Rethinking that tri LOL

[ktzmoh]

I was thinking of doing the Atlantic City Tri later this summer. Then I saw this :

"'Philly guys' capture 820-pound mako shark off Jersey Shore"

ftw.usatoday.com/2015/05/philly-guys-capture-820-pound-mako-shark-off-jersey-shore


Yeah- this doesn't do much for my belief that monsters are lurking and ready to eat me out in the open water.

[chw57]

I just can't do ocean swims. I know i am a billion times more likely to die in a car wreck but sharks totally freak me out!

[Susie]

Alternate view point: now she's been caught and it's safe to go in!

I used to be an ocean lifeguard in NJ (in Ocean City). I love ocean swims. Don't miss out!

[reginaphalange72]

May 21, 2015 13:02:26 GMT -5 chw57 said:

I just can't do ocean swims. I know i am a billion times more likely to die in a car wreck but sharks totally freak me out!

Ditto.  I hate ocean swims.  I know sharks are mostly peaceful and the odds of anything happening are incredibly low.  That doesn't change the fact that if I ever see one while I'm doing an OWS, I will completely freak the fuck out.

Side note:  I'm fairly certain that there was a hammerhead swimming next to me during my first IM.  I saw a hammerhead shaped shadow just below and to the left of me, but I told myself it was my imagination.  Weeks later, I looked up shark sightings in the Wilmington, NC area, and found out that the harbor we were swimming in is known for sharks coming in with the morning tide, when the water is warm and the air is cold.  Wouldn't you know it?  It was October, and the air was 50-something, the water was 72, and we were swimming with the incoming tide.  And the sharks that like to do that?  Hammerheads.

SO glad I didn't know that at the time.

[Deleted]

Nope nope nope.

NOPE.

I don't do oceans. Too many monsters.

[shorewife]

And Mary Lee the great white has been hanging around the jersey shore lately too. But don't worry all the sharks will have swum up north to make babies by the time all of our tris roll around!

[labbie]

Holy crap! I would be terrified.
Signed, the girl who freaked out last summer in fresh water when a muskie surfaced nearby with it's giant toothy jaw wide open.

[kams]

No thank you!

I'm actually open to an ocean swim race, but my H, who waits all year to watch shark week, has kindly, but firmly, asked that I stay in lakes.

[hannahb]

Where's that NOPE octopus?

[reginaphalange72]

May 21, 2015 14:28:28 GMT -5 @vtcupcake said:

A friendly PSA from our good friends of TLC to stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to.

This made me legit snort.

[eponinepontmercy]

May 21, 2015 14:15:52 GMT -5 hannahb said:

Where's that NOPE octopus?

Lurking in the ocean, waiting for triathletes to eat.

[mrs.jacinthe]

You just need an anti-shark wetsuit. (Or paint anti-shark stuff on your current wetsuit). www.sharkmitigation.com/products-using-sams-shark-deterrent-technology.html  You'll be fine.

Would it comfort you to know that the most aggressive creature I've ever met up with in an open water swim was a goose? In a clear, calm lake? It was actually kind of scary.

I am more often frightened by my own left hand, honestly.

[2doxies]

But now it's been caught!!!

Pay no mind to the great white still out there....

[wawa]

May 21, 2015 19:10:23 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

You just need an anti-shark wetsuit. (Or paint anti-shark stuff on your current wetsuit). www.sharkmitigation.com/products-using-sams-shark-deterrent-technology.html  You'll be fine.

Would it comfort you to know that the most aggressive creature I've ever met up with in an open water swim was a goose? In a clear, calm lake? It was actually kind of scary.

I am more often frightened by my own left hand, honestly.

I never really think about sharks in the ocean but I will totally run from a goose. Those things are MEAN.

[Deleted]

I went diving in Mexico last month and the hubs tapped me on the arm and gave the signal for shark. I rolled my eyes and flipped him the bird because I thought he was pretending to *be* a shark. He then whacked me on the arm and forcefully repeated the signal and then pointed in the direction... of a six foot shark right near us.

I won't lie. 'Lil bit of wee came out.

Fortunately it was a nurse shark and totally harmless. Which is fine if you (like him) can identify such things and not almost panic and choke on your apparatus (like me).

That said, you'll be fine. Honest.

[annie357s]

May 21, 2015 14:05:49 GMT -5 labbie said:

Holy crap! I would be terrified.
Signed, the girl who freaked out last summer in fresh water when a muskie surfaced nearby with it's giant toothy jaw wide open.

I would freak too, they have a lot of teeth.