It’s mid January and WCT surfer, Stu Kennedy, is on his way to Sharpes beach in Ballina when Tracks calls. After injuring his ribs at Pipe, Stu has been out of the water for a few weeks. So far he’s only had one tentative paddle, and is understandably eager to get his preparation underway for the first event of the WCT calendar. However, as Stu pulls up it’s apparent that he might have to quell the enthusiasm a little longer. “Looks like everyone’s been called in. There’s a lot of people on the beach and a chopper flying over… Ahh these f$%^&ers! … I might just wait a while.”
On a later call Stu confirms that a four metre White Pointer had been spotted in the corner at Sharpes, and that yes, he just waited a while and went back out like everybody else, as has become the standard procedure for North Coast surfers. “It was crowded again in no time … but obviously the nets aren’t working,” Stu chuckles down the phone line.
Growing up around Lennox and Ballina Stuart was accustom to seeing sharks, but suggests that the frequency of sightings has dramatically increased in the last couple of years. “We use to see them back in the day but it wasn’t as much and there is pretty much sightings every day or every other day now.”
Like many many surfers at the coal-face of the Nth Coast shark issue, Stu has some fairly pragmatic views about the problem.
“It’s such a touchy subject with a lot of people. People get pissed off with the word culling but if you can call it ocean management maybe you can get away with it that way,” he suggests, more as a discussion point than an endorsement of an approach. “Like anything if you let it go for too long it’s just going to get way out of control. ”
Kennedy continues matter-of-factly.
“If they can come up with something to stop a four metre Great White coming at you – great, but the surfing population and the population of people going to the beach is growing. We are probably going to see more and more attacks… More and more sharks coming when we are out fishing the seas and not fishing them. ”
Kennedy’s perspective on the shark problem is heavily influenced by his own personal experiences and those of his friends.
“I’ve had some bad things happen to a few mates. I nearly lost one of my good mates. He hasn’t gone to the media about anything…I’ve had a quite a few shark encounters around here. I’ve had a big White come at me at Angels and nearly jumped off the back of a jet-ski at South Wall on to a Bully…”
And the best story of all…
“People probably won’t believe this, but I snapped a board straight over one at The Point (Lennox). A brand new board with double carbon each side… I was going straight down the line in real clear water and it was this big black patch. I wasn’t really looking at but I was going really, really fast and I got exploded off … There were other guys duck-diving. They saw it and said that it was definitely a shark and not a dolphin … That was in 2014. I kept the board and only just threw it out last week.”
Despite the risk and the psychological discomfort, Kennedy continues to surf by himself, but admits to being scared.
“If I’m by myself I am, I’m always looking out or putting my feet up on my board … I’ll go up the beach at Lennox by myself. I’ve surfed North Wall by myself, which felt really suss. If I’m frothing I’ll get out there but you kind of go off what feels right. If doesn’t feel right you can kind of sense them and you try and get out of there… It’s just annoying really. It would be nice to go out and not be too worried about it.”
As a father of two (his son is three and his daughter five months) it’s seeing kids in the water that troubles Kennedy the most. "It’s just heavy with little boys and girls surfing. Eight year-olds and ten year-olds and even younger. What if they get done? That’s what concerns me.”
When quizzed about the prospect of paddling out with his son in a few years time, Kennedy struggles to contemplate the reality of the scenario. “I don’t know. Hopefully by then there is something going on. Hopefully they can pick them up and move them somewhere else,” he says, laughing at the audacity of his own idea before continuing in a more resolute tone.
“It’s definitely a problem and probably going to happen again soon. As much as I don’t like saying that … Even today Tommo (Stu’s shaper Daniel Thomson) saw one out the point and said it looked pretty big … Something massive has to change.”
Note:And for the record Stu’s most recent, direct encounter with a shark was incidentally at Pipeline in Hawaii on the first day of the waiting period.
“A big tiger came at me, in the morning in the dark.” It was me and a bodyboarder … I screamed ‘was that a shark?’ We both froze and then the big fin was coming straight at me, so I was just paddling fast and strong, and got this little one … it was a pretty scary moment.”
