Sounds to me that Martin here owes Dale a few frothies.

It's like...100m from Pinnarroo's

I admit I can´t avoid thinking about it when I do waterstarts out in the water... Has anyone tried a shark deterrent system? I watched a report from Discovery Channel the other day that used this sort of device and the shark really seems to stay away from it. Check this out: http://sharkshield.com/?/m/surfing-surf7/productID/1 Not sure how effective this is in real life and it may be a nuisance particularly if you like doing free-style i.e. at the end of the day it is a bloody 2.85m flexible mesh antenna hanging from your board tail !!.

I have one too! Won't work when windsurfing because the 2 electrodes need to be in the water and if it is fitted to the back of the board only 1 is in the water, will work on surf board when paddling as the back of the board is in the water. And if you fit it to your leg it will be in your way on 1 tack but in the water when water starting. I use it when swimming of my yacht or on a non patrolled beach, I hope it is working and it is a gooooooooooooooooood feeling to have it....... peace of mind .

I sail Pinnaroo on a regular basis and the only time I think about sharks is when I'm actually in the water, as opposed to sailing across it. Putting aside the occasional water start, when I have been known to cast my eyes downward in a pang of paranoia , I like to think windsurfing is not a high shark-risk activity, unless your break some kit and have to paddle in. I snapped a mast once wavesailing out the back of Little Island. Happened at 6pm. I made landfall at 9pm after a 3 hour paddle. I was fairly crapping my boardies on the way in, particularly when it got dark. Coulda' handled whipping out a Shark Shield for the paddle in, with my legs dangling off the back of the board. How portable are they? Could you carry one in a backpack or would it be too much of a pain in the ass?

I have been thinking about getting a shark shield as well. However, the 2,85m long lead must give problems water starting, or when doing freestyle moves. You will also need to buy a separate board attachment for each board you have. If they could somehow modify the diving unit so you could wear the base plate as a rugsack and an electrode strapped to your leg then that might be more versatile. You really only need it when you fall in the water. I think the problem in this case is the distance between the two electrodes might not be enough to emit a large enough field.

The decision comes down to our own evaluation of the risk exposure (chance v's liklehood) of being attacked. Sharks responsible for attacks in WA, (predominately White Pointers) are predators that the experts believe stalk and hunt their prey. So the risk/ exposure of this occurring should only happen when we spend enough time in the water to become a target ie: swimming (Cottesloe attack), diving (Rottnest/Bunbury attack) and surfing/water craft (the rest). The question to be answered is how much time do we as windsurfers spend in the water or moving very slowly on top???? ie water starts - 15 secs to 1 min for competent sailor; the big risks would be gear breakage (pointmans example) and if the wind drops to grovel speed, not a regular occurrence in WA. If we calculated the number of hours windsurfers have spent on WA oceans in the last 30 years with only one unconfirmed fatal (German guy in Geralton 1990's ??) one would calculate the chance of attack to be quite low. Now that was the rational side of my brain having its say now the unrational... " the thought of getting munched and becoming lunch is just really difficult to accept, so much so I may just go out and buy one of these things.....

Gee this forum is great! I am learning a lot.... I didn't know the experts reckon the sharks like to stalk and hunt their prey. This puts us in a better situation. Maybe we should design the shark shield with the antenna grafted into the fin, so it is into the water at all times and we can keep doing tricks without the dangling thingy....

I saw a large white pointer 3 years ago through the swell while at my local beach. Thought it was a dophin at first, went for a closer look. Then this year had a diver taken head first by a suspected white pointer in the same area just as he jumped out of a boat. Now wife wants me to increase my insurance policy before I am allowed out again! Interestingly most attackes have been in cloudy weather.