A Killer Surf in New Zealand
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A pod of Orca whales cruised the Gisborne coastline Sunday 18 November and swum right through the New Wave Primary School Surfing Championships being held at Makorori Beach, New Zealand. Their presence put a hold on the event for at least an hour until it was safe to go back the water once they had moved out to sea.
Having earlier been warned of the pod of five to six whales it wasn’t until a 1.5m high dorsal fin broke the surface of the line up at a fast pace that everyone knew they were in the vicinity. A mere 30m separated the whales from the four contestants in the water and within no time the competing surfers were on the next wave safely heading to the shore.
The whales then proceeded to show everyone how to surf the waves moving at pace through the line up to the hooting and hollering of hundreds on the beach. Once the whales finally moved up the coast the event resumed with eight champions being crowned along with Gisborne’s Illminster School who took out the teams title for the second year running.
Only last night I was standing talking to a surfer at Pelican Beach about surfing and sharks. We were checking out the waves and discussing the practice of going in surfing late in the day or super early in the morning when sharks are most active. The guy was telling me about the sharks that you get out the back only a mile out when out fishing – port jacksons, mako’s, bronzers, hammerheads, and of course the Great Whites! Thankfully – and this is what I tell myself – the sharks are well feed and preoccupied eating the abundant fish and have no need nor interest in surfers. This is also why I make a conscious decision not to pee in the water when I’m surfing, as that would only attract sharks. Furthermore, I never go surfing on my own over here – the more surfers in the water the better! Seriously, on the beach, pre surf, I often pray that the Lord will keep me from harm when out surfing, me and all the other surfers, either from injury or attack. Thankfully I’ve never even seen a big shark in the water when out surfing. I’ve been in surfing around the corner at a different beach only a couple of hours after a local surfer was knocked off his surfboard by a Great White – it took a chunk from his board but not him. I’vc been in the water when other people have spotted a shark but been completely oblivious – probably much like this guy in the photo. Apparently (and I don’t know how accurate this is) for every one time you see a shark, there has been nine occasions when they have spotted you. Scary biscuits!