With the world in a media frenzy over our dorsal finned friends, it's easy to mentally play the Jaws theme music every time you fall off a stand up paddle board. While sharks are scary, so are stand up paddle boards, so here's three reasons why you are NOT going to be attacked by a shark on your next session, or the one after that, or the one 5 days from now.

After then?

You're on your own (for legal reasons), but the chances of getting attacked are pretty slim.

1: Shark attacks are REALLY rare.

Every year in Australia, there's (on average) four shark attacks. Of those, one is fatal, the others get over it. Compare that with the statistic of "People who find themselves in the ocean" including the swimmers, stand up paddlers, surfers, kiteboarders, windsurfers, capsized sailors, fisherman who get swept off the rocks, and those three blokes in a tinny who flipped it one night, off this weeks shark capital of the country in the Northern Coast of NSW. It's one in many, many million. Buy a lottery ticket and you'll have more chances.

2: Stand Up Paddle Boards are big, and scary.

Contrary to surfboards, which are seal-sized, quiet, slow and feature juicy surfer legs dangling beneath the surface to munch on, Stand up paddle boards are larger-than-your-average-seal. They also don't have anything dangling beneath the waters surface, and best of all, when you fall off a stand up paddle board, you make a big splash and lots of noises. All of which are scary to sea creatures.

3: The fisho's are on to it.

Right around Southern half of Australia, (the Northern half is still worried about crocs), authorities are implementing shark repelling countermeasures. So are the inventors of the world, filing patents to everything from spray on shark repellant, to zebra striped wetsuits. The powers-at-be are then flying drones (or real aircraft) on 24/7 patrol, installing electronic fences offshore, and tracking sharks to research what-on-earth is going on in the big ol' blue. So next time you fall off, chill out and press pause on the jaws music. It's just not going to happen, and it's silly to spoil a session, enjoy your next (shark-free) paddle!

Handy tip: Did you know, more people died from taking selfies last year, than were killed by shark attacks? If you want something to worry about (apart from there being fish in the sea), pay attention next time you're photographing yourself with your camera!

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