Day 132 - Shark/Whale Sightings in MB!!!

Just to be clear the two first are purported to be real... Mine is too, but my encounter was with a whale so... Just a little different - it is the last one. Shark Sighting Link

Manhattan Beach — On July 21, 2009 Asher Ehsani was surfing El Porto, Manhattan Beach. It was 4:30 PM and he had been on the water about one hour. Air and water temperatures were estimated in the mid-70s and 60s Fahrenheit, respectively. Water was about 9 feet deep with a sandy ocean bottom and a 3 – 4 foot swell. He was about 100 yards from shore when 2 Sea Lions swam past him at a distance of 5 feet. Ehsani reported; “I was surfing El Porto for about an hour when I noticed a few Sea Lions swimming by me. I didn't make anything of it. About 20 minutes later I noticed a HUGE shark, I am 100% confident it was NOT A DOLPHIN. I have been surfing for years, and encountered many dolphin. What I saw was a giant Dark Blue/Black Shark AT LEAST 12 feet in length it was probably about 50 feet away from me. Its dorsal fin was approximately 20 inches high and the tail was about 15 inches out of the water. I was waiting for the next set of waves with 15 other surfers. I immediately left the scene, reported it to the lifeguard. He kind of brushed it off seeming like he didn't want to scare anyone. In the last week I have encountered more sharks in SOCAL then I have in the last 10 years. It seems that sharks are feeding here a lot more than they were before.” Please report any shark sighting, encounter, or attack to the Shark Research Committee

Manhattan Beach — On July 12, 2009 Jamie Tyndall reported the following; “I saw my first shark today at Manhattan Beach, while surfing between 35th and 30th Streets. The dorsal fin popped up about 25 feet from the line up and coasted for about 30 feet heading South towards the Manhattan Beach Pier. The dorsal fin was about 2 feet high, dark blue-black in color, and had nicks (missing pieces) in the trailing edge of the fin. THIS WAS NOT FLIPPER. I have seen many Dolphins, even have had them tag me on my board and had the pleasure of them swimming around me blowing water out of their blow holes. This thing was big and it wasn't a Dolphin. It was a large shark and it was putting out a bit of a wake as well. It moved very straight and fast, 30 – 40 feet at the surface before diving. It was kind of funny that none of the surfers that saw it, including myself, left the water. We all just stared at each other in disbelief. I do have to say that I was in total awe.” Please report any shark sighting, encounter, or attack to the Shark Research Committee.

Manhattan Beach — On July 17, 2009 Mike Olson was surfing El Porto, Manhattan Beach. It was 7:30 AM and he had been in the water for about 90 minutes. Air and water temperatures were estimated in the mid-70s and 60s Fahrenheit, respectively. The water was about 12 feet deep with a sandy ocean bottom and a 4 – 5 foot swell (double to triple overhead). He was about 150 yards from shore when 2 Kooks swam past him at a distance of 1 foot. Olson reported; “I was paddling out just in front of the 34th life guard tower; there has been a pretty fun sand bar there over the last few weeks. The water was warm and the waves were really fun. I had just caught a pretty long left, that I did 3 turns and closed it out with a floater. As I was paddling back out, I saw what appeared to be a deep water boil about 50 yards in front of me, which was a bit confusing because I have lived in Manhattan beach for 9 years now and I was completely unaware of any large structures straight out from that lifeguard tower. I really thought nothing of it and preceded to back-paddle the other 5 surfers that were sitting on the peak. What happened next defies description. A set wave came and the other 5 surfers on the peak all dropped in on each other, so it was just me sitting out the back with another perfect wave coming! I started paddling for it, but all-of-the-sudden, a huge sperm whale ate me! So I was inside the whale with some sailors and other stuff that the whale had eaten, when I got the idea to light a match so that I could see in the dark. I saw his tonsils (all slimy and stuff) and I realized that I had some pepper handy so I flicked it into the air, making him (the whale) sneeze. He sneezed and blew me out into a perfect wave, I pulled right into a 12 second barrel and kicked out just before hitting the rocks at hammerland (about 950 yards). I have been surfing all my life, but that was the first time that I had to use the old pepper-to-make-a-whale-sneeze trick.” Please report any whale sighting, encounter, or attack to the Whale Research Committee.

By-the-way, the swell is gone but I had some fun wind swell waves this morning. I rode my small wave board. Back to no leash and mellow waves...