Drones have revolutionized the world, even the niche realm of surf photography.
And while drones have opened up new angles for videographers to capture surfing, they’ve also provided an avenue for seeing more of what’s going on in the water – specifically as to what sorts of creatures are perusing the lineup.
For example, the clip below:
It shows surfer Aaron Jessee, taking off on a lefthander on the southside of Huntington Beach Pier. Sharing the wave with Jessee, a mysterious dark shadow.
A shark? Seal?
“What did I just see?!?!” Simple_Drone captioned the clip.
At first glance, it almost looks like a juvenile great white shark; however, as the torpedo shape of the shadow propels itself through the water, a seal is more likely.
Folks in the comments also agreed:
“For a second i thought it was a giant sting ray 🤣🤣 seal was checkin things out”
“I got the seal of approval”
“Just a friendly seal! 🦭🤙🫶”
“Surfed, Sealed, Delivered”
Case closed.
As for sharks, however, the use of drones has drastically enhanced our knowledge of how frequently they are sharing the lineup with surfers. Take, for example, a recent study from CSULB’s Shark Lab, in which they observed sharks near surfers in southern California 97 percent of the time, at certain beaches.
Despite the startling frequency and proximity of sharks and surfers, researchers behind the study suggest that this shouldn’t be cause for alarm.
“I think people will be shocked by these findings — we never expected to see so many encounters every day with no incidents,” said Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab. “We’re also using drones to examine how white sharks behave when they are near people and how they may tell the difference between surfers and swimmers.”
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