There have been quite a number of shark sightings off the Perth coast recently! Last Tuesday I was paddling with a mate when the tiger sharks were spotted - I was 1km offshore so I didn't hear the sirens, and while the Westpac helicopter hovered over him and told him to get off the water, it never saw me.

I misinterpreted the chopper hovering (but not coming out to me) as a drill, as there had been a story about that in the paper the day before. My friend got off the water but realised quickly that I wasn't coming in, so he got back in his ski to come and get me - which I misinterpreted as everything being OK because he wasn't on the beach.

Luckily I didn't look particularly delicious to the sharks which we were told had been very close to us, but we now have a 'shark plan' in place so we all do the same thing when we see certain (obvious now!) signals:
(1) If you see the Westpac helicopter hovering, get close enough to shore that you can hear any sirens.
(2) If when you get close to shore you hear sirens or see utes on the beach with flashing lights, get off the water.
If everyone in the group does this, you can then decide from shore whether you continue or start the walk up the beach with skis.

And a sad footnote to this - last night in Fish Hoek Bay, South Africa, there was a fatal shark attack on a tourist in waist deep water 50m from shore. They are still looking for his remains.

Reading that story led me to a site called sharkspotters.org.za which provided a few useful tips:
(1) paddle a large boat, sharks are less interested in you;
(2) paddle in groups, sharks prefer solitary prey;
(3) if you are approached by a shark, stop paddling and stay still - your movement is what attracted the shark in the first place
(4) if you fall in, keep your ski between you and the shark

On that note, happy paddling everyone! :-)