Shark repellant

[titus]

Hello,

Anyone knows how long shark repellant lasts, how they work, and what are the problems with using it?

Titus

[BCWolfen]

Best shark repellent ever....Dry Land!!!! :lol:

[titus]

Hello,

Seriously. I'd like to know if anyone knows anything about it.

Titus

[StirCrazy]

Hello,

Anyone knows how long shark repellant lasts, how they work, and what are the problems with using it?

Titus

it is unreliable so you can figure it would work about 50% of the time. as for how long depends on several things, current, wave action, wind, ect as it is like a dye and it will last until it is dispersed. they do not give it to us in our training as they consider it useless for all intensive purposes, and if we do go swimming they have a person with a gun watching to shoot sharks, apparently it is more effective.

Steve

[IslandReefer]

....Hey Titus.....hows it goin ehhh, down dare in OZ?
Being a diver and a science-fish geek, I have a couple' O gems of "wisdom" for you.
The two classical stories are: 1) US navy used various dyes and detergents to mask a person visually (less aggressive color) and reduce the scent in the water. "Limited success wit ha soap called SDS (sodium dodecal....bla bla).........I don't know about you, but I am a little less than confident of "bubble bath " vs Great White....might reduce the fecal oder in the water , if you survive the first pass :eek:
2) chemical from a dead Moses sole....sharks don't eat its corpse.
..........some success but suffers the same fate as classic #1 ...ie not enough in a big ocean to demotivate a hungary VW bus from its pink snack. :eek:

But all is not lost.......recently there has been work on certain radio and/or electrical frequencies that attract or repell sharks...has promise but again the force to de-motivate a frenzied shark :eek: ....may work under certain situatuions.
Lastly and the one I like :mrgreen: is the new mail (sp?)wetsuits. The stainless steel net inside or under the rubber protects your bits from being bitten off. It is similar to tinfoil on teeth fillings for sharks and not the expected physical protection or the steel.
Works best for nasty smaller sharks........soooo you goin ' dinner diving?? :razz:
Have fun, cheers

[blood_hound]

Well the only shark repellent that was proven to work was SharkPOD it transmit electrical field to protect divers.

Anymore info just google it b'coz I dont remember much just remember watching about it from the discovery channel
:mrgreen:

[titus]

Hello,

I see. Thanks guys. How about dye for SAR locating you? Any experiences or recommendations on them? If you have a choice of a few of those small parachute flares that don't require a gun vs some dyes, which one would you pick? I was searching for dyes and came across the these flares, which are quite cheap... around $30/ea aussie dollar.

Steve, it is interesting that they are shooting the sharks in the navy. Though the problem is, how does the shooter compensate for the refraction they see of the shark under water?

Titus

[StirCrazy]

Hello,

Steve, it is interesting that they are shooting the sharks in the navy. Though the problem is, how does the shooter compensate for the refraction they see of the shark under water?

Titus

when it is about to attach a swimmer it is pretty close to the surface :mrgreen: some times I wonder if our real job as shark sentry is to put some one who is attached out of the missery :rolleyes: but seriously the refraction isn't that hard to deal with, we do practice on targts that are set to float about 2 to 3 feet under the water once and a while.

Steve

[Johnny Reefer]

Hello,

... How about dye for SAR locating you? Any experiences or recommendations on them? If you have a choice of a few of those small parachute flares that don't require a gun vs some dyes, which one would you pick? ......

Dyes are predominantly a daytime distress signal, while parachute flares, although they would work in the daytime, are predominantly for night time.

But better than dye for daytime is a smoke float. Like a flare, a smoke float is a pyrotechnic and will produce orange smoke for about 20 minutes or so. Orange smoke is recognized by the International Maritime Organization as a distress signal, as is dye. But I'd go with the smoke. You can see dye from above only, basically. Whereas smoke floats can be seen from above and on the horizon from a distant surface vessel.

To summarize...go with both the parachute flares and smoke floats, and forget the dye.

HTH and cheers,

[titus]

Hello,

Cool thanks. Any suggestions of where I can get them online?

Titus

[StirCrazy]

Hello,

Cool thanks. Any suggestions of where I can get them online?

Titus

http://www.safetycentral.com/flarandsmoks.html

this one is in Vancouver http://www.wlti.ca/supplies.htm

Steve

[titus]

Hello,

Thanks. What are the flares issued in the Navy like (ie burn time, altitude, etc)?

Titus

[Johnny Reefer]

Hello,

Thanks. What are the flares issued in the Navy like (ie burn time, altitude, etc)?

Titus

The Canada Shipping Act states that a Type A (Parachute Flare) shall be projected to a height of not less than 230m, when fired from approx. a near vertical position.

The burn out shall occur at a height of not less than 45m above sea level and the flare shall descend at a rate of 4.6m/s. The burn duration shall, therefore, be 40s.

The flare shall burn with a luminosity of not less than 25,000 candela.

But, beyond curiousity, you don't really need to know all that.
Just make sure that whatever pyrotechnic distress signals you buy are SOLAS approved.

SOLAS is Safety Of Life At Sea, which is a series of IMO conventions that began as a result of the Titanic disaster. (The Titanic had lifeboats for less than half of all the people on board).

It should say "SOLAS approved" on the pyrotechnic.

Also, flares have an expiry date. They are good for 4 years from date of manufacture. So, make sure when you buy them that they are recently manufactured, thus having lots of "life" left.

HTH and cheers,

[StirCrazy]

Hello,

Thanks. What are the flares issued in the Navy like (ie burn time, altitude, etc)?

Titus

well we use painswessix smoke/radio/flare floating markers, we use millitary Paraflares, hand held will light up a whole field and take about 15 to 20 seconds to fall, I don't think you can buy these normaly. we all use smoke candels ect.. all millitary NATO spec.

Steve

[Johnny Reefer]

Hello,

Thanks. What are the flares issued in the Navy like (ie burn time, altitude, etc)?

Titus

....., we use millitary Paraflares, hand held will light up a whole field and take about 15 to 20 seconds to fall,....

Do you want distress flares or illumination flares?

The Paraflares you are referring to, Steve, are illumination flares... aren't they?

Illumination flares can be used in SAR, but they are usually used by the search party to illuminate an area at night, thus increasing visibility for the searchers. They are not meant to signal distress.

Illumination flares shouldn't, technically, be used as a distress signal because they are not red. A distress signal flare is red.

Cheers,

[StirCrazy]

Hello,

Thanks. What are the flares issued in the Navy like (ie burn time, altitude, etc)?

Titus

....., we use millitary Paraflares, hand held will light up a whole field and take about 15 to 20 seconds to fall,....

Do you want distress flares or illumination flares?

The Paraflares you are referring to, Steve, are illumination flares... aren't they?

Illumination flares can be used in SAR, but they are usually used by the search party to illuminate an area at night, thus increasing visibility for the searchers. They are not meant to signal distress.

Illumination flares shouldn't, technically, be used as a distress signal because they are not red. A distress signal flare is red.

Cheers,

ya our distress flairs are almost the same thing but red, maybe not wuite as bright but have about the same burn time. the problem is with out supply system going to mostly a civilian purchase they are getting harder to find now.. I know for our smaller vessels we use the stubby pistol launcher and it is a normal one. not near the effect as some I have seen.

Steve