Over 1,000 surfers showed up this weekend for the Boards & Waves Expo to see the latest innovations in surfboards and fins, watch shaping demos and attend educational seminars.  A first for Brevard County, the Expo was designed to educate surfers about surfboard shapes, design and performance.
Ten local surfboard shapers including Ricky Carroll, Chris Birch, Tom Neilson, Larry Mayo, & more were “talking story” both days about their boards while three exhibitors featured Hawaiian wood ala’ias.  New products from Surf King, RepelShark, Surf Perch, Doc Martin’s Sunblock, Skatezz, and Phix Doctor were featured at the Expo along with ten surf and beach-inspired artists in the special “Artist Alley” section of the show.

StandUpPaddle boards, homemade surfboard contest, recycled surfboard art program, live music by Gabe Gomez and Bootleg, and surfboard painting by Drew Brophy and Mark Longenecker added new twists to this year’s Expo.  An extra bonus was the screening of Bruce Walker’s The Payoff on a giant video screen at the Saturday night party sponsored by Primo Beer.

“The reaction from the attendees, exhibitors, and the community has been very positive from the very beginning.  I already have ideas for a bigger and better Expo next year, as well as many requests to bring it to the beach,” said Dave Seehafer, organizer of the Expo and surf industry consultant.  Dave attributes much of the support to the locale, since the Space Coast is the East Coast surfing capitol as well as the home of 9-time world champion Kelly Slater.

A portion of the proceeds benefited the Surfrider Foundation and the Cocoa Beach High Surf Team.  Sponsors included International Palms Resort, Melbourne International Airport, Surfers Village, R&D Inc/Ricky Carroll Surfboards, Primo Beer, DNA Energy Drink, and Verizon Wireless.

For more information and a list of exhibitors and sponsors that participated in the 2010 Boards & Waves Expo, go to the Expo website, boardsandwaves.com, or contact Dave Seehafer at 949-466-4110, email info@boardsandwaves.com.

www.boardsandwaves.com

story via surfersvillage

Jim Rawlinson, a 68-year-old carpenter from Anahola, was back in the Hanalei Bay waves yesterday, and expecting to rip again today, even after a shark took a bite out of his board there Monday afternoon.

In fact, he continued to surf for at least an hour after the attack, which had him ending up on the back of the shark that bit his board, he said yesterday morning.

When the shark hit his board, the board went up in the air and Rawlinson went into the water where he ended up smack on the back of the tiger shark, he said.

While on the shark’s back, he decided it would probably be a good idea to detach himself from the board, which was still in the shark’s mouth, he said.

“It was relatively calm at that point,” he said.

So, he took off his board leash from his ankle and put some distance between himself and the shark, estimated to be around 14 feet long.

Rawlinson then swam from the point surf break to a reef area nearer to shore, recalling that deep-water sharks don’t routinely patrol shallower waters.

He turned around, saw his board floating in the water, swam to retrieve it and never saw the shark again, he said.

Rather than counting his blessings and making a beeline to shore, he stayed out in the water for around another hour, buoyed by other surfers around him, he said.

Rawlinson, who has been surfing for 50 years, said the incident won’t keep him out of the water.

“I don’t want fear to hold me back from doing what I’m doing,” said Rawlinson, adding that he will continue surfing “as long as I live and can.”

story via honoluluadvertiser.com

NOTE: Controversy over the effectiveness of magnets on sharks see wiki.

A company over the weekend introduced its new shark bite repellent anklet at the Boards and Waves Expo in Cocoa Beach.

The anklet, made by Repel Sharks, LLC, is made of a series of magnets and attractive beads that fits like a piece of jewelry, but repels sharks.

“The magnets interfere with the shark’s sensory abilities,” said Bob Millings of Repel Sharks. “The shark’s electrosense, located in its nose, detects the electrical currents produced by the magnetic fields, creating a repellent response.”

The anklet was designed for situations when low visibility and high surf combine, an environment in which sharks have a tendency to bite.

In many shark attacks, particularly on the East Coast of the U.S., the shark will take what scientists call an “investigatory bite.”

In field tests, the magnetic anklet caused curious sharks to turn away quickly after coming into contact with the electromagnetic field radiating from the anklet.

New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County is considered the shark bite capital of the world.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story

www.repelsharks.com

story via clickorlando.com