Sharks !

[ABAYLEY]

I am planning a transatlantic crossing and would like to know about sharks in the Atlantic...I've heard of people swimming off their boats when becalmed...is this safe...?!!

[sneuman]

sure. Over the summer, we were becalmed off the coast of Maryland and decided to jump in for a dip. It was a good 20 minutes after everyone was aboard and underway (powering) that we saw our first and only shark of the trip. It was small (maybe 3 feet long) and looked fairly harmless.

[Hud3]

Leave one person onboard to keep a sharp lookout. They'll circle a few times before they bite, so you should have time to scramble back on the boat.

Seriously, we did have a shark come sniffing after a fish we had on the line, but never saw any the few times we went swimming (in water over three miles deep).

[Surveyor]

If you do jump in to cool off, wash the funk off or whatever, dont forget to hang the ladder or some way of getting back on board. I would worry more about that than sharks.

[night0wl]

When you swim in the middle of no where or trail behind your sailboat with a line...they call this trolling for sharks, and for good reason!!

[GordMay]

Wrongly maligned as man-eating monsters, sharks seldom attack humans, with rare encounters occurring mainly near the shore.

Yes, sharks are predators that occupy the top layer of the marine food web, and many are large and powerful enough to be capable of harming a person. Even so, only certain species pose a definite danger to people who venture into their habitat, while most are inoffensive.

The three species responsible for most attacks on people are the great white shark, tiger shark, and bull shark.

The 3 largest species of pelagic shark, the whale shark, the basking shark and the megamouth shark, are all filter feeders and eat mainly plankton.

Notwithstanding, ...

[John A]

If you think that there is a good chance that you may be harmed if you do something, Why do it?

[David_Old_Jersey]

only danger is if there is a hungry shark around.

[bvimatelot]

there are worse sharks on land IMHO

[roverhi]

General rules for avoiding shark attacks are do not swim in turbid/low visibility waters. Sharks have poor eyesight but reall good other sensors and may mistake for something they really find tasty. Don't swim around sunset/sunrise. Sharks tend to be hungrier at those times. Sharks do not like to eat humans. Their normal food is fish, seals, and dolphin, way more tasty. Quite often they will spit out a human that they have attcked, once they've realized how bad we taste.

Having said that, the chance of getting bitten by a shark are way less than getting hit by lightning. Most shark attacks occur in specific areas and under specific conditions. If you are really worried about sharks, don't swim in Florida or Australia. That's where most of the attacks occur

[Blue Stocking]

Human limbs have too much bone, spit it out and go look for a seal.
On the Christmas turkey, what do you go for. The wing, or the drumstick.
You go where the meat is, right?

[Navicula]

its time someone should go to there local Blockbuster and rent a documentory called SHARKWATER..............
it may help understand sharks a bit more, and its a good good flick even if you think its B.S.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by roverhi

General rules for avoiding shark attacks are do not swim in turbid/low visibility waters. Sharks have poor eyesight but reall good other sensors and may mistake for something they really find tasty. Don't swim around sunset/sunrise. Sharks tend to be hungrier at those times. Sharks do not like to eat humans. Their normal food is fish, seals, and dolphin, way more tasty. Quite often they will spit out a human that they have attcked, once they've realized how bad we taste.

Having said that, the chance of getting bitten by a shark are way less than getting hit by lightning. Most shark attacks occur in specific areas and under specific conditions. If you are really worried about sharks, don't swim in Florida or Australia. That's where most of the attacks occur

Roverhi is correct in that sharks do not eat humans. They prefer to eat fish. You will be fine and presumably you will be swimming when weather is fine and calm and water clear.

[Hannah on 'Rita T']

We swam at 65/35 without seeing a shark. A couple of years earlier on the way from Bermuda to Cape Cod, the refrigeration failed and we dumped 10 or 20pounds of meat overboard, we saw a h-u-g-e shark then in the open ocean at the surface. Smell is a powerful mechanism.

[ozskipper]

I think that there are so few if any stories of people being eaten by sharks mid atlantic tells us that it must be a rare occurance.

Obvioulsy dont swim if you have just tossed out food waste or caught and bled a tuna.

Toss a long trailing line behind the boat, in case a little gust should push it away. And, as someone else said, Make sure the boarding ladder is down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SItuuvHmZdk

Cheers
Oz