Michel Bourez twice frisked by shark while foiling
If not for the damn COVID, Michel Bourez would be in South Africa right now warming up for J'Bay. The Eastern Cape is known for its wildlife, white sharks included, and since Mick was brushed in 2015 the Wozzle has had a shark strategy in place at Jeffreys.
Today, Michel Bourez was half a world away from J'Bay yet still had to employ his own shark strategy. No point retelling it all, here's the story from Michel himself (sic):
What an incredible day !Different emotions in just a few minutes.
I was doing a down wind from tahiti ( mahina ) to moorea(vaiare) when a hammer shark chased my foil and bite it. He broke the tail of my @signaturefoils so I could not keep going . Then I sat on my @firewiresurfboards and waved at my friends on the boat to come and pick me up.After 2-3 minutes by « myself » , I felt something was wrong so I looked around me and stayed in alert just in case the shark would come back again . I was right !
The 3-4 meters hammer shark came back again at me so I put my foil in between him and I to protect myself. He bite my foil for the second time realizing it was definitely not eatable and swam back away from me . The boat picked me up a few minutes after and I was safe .
15 minutes later I decided to go foil again and finished the race we had.
I felt like surfing at teahupoo when it’s 10-12 foot ! We know the risk to get hurt or even dying but the love of our sport is too strong. EVERY TIME I go foiling in the deep blue , I’ve seen hammers sharks cruising around so I know the risk since the beginning.The ocean is their world and I respect that !
No bad feelings at all ! He just owe me a new foil.
Comments
Even sharks hate foilers
Ha!
Too right justint.
Two blokes here have decided to start the foiling here just recently. Makes me nervous.
this is the second time documented now that a shark has turned its nose up at a french surfer
Reads more like an add than a news story to me
I guess this is the way pro surfers keep their sponsors happy in the covid era?
What's more dangerous in the lineup - a shark or a foiler?
Surfed with eight of them out Burleigh mid-morning about 3 weeks ago - Horrible!
Some were good and only moderately dangerous, some were kooks and absolutely terrifying. All were greedy and quite happy to zigzag right through the surfers.
Hearing the usual SUP piggys whinging about them getting all the waves was amusing though.
They always make me think of the roman chariots with the decapitation blades - fun times & coming to a lineup near you!
Is that a trick question?
Is the answer: both?
agree with all the comments above, they scare me, makes the old goat boats seem harmless.
Hammerheads love stingrays. Have seen them hunting eagle rays at high speeds over reef flats on the GBR quite frequently. The bottom of a foil looks much like a ray, Might be what happened here, same environment, same cast. Foilers beware of the hammers
Ah, to true! Also I've seen these dangerous craft surfed too close to others on the points north the last month or so. Go find your own wave or stay way outside away from surfers. So dangerous.
Foils do look like fun and I get why people ride them but they are a massive risk to other water users. As with other surf craft many riders over rate their own ability and because of this and the foil design there will be some serious injuries and possibly deaths as a result. On the Surfcoast in Vic there is a rapid increase in foils and it is becoming a serious safety issue at some popular breaks with ten plus flying machetes speeding through the line up. Its really frightening popping over a wave paddling out to see a foil blade coming straight for you at high speed. When there are foils buzzing all over waves like blowflies the surf stoke is replaced by fear and worry. Some foilers get that and generally keep well wide of the surf line but most foil learners don't and they are the main problem. Unfortunately there might have to be some kind of regulations like jet skis have brought in, eg keep 100m from other water users, and I believe that Marine Safety Vic are considering this after receiving so many complaints. So to me foils are way more dangerous than sharks.
3 confusing things -1. Sups & 2. Foils were supposed to reduce lineup numbers because they can access other breaks that surfers don't use / want to ride. 3.No need for breaking waves with a foil - why are the clogging up the good breaks & kooking out on safety?
Look at me, look at me, look at me!
Exactly. They think we'll be happy for them. Oh man, how good will the drone footage be to show the wife and the guys from work! They'll KNOW I'm a real surfer after seeing that!
Very succinct answer Craig thanks.
Are there any laws with these things or are they classed as a board rider like surfboards?
Any surf craft ridden without & even with skill in a crowded line up is potentially dangerous. Tarring all and sundry with the same brush is pretty lame IMO. If people want to have different experiences in the surf to you, so what. Stick to the “safety” of your short board if it works for you I guess but try an embrace those who are seeking more variety in their surfing experience.....
Bodyboard vs foil? Ummmm...
Even worse is the SUP/foil hybrid.....
Just yell out to these idiots you will see them in the carpark when they get out. And go & see them in the carpark & scare the bejeezus out of them. Wax up their windscreens. Let their tyres down. Beat them up. We do it with kite surfers - they are non real board riders mostly (some are surfers) and they ride kites because it's so much easier (effectively you can't fall off). With foils, there are plenty of swells to ride everywhere. No way do you tolerate them in the lineup. Get aggro.
You beat up people for having fun?
markhj, if you're serious with that comment, you're a disturbed, fragile, insecure fellow... probably the kind that is often vocal and macho, but only in the presence of your mates, who you hope will back you up in your misinformed idiocy.
I hope you were joking. If not, grow up.
(BTW - I'm not a fan of SUPs, kiteboarders or foilers in the surf zone, but you can't go resorting to animalistic behaviour just because you don't agree with what they do. Just ask them nicely to go elsewhere. Surfing is supposed to be beautiful).
When its windy enough to kite, its rubbish to surf, so you can't complain about kites being in the surf...
Surf in morning when its offshore, kite surf the same waves in the arvo once its windy.
But yes, when in the wrong hands, foils are death traps :)
Rabbits68 , "If people want to have different experiences in the surf to you, so what." I think most are concerned about being hurt by one of these things. If somebody makes a mistake on a foil board the chances of injury, i assume, would be far greater to people in the line up then if it was a surfboard or bodyboard. I think you will find most people are all for others having different experiences in the surf, however, if it's in their line up with a greater risk of a horrible injury.......thats when it crosses the line.
On that logic couldn't boogers say the same thing to surfers? Relatively speaking I expect our boards cause a comparable leap in risk to them
From my perspective on the West Coast, I am always happy to see boogers in the line up picking off random drainers...
.... they don't seem to give a shit about much but the vision and experience.
They sure make sunbathing more interesting ;)
I am so glad the supermodel French guy on his $5000 carbon fibre thingy had his friends to pick him up with their $80,000 boat. One of the scariest first world problems I’ve ever heard of.
That's true rj, i guess swimmers could say the same about boogers. I guess it's all relative. I personally see more issues with the foils in regards to the severity of injury.
Harden up you clowns!! If it's your break you are surfing and you don't want foilers or suppers then tell them to fk off. What ever happened to localism?
bunch of jetski wave jumper types been getting precariously close at my local recently, duck dived a wave the other day and saw one whizzing by less than 15 metres away
One thing Australia needs right now is more rules and bans.
I mean - if it's not a 3 ft tooth pick it doesn't belong in the lineup and is a danger to everyone involved, am i right? Ban everything else!
Just yesterday I was reading about a foiler who lost control and decapitated 4 short boarders in the line up, actually one of the guys was riding a mal so he doesn't count.
Three innocent lives lost - Won't somebody think of the children!
I'm curious about this accident you read about, can you quote the source please? and what is "a 3 ft tooth pick" ? is this the size of the mast you are talking about?
Problem I see with the foilers on this side is they insist on learning and using them in crowded easy to surf spots where kids, mums and kooks also surf so bad combo and accident waiting to happen, heaps empty half waves around where they could be (and sups btw) but they dont seem to get it. Also of note is that its mostly the flashy rich guys and sponnos too who are generally wankers in the surf at the best of times , much less when they are showing off their 2000k toys (you know who you are Howi son and mates )
Agree with all that mikehunt
If you get run over by a mal or a short board or an SUP maybe you will get bruised, maybe you will get a fin chop. If a foil runs you over and it goes wrong it will cut your head off. That’s the difference.
Yep, foilers should probably stay away from crowded surf spots. As someone else pointed out they can ride waves at spots that most others can’t, so why gravitate to a spot with 50 people sitting in close proximity? But of a fuck-wit move I reckon.
Any place with hipsters out is FAR more dangerous than a coupla foilers. They are a fucking plague of throw-my-limp-wrist-in-the-air-instead-of-turning leashless soy vegan latte drinking beard creamed board-more-expensive-than-my-car kooks.
Guaranteed more injuries from these carnts