the slow back-&-forth of your arms and legs etc maintaining your position is pretty close to the real thing.(https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/08/shark-attack-research-to-test-surfboard-deterrent-lights-on-decoy-seals)

I heard also if your wetsuit isn't very clean, dog slept on it or it's being bunched up in a pile of clothes etc...that residual smell is going to get the attention of a wondering shark.

Happy surfing.

Timm.

udo, 1633948442

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSyiREdhtKK/

bluediamond, 1633959440

Reckon the little stripy worm can stop one of these Udo? haha
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU49vHZFklH/