I Have A List Of Bad Ideas

Bad Idea Jeans

apparently theres killer whales too.

http://www.prbo.org/cms/docs/marine/MMS.pdf

AHHHHHHHH!

Nothing is as terrifying as graphs and bibliographies.

Can sharks tell the difference between seals and Navy Seals?

Desperately needs a Robert Shaw tag.

“Morsels”

Cool story, bro.

Where does “HenryJames getting hitched” rank on this list of yours?

Not surprised you drank the water at Schlitterbahn. It explains a lot in fact.

Odds these guys complete the swim? 15% according to Jesus Shuttlesworth. That’s optimistic.

I swim out of the Dolphin. I have never acclimated to how brutally cold the water is in the bay. Best wishes to those guys. Godspeed.

I knew Great Whites had an affinity for Seals, but who imagines your contribution could end up covering medical costs incurred staging the fundraiser.

I knew an Australian who did some time on the pro surf tour.

Legitamately crazy dude. Would surf anywhere, including Mavericks.

Except Durban, S.A.

Said he got in the water, paddled out, saw a huge GWS swim between him and another guy in the line up, and turned around and paddled straight back in.

Left South Africa the next day. I can’t image why.

Argh absolutely every fear and or phobia captured in one place. Omfg I am sweating and barely breathing. Thanks (?)

Just hearing “Farallon Islands” makes me soil myself, but everytime I hear GWS I think of my favorite Gary Larson offering of a GWS yelling “BEAR!!! BEAR!!!” to a bunch of beach goers.

I once went after a friend’s pair of sunglasses in Tahoe. I was in the water for maybe two minutes. My breathing didn’t get back to normal for an hour. These guys are absolutely crazy. I’d definitely be pining for the anchor leg.

Mavericks is a sight to see. RIP Mark Foo.

Bad Idea #1 for Golf Pricks

Retrieving your golf ball out of a greenside pond in Florida.

magnus,
If you are interested in surfing read “The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean”. Pretty cool book, not only about surfing, but also the science and history of giant waves.

Any truth to the rumor that Mars, Inc. was turned down as a sponsor for this event after suggesting Snickers as a pick me up for the swimmers?

I knew a guy who did BUD/S at Coronado Beach in San Diego. He said Navy SEALs cannot do ops in water temps below 65 degrees.

How these mofos expect to do a 30 mile swim in 50 degrees defies all logic.

I once tried something nearly as foolish/brave. I attempted to cross the carp infested waters of Lake Texoma with nothing more than an innertube, a six pack and NO sunscreen. My noble effort ended in failure and I raised no money for the Mantle/Summerall Foundation..

Echo

I just got back from Coronado, and I can tell you this: That water is F’in COLD. Those dudes are bad ass.

Swimming 30 in miles SF in water infested with great white sharks makes me question the validity of evolution. An evolved brain would not attempt to do such things.

This is on par with buying 10 Cd’s for 1 penny.

Kilgore:

What’s a CD?

I lived ten years in SD. It was always fun to watch tourists run out into the water and seem be shocked by that water that just came down from Alaska. SEALs can’t do anything <65 degrees? I assume they're aware of wet- and drysuit technologies? Am I missing something?

A friend stepped on a stingray at Black's Beach. He was in the hospital for five days and said it was the worst pain he'd ever suffered. He's also had the pleasure of falling off of a 30-foot cliff, breaking both wrists, and has also had bad internal injuries when his Beetle got run over my a gas tanker truck. So the last swimmer might want to avoid stepping on barbs.

Gotta pull for them!

Hopefully, even if they don’t complete the swim, it will raise awareness of the cause(s) and increase giving.

You’re gonna need a bigger blog.

Little early for a Shark Week preview, no?

For reference, the “Ffffffuck that’s cold!!!” water at Barton Springs is a balmy 68 degrees.

Good lord alano. Who’s your friend, Frank Drebin?

“Odds these guys complete the swim? 15% according to Jesus Shuttlesworth.”

Climbs to 50% if they aren’t being dragged down by street agents.

I read a book about the sharks at the Farallons called “Devil’s Teeth” and 2 things really stuck in my memory.

First, there is some guy that actually free dives for abalones right off the islands. Not as a one time thrill seeking thing, but as his job. I searched and found this video of the guy but could not play it at work so I have no idea if it is worth anything- I’m going to assume that any video of a guy diving without a cage among 20 foot great whites is inherently interesting, but I apologize if it sucks.

http://www.thedorsalfin.com/tag/ron-elliott/

Second, one year during the height of the season when the sharks congregate, a pod of killer whales showed up in the area. All of the sharks disappeared, even the big females, presumably hightailing it out of there for Hawaii. It stunned me that even large great whites are afraid of orcas.

stuckinmn-
 
I had the same book. Loaned it to a friend and haven’t seen it since. A few very brave abalone divers dive the Farralones because the resources there are pretty untapped. Supposedly if you don’t profile yourself against the surface, you cut your attack changes substantially.
 
Here’s a guy who was diving in April and ran into a GWS.
 

  
The orca displacement you mention is the study link that PVogel provides above. Even Great Whites know when they’re outgunned. Killer whales are bigger, faster, stronger, smarter and they hunt cooperatively.
 
srr50 -
 
I raise your alligator pond with a bull shark lake.
 
 http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/The-most-hazardous-water-hazard-ever-a-shark?urn=golf-wp1022

The Von Erich’s navigate life more seemlessly than Alano’s friend.

Chitwood: Thanks, I’ll keep that book in mind. I simultaneously laugh at and admire the surfer way of life. Though I’ve spent half of my life in California my surfing experience is limited to watching Tom Curren and the old school crowd on ESPN’s Hot Summer Nights.

That’s some pretty intense abalone diving. Those bastards better have some big pearls or Facebook warrants or something inside them.

I don’t think I’d even be down with being the airhose-holding guy on the boat with no railings and six inches of clearance from the water – the second a fin breaks the surface that diver is on his own because I’m climbing the damn mast.

There was a show during last year’s “Shark Week” that showed video of an orca hunting a fully-grown great white. Sharks have some kind of weird paralysis reaction to being held dorsal-side down. Fucking killer whale figured that out. It rammed the shark, then held it upside down until it suffocated. Orcas are amazingly smart.

There is some video on a show on the travel channel (When Vacations Attack maybe?) they’ve been playing lately where a pod of killer whales comes upon a seal that is floating on a chunk of ice. The whales actually seem to go through a progression of logic as they attempt to knock the seal off of the ice. Eventually 4-5 of them rush at the ice at the same time and the wave knocks the seal off of the ice. I’m not sure me and 3 of my human friends could have come up with a plan that coordinated.

I am 1/32 Orca.

Devil’s Teeth is a great book. I picked up her book about rogue waves at the Borders “Amazon wasted us” sale. Is it any good? Don’t want to waste my time if not.

chitwood gives 2 thumbs up to the rogue waves book. But then, being from Indiana, I’m not sure he knows much about waves, so take his positive review with a grain of salt.

Vasherized – awesome. I’m going to reappropriate 1/32 Orca during my staff meetings.

“Sharks have some kind of weird paralysis reaction to being held dorsal-side down.”

See this is the kind of important information you find on BC. Next time I’m attacked by a great white, I’m just gonna turn that SOB upside down.

An underground big wave surfer from the North Shore just died at Mavericks because of a rogue wave.

I’m with magnus: hard core surfers are both fascinating and ridiculous at the same time.

I’ve read and enjoyed both of Susan Casey’s books mentioned here (“Devils’ Teeth” and “The Wave”). In addtion to being a good writer with an appetite for exotic stories about nature’s power, she is quite a work of nature herself.

http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Casey/e/B001KHQKAQ/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1302801187&sr=1-1

I have no idea why these guys aren’t using wetsuits. I did a swim last fall from under Golden Gate to Chrissy Beach, where the water was 60. I wore a wetsuit, but probably didn’t need to, give that I was only in the water for about 40 minutes. But there’s a BIG difference between 60 degrees and 50 degrees. 50 is serious shit. That’s just dumb. The swim will be enough of a challenge without being dumb.

They’ve been swimming for six hours now @ 12:15 PM PST.
 

 http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=028rJIL3vij25n6Va5HrVCiMNGCXpGIDi
 
About 1/3 there.

If they weren’t doing this for a good cause, I think I’d kinda be pulling for the sharks.

“she is quite a work of nature herself.”

Would.

Shove it up your ass, Traylor. Seen the sun yet this year in Minnehaha?

So what is their staus? Did they make it?

They had to abandon the swim only 7 miles from the GG Bridge. Max flood tides were pushing them backwards.
 
Tough deal.

Sad news, but hell of an effort! Like I said, hopefully it’ll bring more awareness to the causes they represent.

They had to abandon the swim only 7 miles from the GG Bridge. Max flood tides were pushing them backwards.

Tides? They have tides in the Pacific, too? Hmmmm. Can’t plan for the unknown, now, can we?

chitwood gives 2 thumbs up to the rogue waves book. But then, being from Indiana, I’m not sure he knows much about waves, so take his positive review with a grain of salt.

Did North Shore not teach you anything? If a kid from land locked Arizona can surf his has off, I see no reason why an Indiana-in can’t either, haole.

At times, Sharks like to play dumb-just to test the waters to let you know that they know…or is that being smart?