2010-2011 Annual Beach Report Card 0
Heal the Bay presents its Annual Report Card for California Beaches. Does your beach pass?
Archive May 2011
Hawaii Sharks Attack Twice 0
LYMAN BEACH, Kailua-Kona (HawaiiNewsNow) – A photo shows Theresa Fernandez with a big smile on her face, and a big bite in her board.
It’s a smile of relief and thankfulness after her board was attacked by a shark Wednesday as she surfed at Lyman’s Beach off Kailua-Kona.
Fernandez spent much of the day at the beach and was nearing the end of her surf session. She said she was paddling out for one of her last waves of the day.
“And there’s a big thud on the bottom of my board, and I’m thinking, ‘okay, we have encounters with turtles all the time,” Fernandez said. “And next thing I know, the thud is followed by a big yank from the back of my board, backwards and down.”
Fernandez then knew it definitely wasn’t a turtle, as the shark tried to pull the board underwater.
“Half my board and my body went under the water, and I just started to paddle as strong as I could to try and get away,” Fernandez said.
The shark then let go, and Fernandez paddled back to shore unhurt and helped to alert others to get out of the water.
Wednesday’s attack came three days after Alayna DeBina was attacked by a shark at the same beach.
“I don’t think she got to have eye to eye contact with the shark like I did,” said DeBina Wednesday, “but from what I hear, she was surfing and luckily she had her legs up in the air on the board at that point, and the shark apparently bit her board from the back and shook it up real good and then let it go, probably because the skeg poked it in its mouth.”
DeBina also escaped without injury.
A shark specialist from the Department of Land and Natural Resources said it appeared that a tiger shark was involved in both attacks, but didn’t think it was the same shark. Tests are being done to determine the size of the sharks.
read more at hawaiinewsnow.com
Grain Surfboards – Build Your Own Board 0
The Grain Surfboards Home Grown Boards are essentially a kit with all the milled components you will need to build your own board. Grain has a line of some 14 boards from the 5’4 Waka fish to the 10’6 Northern Pintail. The Seed is a popular pick for its versatility and classic lines, but Grain offers eight of its boards as kits. You pick the stick. Then, the specific frame, cedar planks, rail strips, fin boxes, leash plug, glue, and glass all arrive at your door. It’s up to you to assemble the frame, set the outline on the bottom planks and build upwards on the rail with 3/16 inch strips of cedar, fit your top planks before shaping the final product. Then sand for a few days and glass it. Figure on about 50 hours.
Building a kit is by no means an easy task. Grain also offers classes, wherein students go to the factory (something else you might want to put on your bucket list.) Working side-by-side with the Grain staff, it still takes seven days, but you leave with what is sure to be the gem of your quiver. The Home Grown kits require some DIY skills an ample garage space, but they come with a very thorough instruction manual.