I want to learn to surf but I'm scared of sharks!?

Question

I would like to learn how to surf but I am terrified of sharks! Have any surfers on here ever been attacked by sharks while they were surfing? What should you do if a shark comes near you while you're surfing! I would really like to learn to surf but I am seriously terrified of sharks!

Answer 1

I've surfed many times and usually once I'm at the beach, I totally forget about them since I get to go surfing. The best thing to do is not worry and just have fun.

Answer 2

Imagine the number of breaks on say, one coast like cali or east Australia, there must be thousands.,    ,

http://adventures.worldnomads.com/destin...

Pretty much every day of the year you'll have 5 to 1000 surfers at each break throughout the day.

How many shark attacks have their been in the last 10 yrs?

I've heard of about 4.(on the east c. of Aus)

But say  there were 100.

Calculus : average 30 surfers a day per break/per year/ for 10 years : 30x3000x365x10 =328'000'000

that's 1 chance out of 3 million if there were 100 sh. attacks in the last 10 years. And that's not counting all the swimmers and so forth.....

I don't fear.....

Answer 3

when you start surfing all your fears go away, i guarantee that you will not think about currents, sharks or anything, just you trying to get that perfect wave you been waiting for

trust me on this

i love surfing, its my life i set aside anything and everything for it, fear, stress and anger

Answer 4

you're more likely to drown than be eaten by a shark

Answer 5

just dont be a little bitchh and man up i puched a shark while bodyboarding and i do it almost every day

not punching sharks

but bodyboarding

Answer 6

Sharks is one of your least worries. Worry about staying above water. No surfers have been attacked while surfing.. A couple have been bitten while out in the water. But those surferes knew how many and big of sharks were in there. Always surf in groups and you'll forget about those big fish.

Answer 7

You're many times more likely to be killed in a car accident in a wreck on the way to the beach or be killed getting stung by a bee or bit by a dog.

You can take some simple precautions though.  

-Don't surf at sundown or sunrise.  

-Be very cautious about surfing around river mouths or inlets.  -Paddle in if  a school of bait fish surfaces near you and is breaking the surface trying to get away from something or if you see a shark big enough to concern you.

Oh yeah, if you see shark that is big enough to seriously scare you just remember that you don't have to be able to paddle faster than the shark can swim.  You only have to paddle faster than the person next to you. ;-)

Answer 8

lol, the only shark i've run into was a little sand shark; when i was a kid i went right in the water after seeing the movie "Jaws".

Bottom line is love casts out fear and you gotta love surfing more than you fear of sharks.

Think of good things like dolphins!

Answer 9

It also helps if you surf in little bay like areas, sharks spend more time moving up and down the coast, they don't like to go into little coves.

Answer 10

Poke it in the EYE!! nah seriously.. if you are that scared then there is a leash that you can buy that sends electrodes through the water and this really pisses the sharks off. These products have been trialled and tested in SA and are meant to actually work. Hope this helped.

Answer 11

Just surf waves that are ultra crowded. It lessens your chances.You also have to find a way to get rid of that fear. If your always thinking about sharks when you surf, you'll never have fun.Also, surfing mid-day on super sunny days is in my opinion the safest time.

Answer 12

well depends where you live. my dad lived in mexico for a while [hes a old surfer :D] and i guess when surfing he ran into a shark, it didn't bother him it just scraped against his leg and he has a huge gash in it to this day. theres always danger in the world no matter what you do. i lived in hawaii [one of the most common places to find sharks] and it was HORRIBLE. I was doing North Shore once and saw one about 40 feet out from me, i swam for it! Its hard to get used to it, but its a lot of fun. Hope you get over the fear.

Answer 13

dw about sharks.....theres not as many as the stupid television makes out to be

Answer 14

yea its really rare to see a shark that will actually eat you or even bite you

plus sharks would nible at you before they actually take a huge bite so between that time you can try and get to shallow water

also skin divers swear to it that if you stick your head under water and scream then this will actually scare of sharks