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Carpinteria Animal Stories

Sunday, March 12, 2006

An interesting session at Rincon on Saturday followed by a normal session in Montecito on Sunday. I didn't know it at the time, but two seals were attacked by a Great White Shark, just North of Rincon on Thursday, making the Rincon lineup pretty empty during the Saturday session. Reader Henry grabbed the NewsPress story on it:

Carpinteria city officials warned residents on Friday about an attack by at least one great white shark on seals in the Harbor Seal Sanctuary. Two separate attacks on Thursday left two seals dead, according to a news release from the city. No people were nearby in the water when the attacks occurred. The killings were witnessed by visitors to the Seal Watch viewing area on the bluff above. Portions of the beaches in Carpinteria have been posted with warnings about the possibility of sharks being present in the water. The sanctuary, on a secluded stretch of beach next to an oil and gas plant pier, is where seals give birth to their pups. The beach and waters adjacent to the sanctuary are already closed to the public during the birthing season.

In addition to shark fears on Saturday, I saw an errant baby seal wandering the lineup chewing on surfer's leashes. Rain bookended the session in 44 degree air and according to the Stearns Wharf temperature gauge, the water was a chilly 51 degrees, dropping 5 degrees in 4 days. With all the weird weather and weird animals, the session was glassy and chest high at times, certainly a diamond in the rough.
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Santa Barbara Surfing. Created by Tim Maddux. Continued by Pope.