Training with my partner Rob this morning off Henley Beach, Adelaide, Australia we were 2k into a planned 8k swim, both of us wearing Orca 3.8 suits and we had a Shark Shield FREEDOM 7 unit on.
Near large jetty I got that funny spooked feeling...we had moved into deeper water to get out of the surf break and visibility was very low today from recent rainfall. I stopped and tagged Rob to suggest we move shallower then suddenly a patrol chopper was overhead, hovering low off the end of the jetty. We knew it was a shark spotter and an alarm sounded - beach lifeguards were franticall waving us in, and we did not hesitate to get into shallow water asap. We joined the large gathering watching from the jetty as the beach patrol drove what was a large shark away from the beach in a semi-rigid, what was guessed to be a 6-7 foot White Pointer.
We got back in a bit further back down the beach both a little freaked and started back for another leg staying very shallow, then the low battery signal came on the Shark Shield so we called it a day at the beach and headed over to the local 50m pool to wrap up the rest of the 8k.
We'll be doing a lot of training this summer off Adelaide and will be putting a lot of faith into the Shark Shield units. Anyone have any experience with them?
Todd
Parents
Former Member
Hi Randy,
The Shark Shield FREEDOM 7 units we are using were designed and made here in Adelaide, it is not the Shark POD, but works similarly I believe. We haven't actually seen a shark yet here, but that will change once we get up on the Reef. For the GBR Swim we are using two SS F7 units tethered from our support kayaks, creating what we hope will be an overlapping "electro bubble" of protection. That said sharks are actually of least concern, what will be a real challenge are the marine stingers: Irukandji. We ae getting tested to see how we react to them.............
Hi Randy,
The Shark Shield FREEDOM 7 units we are using were designed and made here in Adelaide, it is not the Shark POD, but works similarly I believe. We haven't actually seen a shark yet here, but that will change once we get up on the Reef. For the GBR Swim we are using two SS F7 units tethered from our support kayaks, creating what we hope will be an overlapping "electro bubble" of protection. That said sharks are actually of least concern, what will be a real challenge are the marine stingers: Irukandji. We ae getting tested to see how we react to them.............
