Resident surfers may already have names for San O's Great Whites, but so do the scientists. They've been watching the sharks… from space! Researcher John O'Sullivan from the Monteray Aquarium told the OC Register that the piece of yellow tag on one of the sharks was the aquarium's, and that it could be tracked via satellite. More details about the water monsters throughout.
Pro surfer Chuck Patterson from Dana Point is crazy.
One day, while surfing in San Clemente, Patterson noticed two Great White sharks circling around him, just below the surface. Most people would take this as a sign to avoid the warm, mutant fish-filled waters in the shadow of the nuke plant's boob domes. Patterson took it as a sign to come back the next day and look for the sharks.
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Me my Shark and I from Chuck Patterson on Vimeo.
“Sure enough within 5 minutes a 9 ft shark came out of no where and
circled twice and slapped his tail on my board before disappearing,”
Patterson wrote on his blog. “then a minute later a 7 ft young juvenile
Great White swam circles
around me for 12 minutes. It was an unreal experience that I will
cherish forever.”
O'Sullivan, curator of field operations at Monteray aquarium, told the OC Register, “If Peterson's estimate of the shark's size is right — about seven or
eight feet — O'Sullivan said it is likely to be a 3 1/2 to 4-year-old
shark.”
O'Sullivan went on to explain that the sharks probably weren't looking for a meal when they were scoping Patterson.
“'When they do interact with humans through biting, it's accidental,'
O'Sullivan said. 'But it's very hard to explain that to a victim.…These white sharks have been in the Southern California, central
Baja region for thousands of years,' he said. 'As numerous as white
sharks might be along the eastern Pacific, bites are really
infrequent,''
Turns out Patterson isn't the only one who gets the warm fuzzies when staring at cold blooded death swimming by his toesies. Billy Deline left this comment on Patterson's blog:
of us that surf this area have spotted these juveniles at Trails, Dog
Patch, Old Man's and as far north as Four Doors, in the surf line over
the last year, someone even named one 'Fluffy'.”
Yes, they're only juvenile sharks, but don't let that fool you. They're trying to lull you into a false sense of security. Before you know it they'll be all grown up and ready to bite your freaking head off.
