On February 4, 2010 Surfsister reported: "The shark was spotted on the inside today (2/4/10). As I was about to paddle out, three surfers were getting out. Apparently, an SUP guy said the shark had just swum under his board (near The Point). Then another surfer who was near that first guy saw the dorsal fin. Thus the reason for the mass exodus. (No, I didn't paddle out. The waves weren't good enough to brave being Mr. or Mrs. Shark's lunch)."
On January 14, 2010 Jack reported: "2 shark sightings in 2 days. Hi, just wanted to let you know that a guy saw a shark breach on Monday (January 11) while I was in the line-up. He said it was about 200 yards out from the lifeguard stand area. When asked if he saw a bird splash, he responded 'I know the difference between a bird splash and a shark breach.' This occured with pink skies at sundown hour. The waves were so good, no one left the line-up immediately, but there was maybe 4 other surfers out there with me as it got dark. Then yesterday, a British accent man reported the upper half of a triangular fin at less than 10 feet from his board. He said the fin did not have the curved shape of a dolphin, but the triangular shape of a shark. He was not familiar with the great white breeding ground at Will Rogers, and thought the shark was not a great white. The shark was described as smallish (5 feet?). This occured last night at sun setting hour. I don't think anyone else but him saw it. Talked with him extensively, he wasn't lying.
I am the first to challenge shark sightings as surfers trying to get other surfers out of the lineup, but I believe both of these sighting were 100% accurate.
I'm not happy about these sightings, but so far it hasn't prevented me from surfing. I am only comforted by the fact that there has only been one surfer killed on the Cali coast (north) in the last 50 years."
On January 3, 2010 Ron reported: "At approximately 4:15PM on January 3rd, 2010 I spotted what appreared to be that great white shark that was photographed by the Horizon's surf shop owner. I was out at the point looking back at how crowded it was (2-3 ft occassion waves) and noticed a diving or fishing ship anchored. As the ship came into focus the shark breached about 20-30 feet of the stern of the ship. It seemd as though some of the other surfers noticed it especially since the crowd thinned rather quickly.
"
On January 3, 2010 Chris reported: "I was out on a paddle (SUP) on 1/3 around 11:30 and paddled over a black shark at the point. The water was extremely clear. He was about 5-6 feet long and about 5 feet down. It was pretty surreal and he did not seem to pay any attention to me. I'm not sure if it was the same shark they saw on 1/4 or even if it was a great white. After looking at photos online of GW body shapes and characteristics, he did look to be a great white but I cant be certain. I know little about the shark species we have here."
On December 30, 2009 Kario reported: "On December 29th, a paddle boarder followed an 8 to 9 foot great white shark swimming around just off the peak. Its fin never broke the surface, but it freaked me out as I was sitting no more than 20 yards away. Other local sunset tribesmen and women seemed amused and unconcerned. I paddled in a few minutes later because the surf was lousy. We're all nuts. Aloha....
"
On November 6, 2009 Kio reported: "I saw a shark while snorkeling at Sunset Beach at around 12 noon. The depth of water was 15ft, 250 yards from the shore, 300 yds east of Gladstone. Vis was 15ft, bottom sandy with rocks 50%. Clear sky, sunshine, 1ft wave, 1 hour after the peak tide(6.5ft). Shark: probably 7-9 feet long. Most likely, this is a great white shark, dark on top with white belly - very much like the one breaching as shown in the photo published in the LA times (local) on Nov 3rd. Other mammal: after I came up from the water, I saw one seal ~350yds away, and a school of dolphins (~6-7) cruising around about 400 yards away. Wet suits: 2-pc wet suits, light blue color on the side, rest is black. Equipment:
-I had a lobster bag attached to the weight belt, and spear gun carried on my back -black rocket fins -black hood and black gloves (I wore additional green glove on my right hand to catch lobster). Encounter: - at the time of encounter, I was swimming back toward the beach, about 250 yards away when I noticed, he was passing straight in front of me with at a distance of about 10ft. He passed from my right to left at 90-degree angle. He was leisurely cruising (so it appeared) about 3ft below the surface. He looked calm, with his head pointing straight ahead. Before I noticed him, I was looking down to check the bottom for halibut/lobster. I was swimming quietly, using fins, my arms on the side. After noticing him directly ahead of me, I stopped kicking my fins, quietly picked up my spear gun from my shoulder, and prepared to fight if needed. He marched on forward, and never turned around as I checked the surrounding as I headed for the beach quietly, and at modest speed."
On October 3, 2009 Randy Wright of Horizons West Surf N' Wear (2011 Main St, Santa Monica) was kayaking a few hundred yards off Sunset Beach. Using a Canon 40d camera with a 24-105 mm lens inside an SPL Waterhousing, Randy captured a stunning series of high-resolution images of a shark breaching. He immediately submitted the images to Ralph Collier of the Shark Research Committee. Based on dorsal coloration, the gray and white pattern on the pelvic fin, shape and color of the caudal fin, location and shapes of the dorsal and pectoral fins, snout and eye, Ralph confirmed that Randy had captured images of a White Shark, with an estimated length of 8 - 10 feet. A sample of the images and the full account of the incident are available on the Shark Research Committee website.
On October 2, 2009 Brian reported: "While surfing on 1 - 2 foot I observed a large splash about 200 yards off the point. It was 100 yards right off, and 50 yards out past, the buoy. I continued surfing and about 20 minutes later observed a fairly large shark breach completely out of the water and land on its back. It was grey with a white belly and 8 - 10 feet in length. I would be guessing to say I was sure of the species. There was one other surfer in the water and two paddle boarders in the area. There were a lot of birds in the area that seemed to be going after baitfish."
On September 3, 2009 Ralph reported: "I was stand-up paddle boarding on 9/5/09 and coming in after looping the red buoy. About 50 yards off shore at the north end of the Cabana's at BABC a 5-6 foot shark came up parallel to me about 3' under the surface. Leisurely eyed me and swam off.”
On September 3, 2009 John was kayaking 300 yards from shore at Sunset Beach in front of Gladstone's Restaurant. It was 5:00 PM and he had been on the water 15 minutes. The sky was clear with some noticeable smoke from the local fires. Air and water temperatures were estimated at 85 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. The surf was small with calm seas and no white caps present. No marine mammals were observed in the area. There were about 5 Pelicans actively diving the area. John reported the following: “I was kayaking West about 300 yards off the coast and had just made a left hand turn to head East in front of Gladstone's Restaurant. I looked to the South and out of nowhere the shark breeched completely out of the water about 30 feet from my kayak. The tail probably cleared the surface by 4-5 feet. I've only seen dolphins do this, so I expected it to be a dolphin, but it was definitely a shark. It was much thinner than a dolphin and different coloring. It twisted in the air so I got a good look at the entire animal. There were no other sea animals present and about 5 pelicans actively diving in the area. It came out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. It did not swim near the surface at any time that I saw. I continued kayaking East toward the Bel Air Bay Club and did not see the shark again. The shark was bluish grey with very white underbelly. The white underbelly appeared as a very defined oval rather than blending into the grey. It was probably 5-7 feet in length.”
On August 24, 2009, Delza reported: "We were surfing at Sunset around 10 AM or so yesterday, high tide was already coming in so the crowd had thinned out. There were about 5 other surfers within 30 yards of me, all of us waiting between sets looking out between the buoy and porta potties. We had seen a couple dolphins cruising around earlier, but then out of nowhere, about 150 yards from the buoy, I saw a big grey and white something shoot straight up like a missile, completely out of the water and splash back down. I turned around and asked everyone "Did you SEE THAT!??" .The 4 people around all said yes and one of the shortboarders said "oh, yeah, that's a juvenile white shark." with a nonchalant tone like "oh yeah, they serve seafood at Gladstones". And of course, everyone went back to surfing. I didn't believe all the reports about sharks breaching and even told my friends last month when we had seen a shark at Sunset this time about 50 yards inside of the buoy that "oh come on...the people who are supposedly seeing sharks breaching at Sunset are watching too much Discovery Channel!". Guess that little whitey just proved me wrong."
On August 24, 2009, Jeremiah reported: "At about 9:30 AM, what was most likely a White shark, jumped straight up out of the water. I did not see the belly. But it looked 12ft to 14ft in length, and pretty bulky. It stayed vertical, with the tail probably 5ft out of the water, and tilted slightly on the way back down. It was about straight off the point, maybe about 300 ft out. And a bunch of people who were there went, "whoa!" "shark!" "did you see that!" It was an impressive reminder of the present, and kind of pulled focus into the moment. I definitely clicked on my wide angle and appreciated the clarity, figuratively."
On August 24, 2009, Murray reported: "A few of us saw a shark tonight around 7ish am... didn't see the whole thing, just the fin."
On August 22, 2009, Kate reported: "Saw a full breach today around 4:45pm... in front of the point about 200-300 yds out."
On August 8, 2009, Jon reported: "My friend was surfing sunset at third point at 8:30 PM on sunday night, August 8th . 5 people were in the water. He turned back to check surf and saw a 12 inch dorsal fin exposed out of the water headed his direction coming very quickly. He paddled out immediately and the other surfers cleared out within 15 seconds."
On August 5, 2009, Gerry reported: "I saw another one today about 350 yards offshore from the Bel Air Bay Club. GWS approx 6-8 ft just cruising around.
Good times."
On August 1, 2009, Gerry reported: "Routine shark sighting. Breaching about 150 yards beyond the buoy at Sunset around 10:45 AM on Thursday and around 9:45AM Saturday. White belly, approx 6-8 ft."
On July 29, 2009, Arthur reported: "This morning the great white breached at 7am and 7:20am about 40-50 yards north of the pink buoy. I got a real good look at it on the first breach and could clearly see it's white underbelly. He's been spotted so much that no one seemed particularly bothered by the sighting. I posted before on July 9."
On July 27, 2009, Alan reported: "Today around 6:30 at sunset. Full breach about 200 yards off the point lineup. Details same as previous sightings."
On July 23, 2009, Raun reported: "There was a shark sighting today at Sunset around 7/23/2009 7:15 am. I was looking out for incoming waves and saw the creature jump out of the water as if it was going after prey. I don't think I was the only one to see it as some of us paddled in a little closer to shore, but still surfed afterwards.
On July 22, 2009, Juice reported: "As with the last few sightings, I also saw a white shark about 6'-7' long breach today, exposing it's white belly for me and a few other surfers. We were between the point and dos banos at 8:30am on 7/22, and the shark was about halfway between us and the buoy. They remarked that they had seen it earlier that morning. I got out while the others stayed in the water.."
On July 20, 2009, Chad reported: "Surfing with my fiancee on July 20th around noon at Sunset just south of Gladstones when I witnessed a 6-8 foot shark breach completely out of the water about 200 yards out. It was dark gray on top and spun around exposing its white underbelly as it crashed back into the water causing a large splash. We had read the earlier shark sightings from this web site and both thought it was b.s! (Probably people lying trying to scare people to thin the crowd of surfer, or just mistaking dolphins for sharks we thought). I cannot say for sure that what I saw was a Great White shark, but I can say for sure that it was definitely NOT a dolphin...WTF!?."
On July 19, 2009, Matt reported: "Saw another shark today 7/19. Several of us saw him/her, probably about 1:15 PM. Everyone kept surfing."
On July 20, 2009, Tyler reported: "I was SUPing on Sunday (19th) and at about 1:00PM I saw a 7 foot white shark breach clear out of the water about 300 yards from the pink buoy. Its tail was at least 4 feet out ot the water putting its head 11 feet or so out of the water - spectacular! This is now the 3rd time I have seen a shark feeding at Sunset."
On July 18, 2009, Kim reported: "
7/18/09 This morning around 6:50 am approximately 150 yards southwest of Sunset Point at Gladstones a 5-6' foot shark jumped completely out of the water... white belly, dark gray back. I had seen the same thing about 10 days prior west of the pink buoy but had only seen the last second of the shark splashing in down after breaching."
On July 17, 2009, Jon reported: " I'm a local at sunset and I saw a shark on July 17th. It was around 2-3 PM, a 7-8 foot shark breached out the water and landed on its side. It had a white belly. Looked like it was trying to get prey???"
On July 16, 2009 Keith reported: "Saw what I believe to be a white shark breach completely out of the water this morning at Sunset. Only a few of us in, approx 8:30am directly out from the Gladstones parking lot. Hard to gauge the size but I'm guessing at least 7 ft. I was in the water at Sunset when the shark breached on July 9th but only saw the splash, though a friend of mine saw the whole thing. Described exactly what I saw today. Been surfing in the area for 5 years. Seen plenty of dolphins, never anything like this."
Miles reported: "Shark sighting at 11:15am, 7/16/09. Was surfing at Sunset Point near the lifeguard tower when I saw what I believe was a White Shark breach completely out of the water near the orange buoy. My wife was paddleboarding about 30 yards away when it happened and confirmed what I saw. It looked about 7-8 feet long and turned in the air showing off it's white belly. "
On July 9, 2009 Michael reported: "Saw a great white breach completely out of the water 2 or 3 feet today, twisted and crashed back in at aprrox. 7 am. Seemed to be about 7 - 8 ft. in length. I alerted a few surfers around me who didnt see it... I paddled closer to shore... the others stayed."
Arthur reported: "This morning (Thursday July 9) at around 7am I noticed a big splash about 20-30 yards outside the pink floater in the water. I turned and quickly and just saw the white foam of the big splash. A fellow surfer sitting next to me named Michael said he saw the whole thing and that it was a white bellied shark doing a full breach out of the water."
On July 3, 2009 Ben reported: "Shark sighting today at Sunset 7.45am - medium spinner shark breached 2/300 feet off the dos banos. Didn't see it again, beautiful sight! We kept surfing till the hi-tide at 8.45ish"
On May 24, 2009 Phillip Keith reported: "This was a first time for me to see a shark while surfing in my 20 years of surfing. I was surfing Sunset yesterday, Saturday May 23rd at about 6:00am, just off the point, me and about 4 other surfers in the water, one paddle board surfer. We were about 30 yards off shore, and we all saw a shark about 30 yards out from us come up and attack and kill and eat a seagull/ (some type of bird) sitting in the water. The shark looked to be about 4 feet from tail to dorsal fin, estimate total length about 6 to 7 feet. It thrashed around with the bird for a while, presumbably ate it, then we saw it surface a couple times over about a 10 minute span, then it dissapeared. We all kept surfing."
On March 18, 2009 Alden Harris was swimming South from Will Rogers State Beach for his daily 1.5 - 3 mile swim. It was 9:45 AM when he entered the water. His swim lasted about 60 minutes. The sky was clear with air and water temperatures estimated in the mid-70s and mid-50s Fahrenheit respectively. He stayed within 10 - 15 yards of shore through out the swim. Ocean swells were 2 - 3 feet with water visibility 5 - 10 feet. Harris reports: "I went swimming South from Will Rogers State Beach. I was in the water about one hour. When I finished my swim, I exited the water and walked about 100 yards North to the location where I had observed the two sharks on Saturday. I saw a shark’s dorsal fin about 20 yards from shore. A cresting wave allowed me to see the shark’s silhouette. It was about 7 feet in length with a dorsal fin, 12 - 16 inches. I watched the shark swim around the area for about 5 minutes. I finally went to my car to retrieve my camera and binoculars. When I returned the shark was gone. It did not return. I saw the police helicopter circling the area so it is possible that even though the lifeguards are publicly denying that there were any sharks (seven people confirmed seeing them), privately they're keeping a diligent lookout.”
Christopher Harford adds: "I was at sunset on last wed. the 18th on stand up board. Been surfing the area since the 60's. I saw large shark swim under me and observed it for about a minute. I wanted to describe what i saw in your post on sharks."
Keith Turner reported: "I was paddling my paddleboard at Sunset Point, slowly going north. When I looked to my left I could see a shark about ten feet away and four feet under water swimming slowly in the same direction. I'm not sure how long he was there before I spotted him, but soon he swam away heading north. I paddled faster to get to the point to warn another surfer who was in the general direction of the shark's path. He didn't seem too concerned, so I went back to surfing. About 10-20 minutes later I was standing still on my board at the point, facing west. I saw a small wave coming towards me and didn't think too much of it. But then I saw a ripple in the middle of the wave that seemed out of place and it was headed straight towards me. I realized the ripple was the tip of the shark's dorsal fin. He kept coming towards me until he got about ten feet away, then swerved and swam off to my left. I used my paddle to smack the water above him, but don't think it did any good. The shark was a little smaller than my paddleboard, which is 10 feet, so I would estimate his size at 8 feet."
Todd adds: "I'm a regular at Sunset and was surfing on Sunday the 15th with Ron, another regular at the point. Around 12:30 or so high tide was slowing things down but it was about to start dropping. There were only a few of us out. Ron and I looked straight out and approximately 100 yards from us we saw a 6-8 ft white shark fully breach head to tail. We stayed still, put our feet up on our boards, and continued surfing until around 3 pm. We saw random movements of water but did not again fully see the shark."
Adrienne Salick reported: "I got in the water around 7 am yesterday, Saturday August 16, 2008, with my friend Megan. We had been surfing for about an hour, probably a little more, and we were between the point and the stairs, closer to the point. It was overcast, it was pretty glassy, and the light was such that there was a glare making it more difficult to decipher when a wave was forming. We were chatting and generally enjoying the morning, both keeping a steady eye on the horizon to watch for approaching waves. What I saw next took place rather quickly and took my mind a few seconds to process. At first, I thought I was seeing a dolphin jump clear out of the water, as I often do. I let out an appreciative, "Whoa!" This was quickly followed by a "What the #@!&%$ was that?!" as my subconscious mind replayed the image and started doing the math before my conscious mind could catch up. Too big to be a dolphin. White underbelly. Bright white underbelly, illuminated by the glare of the sun through the overcast sky. Side fins. A rounded-off head - NOT a pointed bottle nose. A huge splash as it landed on its side/back. A quick conference with Megan and the nearby man - yep, we all saw the same thing. That was NOT a dolphin. But we couldn't actually utter the name of the fish we all knew it must be. That was it. It didn't take us long to start paddling to shallower water, more on the inside, gathering a crew of like-minded surfers who had either seen the shark, seen the splash, or acted in response to the palpable fear in the air. A mass exodus from that part of the break, but strangely, not out of the water. We stayed in for at least another 40 minutes, admittedly with our feet on deck and our eyes fearfully scanning for fins and large masses beneath our boards. Lots of nervous and excited chatter - it was quite the bonding experience - followed by jokes about how if we were in the audience of a movie depicting this very scene, we'd be yelling at those stupid surfers to get the hell out of the water! Part of me thought it couldn't have been a shark, it had to be a whale - that's the part that let me stay in the water. But the other part of me, the smarter, more instinctual one, the same one who has seen those videos of sharks jumping out of the water with seals in their jaws, knew what I had seen."
Ian McCullen reported: "Today around 8:15AM just south of the point at Sunset near Gladstones, approx. 10-12 other surfers witnessed a white shark. I myself only saw the whitewash ripples from the shark's reentry. It was described by others as breaching the surface and turning over showing its white under belly. Everyone said it was large approx 10-12 feet. All the surfers stayed in the water but away from that part of the break. Since I saw someone had reported seeing a shark on Shark Research Committee website yesterday, I thought I should give a heads up to everyone heading out tomorrow."
Ben Kopke reported: "My wife, a friend and I were out at Sunset around 6:45 this morning and surfed for about an hour. We stayed close to the point, maybe a third of the way towards the stairs. There were fish jumping when we paddled out, and around 7/7:15ish a dolphin-sized shark breached about a hundred yards outside the lineup. It was definitely not a dolphin; the tail fin was vertical. The belly (which was turned towards us) was white. I can't really describe it much further as it was only out of the water for a split second and never reappeared. Of the three of us I'm the only one who actually saw it midair, the others only saw the splash. We stayed in the water for about thirty more minutes and didn't see anything else. There were no dolphins in the area that we could see. It's possible that the sighting today just put sharks on our brains, but we did also see a fin yesterday around the same time/place. Two dolphins appeared not long after so we wrote it off, but the fin didn't appear to be very dolphin-like."
Dan Burks was surfing at Santa Monica just South of Bay Street at about 7:45 AM. He reported; “I don’t know what kind of shark it was, but I estimate its length at 8 or 9 feet. The back edge of the dorsal fin looked pretty scarred up. It was about 70 yards out from my location. It did not approach me and once submerged I did not see it again. Another surfer also saw the shark but I do not have his name.”
A woman was attacked by a shark on 7/1/07 while she was swimming in front of the Bel Air Bay Club. The shark appeared to be attracted to jewelry the woman was wearing. In particular, the shark went after a ring on her finger and succeeded in removing the ring from her hand, as well causing several lacerations to her hand and arm. It is recommended that you do not wear flashy or shiny jewelery
while in the water.
On March 2, 2005 at 10:00 AM, Jonathan T. had been surfing for about 2 hours at Topanga. It was overcast with a light variable wind of about 4 knots. The water was 8 – 10 feet deep with a rock and sandy bottom. Jonathan stated: "I saw a dorsal fin about 25 feet away from my position, which was about 75 feet from shore. I watched as the dorsal fin submerged momentarily. I was stationary at the time, sitting on my board. Then it bumped me off my board. I got a good look at it when this happened. It had a dull gray back, whitish underneath, and was easily twice the length of my board, which is 7 feet. It rolled on its side as it bumped me. It felt like I had been side-swiped by a truck. It scraped my leg through my wetsuit, which is now torn. There were approximately 20 other surfers in the area, but nobody would believe me and I was the only person to exit the water, rapidly." If this individual is known to you please contact the Shark Research Committee. A more definitive investigation of this case is required to determine whether this incident should be classified as an encounter or an attack. Juvenile White Sharks are born in the early spring along the Southern California beaches. Adult White Sharks are also known to frequent these beaches as well. Caution should be exercised when utilizing this area for your ocean water activities. Ongoing shark sightings have been reported at Will Rogers State Beach, particularly between Temescal Canyon and the Bel Air Bay Club. Occasionally, the sharks have been seen as far west as Lifeguard Tower #4 at Sunset. So far, I am not aware of any sightings west of the tower (please let me know if I am wrong). To my knowledge, the sharks have yet to be observed around the point at Sunset. On May 3, 2004, lifeguards asked all surfers east of the porta potties to exit the water because a pair of sharks had been sighted in the area that were believed to be juvenile White Sharks in excess of 6' in length. Surfers at the point were permitted to continue surfing. The presence of these sharks tends to be correlated with Grunion spawns. The next such spawn is expected between May 6th and 9th. Check the Shark Research Committee website for more details and updates on these sightings. There
have been numerous shark sightings around Sunset in the last couple
of months. Some news helicopter pilots have reported seeing a
great white measuring 10 feet in length in front of the Bel Air
Bay Club. This remains unconfirmed, as the ability of a helicopter
pilot to make an accurate judgement of size is questionable. I
did speak to Captain Alexander at the Lifeguard Headquarters at
Will Rogers State Beach. His recommendation was to calmly and
slowly get out of the water if you spot a shark. He advised not
to make any sudden movements or do any splashing or thrashing
in the water as this attracts the shark's attention. He also said
that if a shark does approach, you should lie flat on your board,
with no fingers, arms or legs dangling over the edge. If a shark
attempts to attack, he recommends trying to punch it in the nose,
as this will make it retreat. On a more positive note, he pointed
out that sharks in Southern California generally require provoking
to want to attack humans. In his experience, he has only seen
sharks get violent when baited with blood and fish parts. |
