Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

Fatal Shark Attack Reported Off Solana Beach

POSTED: 8:57 am PDT April 25, 2008
UPDATED: 9:03 am PDT April 25, 2008

SAN DIEGO -- A person was killed by a shark in the water off Solana Beach on Friday morning, lifeguards reported.

The attack happened near Fletcher Cove in an area known as Table Tops, lifeguards said.

The victim's identity was not immediately known.

Be careful out there!

verry sad...

i heard from a lifeguard buddy there was two 15' GWs off HB this week!

Isnt fletchers cove mentioned in the Sublime song, Paddle out...?

I've surfed Table Tops numerous times over the years....both kneelo and stand-up.....I used to spearfish for halibut there when it was flat. There are channels of sand between fingers of reef and the inside section can be very shallow. With the proper swell direction, huge sweeping rights are possible at this spot. This news freaks me out!

SF Kneelo---This is Buck's favorite longboard spot!.....I'm sure it wasn't him though as he's in Costa Rica for 6 weeks. Recall all your Whities to Ano Nuevo por favor!!!

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nort ... shark.html

here's the link...

Pretty darn scary, and I always thought SoCal was safe. Whitey off of HB?

Here's a link with all shark sightings/incidents in southern california. Several of the HB sightings are listed there.

Shark Research Committee

I just got off the phone with my dad - he's decided to skip his planned nighttime dive off La Jolla Cove tonight.

I've been watching this story on the news this morning, it was a 66-year old man who would train with other triathletes on every Fri. morning for a swim in the ocean. He received a bite to both his legs and bleed to death. Fire, paramedics, and other help could not save him. Experts have not determined what kind of shark it was yet.

Wow!

JB, doesn't Buck live on the bluff?

I heard it was a GWS 12-17' on the radio on my way back from a surf just now.

Very sad.

That said, we don't want them back!

Kinda makes you think of fate doesn't it? I mean the guy was swimming with a bunch of other people, why him, why that day?

Mike Fernandez wrote:Pretty darn scary, and I always thought SoCal was safe. :? Whitey off of HB? :(

Never a resident in SoCal but have a little water time there and didn't think Whitey sightings were anything new. Was run out of he water by Lifeguards at Newport Beach in the late 80's due to a White spotted cruising just outside the surf zone. Also remember a White getting tangled in the shark nets at the swimming beach inside Ventura Harbor...if that is considered SoCal.

I remember that day in newport quadfin. I was out at the river jetties and they spotted it off the Newport Pier. I remember the waves were really fun, super peaky, and super crowded. The lifeguards were telling us to come in, there were some boats saying the same, I remember a helicopter, but everyone stayed out, liking the odds I guess.

We had a shark eating fish at our local during a boardriders comp last weekend and on monday my birthday I noticed a disturbance in the water about 10 yards away from me, I was alone...... I did'nt hang around I want to see 48, lol.... But yes guy's they are out there & we invade there domain, so we can only respect mother nature, her beauty and her terrors. We live in one of the most dangerous countries in the world in Australia but the chances of dying from a shark attack are as remote as me winning the lottery..... I'll keep buying lottery tickets and I'll keep surfing

Sharks make mistakes. Its sad that this guy had to loose his life because a fish mistook him as food and then spit him out. From what I have seen and read about in this case and in past shark attacks off of this coast and others is that either the shark has mistaken a swimmer or surfer as something that is on their normal diet, or the victim has simply put themselves into the food chain by simply looking and acting like prey in an area where the sharks would be looking for prey in their normal activity. We have to remember that we are basically swimming through around and in the lions den and when they get hungry sometimes they go for the closest thing. Us!!


No matter how it happened it is a bummer that the guy had to go out in this way .

From what I have read, I have to give a lot of respect to the Solana victim for being a waterman at his age.

I have worked on the water most of my life around the world and can tell you that sharks are not generally agro. Was recently looking for a missing swimmer in the surf on skis and counted 14 sharks in 3 miles, including a 7' Mako. All were within close range to swimmers on a busy weekend. This is probably a normal count in our waters and even higher in turtle nesting season.

The only shark attack in recent memory here was when a surfer fell on top of a Blacktip and it turned and bit him like a dog. The bite severed his achilles tendon but a year layer he is back in the water. On that day bait fish were hiding under surfboards for protection in the clear water and saw several sharks shadowing surfers.

I have noticed that I see more sharks when I wear certain fins. Don't know if it is the vibration of the fins moving in the water or the color. Have had two recent encounters with Hammerheads, including a called off attack at my board where I was sprayed by his tail and another where I cutback on one in the wave face behind me.

Saw a program on Discovery channel a while back about these guys in Indo that go out in their canoes and try to attract sharks. They use bundles of coconut halves that they rattle on the surface of the water. Next time I paddled out I couldn't help but notice the similarity of the sound of my flips as I kicked along. So, Quadfin, which fins did you think seemed more prone to attract sharks?