Just noticed an add for surf safe surfboards? are we now looking at built in shark deterrents on (boards vs leashes) can someone fill me in costs and comparisons please:) never needed one till now? guess its because media constantly putting fear factor in water users minds plus fisheries have taken all there food ????:) mighten be a bad idea?
Have a look in the surfing forum. The device has been discussed many times , and the creator frequents to forums (katana) .
Think they're about 400, plus approx 100 for install. But check the website to confirm!
Anyone ever seen proper data that these things work? Data other than a spurious video of a shark coming and turning away - they do that anyway as anyone who has dived can attest.
Proper data by an independent organisation (preferrably a university) and not the manufacturer of the product.
I would love to view it if it exists because all the stuff I have seen is more promotional than truly analytical. Shark shield things seem to me to be right up there with my lucky rabbits foot for preventing shark attacks.
Now about those black and white stripes on the bottom of your boards...you must be joking. Throw on a mask, jump in, look up. Can you see those stripes? Now move ten metres away, just ten. Can you see those stripes?
I have an open mind about the electronic deterrents - they might work, even if I am cynical - but stripes on your board? LMAO.
And yes there was a very tenuous study done of stripes wetsuits, but that was different again as the dummies were in the water and not silhouetted. And it was tenuous any pretence of academic rigour in that study. Tenuous. Maybe...in hindsight...I actually mean non-existent.
Select to expand quoteikw777 said...
Hmmm, looking for academic rigour from a snake oil industry...
Oh it's not just me? Sweet.
No idea. It's 48 mins long. Which bit should I watch. And yet again it's not an academically rigourous study, but a promo piece.
Is that a standard one or beefed up one?
Are they the same species of sharks (not that I watched it) as the ones responsible for fatal attacks?
I am guessing it was the sharks in the tank, so how about sharks in the wild behaving in a more natural way?
How about a proper study where an academic buys ten off the shelf and tests them? This is the sort of promotional rubbish Passed as evidence I am talking about.
^^^ spanishwog was having a crack at a bit humour. The show he mentioned above is called The Shark Tank and those sharks you see are just part of the props. The device was not ever tested in the tank on the show.
Aaah. Loser me huh? No sense of humour. (Insert face palm)
I ain't like that in real life.
Honest.
I don't know why the device is being bagged out. Has anyone seen one not work? As far as I know nobody wearing one and using it correctly (some dude did get nailed with one on him, but it was off...) has been attacked by a shark.
Here's a study on the Shark Shield, which operates using the same principals as the Surf Safe device.
www.sardi.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/173876/Risk_Assessment_of_the_Shark_Shield_Report_-_FINAL_19_06_2012.pdf
From what I remember, it concluded the device does work (with numbers/data etc). It doesn't stop the shark attack in all situations, however it does show an increase in the amount of time it takes a shark to attack. Which I consider a massive benefit! Another thing worth noting (again off memory) is that they used chumming and fish baiting to draw in the sharks, which I'd like to think would certainly change their behavior.
There is solid scientific theory applied in the creation of these devices. It certainly isn't a snake oil/rabbit foot/hopes and dreams industry.
The Surf Safe has been tested on a number of sharks, including great whites, which do attack humans and have been responsible for a number of recent attacks. Whilst the videos of the testing wouldn't be under true scientific conditions, they certainly are relevant and do seem to show the device working very well under those conditions.
This device isn't made by some large company looking to make loads of money at others expense. It is a local board maker with a concern for fellow surfers safety and is striving to make the sport as safe as possible. (Whilst probably trying to make an extra buck as well, but so what!?)
I still believe (based on no evidence or research, just a hunch) that a big shark coming in hot, that really wants you, is going to get you shield or no shield.
(For what it's worth, I don't have one...yet).
if I was 30 years younger I would be more worried about my reproductive organs being exposed to an electric field rather than sharks.
Probably not a bad thing judging by a lot of the population!!
I'm also not sure what effect ( if any) and electric field of this size would have on a humans reproduction system or body in general.
Select to expand quotespanishwog said..
Shark repellant was pitched in the Shark Tank episode 3 -
Did it scare them off??
Watched that episode and couldn't believe is was being cracked up to be something new, why would you go to the expense of having one built into a board when you can strap it onto your leg or just mount it on the back of your board.
Dawn patrol, I love that line you wrote,
"Solid scientific theory"
I'd like a whole lot more than theory to back this thing up!
Select to expand quotehoop said..
Dawn patrol, I love that line you wrote,
"Solid scientific theory"
I'd like a whole lot more than theory to back this thing up!
I think you misunderstand what a scientific theory is. I think you're getting it confused with a scientific hypothesis. A theory is something that has been heavily supported by evidence.For what it's worth, none of these devices have been heavily supported by field studies.
Select to expand quoteDawn Patrol said...
I don't know why the device is being bagged out. Has anyone seen one not work? As far as I know nobody wearing one and using it correctly (some dude did get nailed with one on him, but it was off...) has been attacked by a shark.
Thanks for the link. I will check it out. I am not bagging them, just cynical, but I am bagging the "evidence" that is generally used to promote them.
BTW, that argument above is the same as saying no one with a nose ring has been attacked by a shark, therefore nose rings work. The percentage of people using shark shields is so small, and attacks so few, that any correlation is surely spurious. But I can't remember the stat equations and obviously don't have exact numbers so my statement is just conjecture too. But is conjecture I believe and I guess that is enough for shark shield exponents. 
Select to expand quoteevlPanda said...
It doesn't matter if it works or not because the user feels safer.
I feel safer because an Uncle got taken by a white and it won't happen to the same family twice.
At least that's what I tell myself.
But an Aunty did win 1st Division Lotto twice within 18months in the late 80's. True story.
Now about sharks....uh oh...
Select to expand quotethedrip said..evlPanda said...
It doesn't matter if it works or not because the user feels safer.
I feel safer because an Uncle got taken by a white and it won't happen to the same family twice.
At least that's what I tell myself.
But an Aunty did win 1st Division Lotto twice within 18months in the late 80's. True story.
Now about sharks....uh oh...
One of the biggest issues when it comes to testing a product like surf safe is the government and their regulations. For Dave to test his product in WA he first had to pay $5000 for a permit (per day) be at least 8 miles out to sea and was not bait or attract the sharks in any way. Can someone please explain how he is to test it then
Thats why he tested the product on Great Whites in NZ.
The science behind the device is the same as any that it uses electric fields to annoy/deter an approaching shark due to the sharks anatomy. You won't feel any difference in your boards performance. The shark shield product is bulky and the owner of that product said if you want seamless surfing to use Surfsafe..
Yep
I've got one (SurfSafe). So far all body parts intact. Gives me a safe feeling in the water.
Only problem is my mates hang around me so closely that I have drop-in issues all the time...
Select to expand quotehiho said..
Yep
I've got one (SurfSafe). So far all body parts intact. Gives me a safe feeling in the water.
Only problem is my mates hang around me so closely that I have drop-in issues all the time...
Haha that can be a problem. I like to paddle up and zap them also
I just read the report that DawnPatrol posted the link for.
The shark shield doesn't work, and indeed, if you read pages 31-34, it appears to encourage eating. I would quote and cut and paste the relevant bits if I wasn't typing on my phone, but go have a read for yourself.
Ultimately, after the data was analysed, they found no difference in the frequency of interactions (read bait eating) between the shield being on and the shield being off.
I will have another read later though. One read is never enough for true critical understanding.
^^ What you've said there supports what a mate found when he trialed one off a boat in a sharky area. Not one, but two sharks pounced on it within a minute of it hitting the water.
Select to expand quoteThinkaBowtit said...
^^ What you've said there supports what a mate found when he trialed one off a boat in a sharky area. Not one, but two sharks pounced on it within a minute of it hitting the water.
Aaah. But that anectdotal evidence doesn't get the same publicity.
Very scary.
On the plus side, I have a mate who reckons they attract them and then repel them when they get closer and laughs about the people surfing near him who will get taken. It is reassuring to know it will actually be him.
Wow big response everyone, thanks on a mission so will get back to you on this going for a skate instead of hitting the water todayyou blokes have scared me off or maybe its just been the long swims and all the media frenzy around Sharks
im, old but always seem to find zest when ive fallin off in a big wave 
and if i havent knocked myself out or done some serious injury to my aging body, i somehow get outta trouble, good topic but 
surf board thing a crappier shark shield which i reckon doesn't work.
Boost juice chick from the shark stank smoking hot IMHO.
