Shark Bites Foilboarder's Foot

[ricki]

Kevin Collins, former editor of Kiteboarding Magazine was kiting in the waves off 12th St., Cocoa Beach around noon on May 5, 2015. He was riding a Foil Fish board in apparent light winds when he wiped out outside the wave break in about eight feet of water. He made a large splash in the very turbid/murky water and was struck in the foot within about 2 seconds of hitting the water. The shark let go almost immediately and swam off. Kevin indicated that he saw no advanced signs of shark feeding activity such as diving birds or jumping schools of bait. There are photos of his foot injury on his Facebook page Kevin indicated that "yes you feel every tooth and yes they are very sharp." The species of the shark is unknown but may have been smaller in size from the appearance of the wound. Hope he heals fully and fast!


On a related note, here is a less than a week old clip of a shark making a close run on a foilboarder off Jupiter, FL. The shark was fairly small but and swam at speed towards the planning hydrofoil when it passed by.



Published on May 1, 2014
"I was foil boarding off Jupiter Island and had the gopro in my kite lines. Looking back at the footage I found this little clip. The shark must have thought the foil was a ray or something. Any idea what kind of shark it is?"

Some other foil boarders have wondered if sharks show an unusual interest in their boards when in use say when compared to twin tip (tt), boards. Reasoning through things, planning foils should generate an acoustic signature different from that caused by twin tip boards. Whether the foil board acoustic qualities generate special shark interest is still up for discussion. There have apparently been a number of cases in which the foil struck the shark while underway. Some think foil boards might contribute to shark interest, others conclude the visibility offered by foil boards might aid detection of the shark whereas other close approaches on a tt might be missed? Sharks have shown interest in kiters in the past to varying degrees while on plane but striking the boards seems to be quite rare, fortunately for us. I have had sharks make short runs on me while on twin tip boards but not with much vigor usually apparently dropping the chase fairly soon. This showed up in video captured by my kite-mounted GoPro camera in various sessions. Large schools of blacktip sharks have shown more aggressive chasing tendencies on transitioning twin tips and surfboards. It is possible that the shark which bit Kevin, may have been shadowing him as with the shark in the clip, or not.

More at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1417...h/?query=shark

So, for now, is there a correlation between hydrofoil use and shark encounters or are the shark encounters usually present in a similar frequency but merely go unnoticed by kiters on conventional boards? It is too soon to say with the limited information currently available.

Have other kitesurfers had shark encounters while hydrofoiling and if so what happened?


Screen capture from the above video clip.

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[Jake]

I have had several instances where I have hit sharks while kiting in shallow, 2'-3', waters. I could feel the board ride up a bit at impact. My thoughts on foil boards is that the shape of the foil and the acoustic signature may be similar to a ray fleeing from a shark.

My biggest fear is when body dragging back to my board or back to shore when the wind drops.

[ricki]

That is interesting Jake. Do you think they were just there or swimming an intercept when they got too close to the target of interest, you? You ride mainly in the Bay area, a fairly sharky place, right? You could be right or based on my experience with the Aqueon, perhaps the foil sound is like a wounded fish in general.

You are right to think about that. Although, sharks could easily knock us off plane, they don't seem to have done so very often. When the fairly rare attacks have happened, we have usually been in the water. Perhaps just after wiping out as in a number of cases including Kevin's or after swimming around a while as in body dragging. Best advice, stay on plane in questionable waters and times!

Originally Posted by Jake

I have had several instances where I have hit sharks while kiting in shallow, 2'-3', waters. I could feel the board ride up a bit at impact. My thoughts on foil boards is that the shape of the foil and the acoustic signature may be similar to a ray fleeing from a shark.

My biggest fear is when body dragging back to my board or back to shore when the wind drops.

[Jake]

I believe that they were just there cruising the flats. They were startled and swam right under my board. Most were 4-5 footers. I had one approach me once when fly fishing(wading), about 8' long. I was about 100 yards off shore. Fortunately it left me alone when I slapped the rod on the water.

I got bit once on the knee while fishing by a 3' blacktip. After three days of pain and suffering, the shark died...