Boomerang’s long arc of talcum sand and luminous blue-green waters have always attracted surfers and travellers. Meanwhile, its consistent waves made it an ‘almost’ ideal location for the NSW State Titles in recent years. However, despite their enchanting beauty, Boomerang and the surrounding beaches have always been notoriously sharky.
The 2023 State titles were scheduled to run all this weekend, but after large sharks were spotted in the contest area on consecutive days, officials ultimately elected to call off the event on Sunday afternoon. Dozens of competitors were left in limbo about the final results as a consequence of the cancellation.
Competitors paddle out in the crystal-blue waters of Boomerang.
The event was halted on Saturday after a three metre great white and a two metre bronze whaler were spotted in the contest zone. Yesterday’s light winds and clear conditions enabled event organisers to use a drone to confirm the two sightings. Surfing NSW event protocol also stipulates that a jet-ski be used to patrol the line-up and shepherd sharks away if required.
Competition resumed on Sunday but the decision was ultimately made to cancel the event when what was believed to be another, large great white was sighted.
In the latter stages of the third quarter final of the men’s over 45 division, one of the competitors, Dan Dignam, stood on his board and waved his arms profusely to signal he’d seen a shark. Many others watching from the beach corroborated the sighting.
Backside hook from one of the early days of competition.
Luke Hazelgrove was on the beach watching (after surfing his heat earlier) when the drama unfolded. “It looked like a shark all day to me,” he stated… “It looked pretty big and it was about ten metres from the competitors. … I saw its tail flick… the girls in the next heat were just paddling out.”
Today’s high winds made it impossible to re-launch the drone and as a consequence confirming the sighting was more difficult. Some onlookers speculated that it may have been a dolphin but others were adamant that the body of the animal was too thick to belong to a dolphin.
Organisers will have to find another time to complete the remaining heats of the contest.
The absence of a drone also changes the official protocol for organisers. Typically the drone and ski can work together to manoeuvre a shark away from the competition zone and green-light a rapid heat re-start. However, without a drone the protocol changes to a 45 min- one-hour wait time on a heat re-start. Obviously safety is the primary concern, but an essential policy such as this also makes it difficult to finish an event on a tight schedule.
Surfing NSW, who regularly deal with shark sightings in the events they run, released the following statement.
“The Surfing NSW team consulted with Surf Life Saving NSW UAV and water safety teams as well as held discussions with the competitors and it was decided that due to time limitations, the full schedule was unable to be completed with the option of running remaining heats in the coming months.
The safety and well-being of competitors and event staff is paramount, and Surfing NSW prioritise safety above all else.”
Curiously, the Department of Primary Industries had been operating a shark information tent at the contest site for much of the event. Maybe the shark was dropping in to make sure they’d got his/her description and psychological profile right.
On a more serious note it’s perhaps no surprise that organisers decided that discretion was the better part of valour, given the recent spate of incidents in the coastal stretch between Pacific Palms and Foster-Tuncurry. Tuncurry break-wall, half an hour north of Boomerang, was the scene of a fatal shark attack in May of 2021. Then in March of this year, pro surfer, Brett Burcher, was bumped and stalked by a great white at One Mile Beach, just to the south of Foster. While the area has always been sharky, anecdotal evidence suggests that in recent years the shark presence has increased.
