Hi,
I saw the Westpac helicopter do two turns just north of Fort Glanville yesterday (26.11.07) on my way home from work 6pm.
When I got down to the carpark, somebody said that he heard that a shark was spotted down south moving north, earlier in the day. Think he said he heard it on the radio.
Is there a dedicated radio station that broadcast shark sightings?
Is there a website where you can keep yourself updated on previous sightings?
Does anybody know if the chopper crew has some kind of signals they use towards beach user when they spot potential dangers?
//j
If they see a big fish they normally circle a few times and if they think its wise, they will land on the beach and set off a siren. It happened on West Beach on Saturday at about 11.00ish.
At the end of the day, there are sharks during the winter too, but there are no planes or helicopters looking for them. OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND.
Hey Peacekeeper, Unfortunately for the shark conscious, the Adelaide metro beach ( Aldinga to Nth Haven) is a bit of concern
. Several rather large finned friends move up the coast around Sept, Oct and hang around till March, April (give or take a couple of weeks). They chase the snapper that have moved up the gulf to breed. So in all reality, they are never to far away, helicopter or no helicopter. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The tricks are, land all your jumps, don't loose your board to far out, change direction in a hurry out deep and don't look down or behind you, ignorance is bliss. 
ive had a plane circle me before in Wollongong while it was circling it had its landing lights on as well
ive had mates that have been warned out of the water by the westpac chopper before as well and they said it just hovers right above the water where they/the shark are and blast a load siren
so if its the uni sa plane circling around you or the westpac chopper tyring to land on you in the water you'll know if they want you out of the water ASAP
The only reason they landed at West Beach is because they were in the flight path, normally they just circle.
I heard somewhere that they drop a roll of toilet paper out of the plane if there is apparent danger.
I saw a shark whilst riding at Henley last year right underneath me, that was fear to the max, sure glad i didnt fall off that day
in WA the seven chopper hovered about a kite line length away our boat and made hand gestures that were very comical. [imagine big chomping motions with the hands]
urgghhh the helicopter on saturday was landing at various sites doing demoes for surf life saving clubs you might find....i stand to be corrected but definately was the case at brighton...
my first session at henley 2 tuesdays ago - enough only for a skim board admittedly - i saw a shark around 60 metres out id guess around 8 - 10 feet crusing on the surface in slow motion - i came in packed up and went home...totally freaked me out to be honest...
least i got my first session at a shallow seacliffe last friday with only a dolphin and some kind of rays being the moving shadows apart from the kite shadow which kepy following me...
pass me a mug of HTFU i think youd say 
I kited over something scary yesterday (27th) at Semaphore south. I kind of talked myself into it being a big stingray and kept kiting. Better to burn out than to fade away anyway!
We are going into their world- the chances of being chomped are minimal, you are more likely to have an errant kiter take you out. There used to be a shark down at Gladdy back in the good old days- you knew it was there but it didn't bother us and we left it alone.
If a shark is sighted by the Westpac chopper it will hover, and will sound a shark siren. The chopper on a weekend will normally radio the nearest Surf life saving club to clear the water as well.
During the week, the Uni fixed wing plane also has a shark siren and if people are in real danger, police will be called to clear the beach.
You will find often the fix wing and chopper will do holding circuits over Henley jetty and Glenelg north, just flying around in circles, they are normally waiting for clearance from the airport to past the runway.
Rumors are that the sharks are here early this year, in the past they haven’t normally ventured up this part of the coast until early December. The fix wind and chopper normally see about 7 sharks in the metro water, only counting sharks larger than 7ft. under that it’s hard to see from 500ft.
Last week, 3 sharks were sighted, only 1 was in close enough to warrant any attention.
The main thing is that if surf life savers are asking you to get out of the water, listen to them, and if you hear the shark siren, just chill on the beach. The chopper will normal hover low, and bank right, the sharks hates the vibrations this makes in the water and the sharks move out of the area pretty quick.
But don’t worry it’s only been 2 years since are last shark attack!!!!
the comment was made before, by mr prokiter.
the sharks are here all year its just that people are looking for them in summer.
the population in the water obviously greatly increases in summer so the need for spotter planes/choppers increases.
you actually find more sharks up north in our gulfs in winter, like pt augusta whyalla as the water is considerably warmer.
pretty easy tho guys.
be smart about your riding, and try and do your crashing in shallow water.
and make sure no one looses a leg, cos kiting would sure suck without one.
Well maybe it was a bit more south... there were other kiters around so I wasn't in an excluded zone. I was just cruising along the coast looking for the seabreese and saw the other kites. It was SE where I live at Port Noarlunga. Got to say the wind is so much smoother down on the plains. I moved to the Mid a few years back because I was sick of driving for a surf and now find myself driving back looking for wind! Anyone know a nice girl who lives around semaphore with a big enough back yard to wash out my kite?
Just send Airush Geoff out on the water first with his pink and grey kite. When he gets on the water everything in a 500m radius just scatters.
is that from the colour of his kite or the large amont of hair on his body, (flapping in the breeze causing vibrations) 
I love the way all serious topics end up turning into a "taking the p!ss" topic...
Well most of you should be alright, white pointers are "Man eating sharks"
I suppose that comment is going to cost me big time 
Read in the local messenger that a group of school kids were guided out of the water at Tennyson on Monday 26. The Chopper crew saw a large 'fish' 300 m out and apparently called some lifesaving unit that passed on the message and evacuation. Think they mentioned it might had been a Thresher Shark.
Anybody kitting with 'predator protection' - Like the famous shark shield?
Sharksheilds are a tricky one lads... I looked into them when I went for marketing manager for Shark Sheild. They're not all they're cracked up to be. The tail has to be in the water (so good for surfers who use the surf model that replaces your legrope)... but I've dived with dudes who use them. If you happen to swim over the tail, like I did a few times, you get one hell of a jolt from it! Haha... hurts like hell.
However, there's no denying, they do work. They irritate the sharks to buggery. A guy got taken a few years back in Lincoln whilst wearing one. The catch is, he swam to the boat, turned it off and the shark nailed him while he was climbing onto the ladder. That which deters sharks, also pisses them off. Just think about those really annoying screaming kids that keep you out of the local shops... you just wanna punch them out, don't ya! Haha
It will be nice if they get this into effect www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news21201.html
Just to let you know, CRIRO has been tracking white sharks for years by satelite tracking systems.
Check out the below link. The sharks can travel a heap..
www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=gfcsa&e=com
www.cmar.csiro.au/tagging/whitesharks/columba/index.htm
