"After Darks"

Words and photos: Jarrad Howse

An ominous sign ... or just some NorCal beach humour?

Being a native of South Australia and growing up on a salty pond with a board under my feet I was always aware of sharks. Not scared, just aware. S.A was* the fatal shark attack capital of Australia, and the toothy submarines swimming around in our chilly waters generally didn’t even have the decency to spit out the foam and fiberglass. (*West Oz has had three fatal shark attacks in the last three months, and slots into number one spot on the shark-attack-ladder.)

Throughout the summer the shark patrol helis would take to the air monitoring the suburban coast, herding the monsters away from the lineup and out of sight. I lived opposite the beach and almost daily we would hear the chopper stop and start to hover, and my brother and I would run across the road to the cliff top to see the black shape swept out to sea. It was the norm, kinda like a bar fight; you put your beer down to watch and when it's over and the bouncers throw them out the door you keep on drinking; likewise when the steel bird stopped circling we’d grab our crafts and paddle back out.

Not exactly the sort of notice you want to see posted down your local.

Moving to Sydney was a cultural experience; the last shark attack recorded was at “Ocean Master” (a fish and chip shop), a man burnt his tongue on a deep fried piece of Flake. Shocking! Living there for over ten years now has made me soft & paranoid, last week I paddled in when I heard a car alarm mistaking it for the shark siren.

What sparked this tale of heroics* was poor 27-year-old Eric Tarantino, surfing with a pal 20 minutes south of Santa Cruz at Marina State Beach this morning when he was attacked by a suspected Great White leaving him with very serious, but non-life-threatening injuries to his upper body.

This area is ripe with killing machines, fingers crossed the only thing I come face to face with is a furry sea lion & thank baby Jesus we didn’t get permission to use Marina as our back up location for the O’Neill Cold Water Classic!

(*Never let the truth get in the way of a good tale, I never paddled back out my Mum wouldn’t let me!)

Jarrod's also aware of the elephant seals thanks to this sign.

Sharks have been a much talked about issue of late. Have a read of an article we posted not so long ago.

And you can see more of Jarrad's daily blogs from the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Santa Cruz here.

The rugged coastline of NorCal: cold water, big waves ... and lots of sea creatures.