Naked sunbathing creating a stir in San Diego, but still okay

by Jamie Rhein on

Just last week a judge ruled that sunbathing in the nude at San Onofre State Beach in San Diego is still allowed.

Earlier this summer there was a brouhaha because the California Department of Parks and Recreation wanted to ban nude sunbathing, even though beaching it in the buff has been allowed here for decades.

The parks and recreation department said that some sunbathers were being lewd near Trail 6. Sunbathers who just sun themselves and frolic in their birthday suits felt that the ban was uncalled for since most behave themselves.

According to this article at San Diego 6 News, the judge has ruled that the people who will be cited for being without their clothes are only those that someone in the public complains about–otherwise, sans clothes is fine–for now.

Considering that there are many public beaches from which to choose in California, it seems that if people don’t want to see people sunbathe in the nude, go somewhere else–or if you do go here, stay away from Trail 6.

Photo of the Day (05.23.08)

by Aaron Hotfelder on

This photo from localsurfer— how appropriate– was taken in Tanzania and according to the photographer, it was created by using a “grad filter and fill in flash.” Whatever that means.

Anyway, what a stunning photo.

Want your pic considered for Gadling’s Photo of the Day? Submit your shots to Gadling’s Flickr pool. Now!

Australian swimmer pokes shark in eye, survives

by Iva Skoch on

I have been waiting for somebody to try this. They always tell to you to “poke a shark in the eye” if you get attacked, but it always seemed unreal to actually do it when it happens. The eye of a shark is pretty damn small, not to mention creepy.

Nonetheless, an Australian swimmer says he survived a mauling by a 16-foot shark by wrestling with the beast, finally getting free by poking it in the eye. The shark, believed to be a great white, seized Jason Cull by the left leg as he was swimming at Middleton Beach in southwestern Australia on Saturday, AP reports.

The shark was one of three that swimmers reported seeing at the beach Saturday. Officials closed the beach after the attack. From his hospital bed where he was treated for deep lacerations, Cull, 37, told reporters Sunday he saw a shadow moving in the water just before the attack and mistook it for a dolphin.

“It was much bigger than a dolphin when it came up,” Cull said. “It banged straight into me. I realized what it was, it was a shark….I sort of punched it, and it grabbed me by the leg and dragged me under the water,” he said. “I just remember being dragged backwards underwater. I felt along it, I found its eye and I poked it in the eye, and that’s when it let go.”

There you go. The eye method is obviously not just an urban legend. Now it’s just a matter of being able to locate the eye of a shark (while being half-submerged in its jaws) and poking it . Got it.

[via WTOPnews.com]

World’s Most Dangerous Beaches

by Iva Skoch on

If you are in the midst of planning a beach vacation, this is bad timing. I was just about to tell you about the World’s Most Dangerous Beaches, as compiled by Forbes.

In 2006 alone, American households apparently took nearly 55 million trips to the beach. Most of those trips were totally safe and pleasant. The rest of them….not so much.

Here are the World’s Most Dangerous Beaches by Forbes:

  • Shark Attacks/Bites: New Smyrna Beach, Volusia County, Fla., Runner Up: Hawaii
  • Pollution: Hacks Point Beach, Kent County, Md./Beachwood Beach West, Ocean County, N.J.
  • Jellyfish Attacks: Northern Australia
  • Rip Current Drowning: Brevard County, Fla., Runner Up: Volusia County, Fla.
  • Boating Accidents: Florida, Runner Up: California
  • Lightning: Florida, Runner up: Colorado

Umm, Colorado? They have beaches in Colorado?

P.S. Is it just me or is this list a little US-centric?

Shark-safe wetsuits? Would different colors help?

by Iva Skoch on

The Great White Shark attack off the coast of San Diego yesterday (and Mark Shaw’s insightful comments about it) got me thinking about wetsuits. Doesn’t it seem that most shark attacks happen because sharks confuse swimmers or surfers with seals? (See photo to get an idea of what such lovely encounters might look like.)

Here is my question. Why are most wetsuits black then? The majority of the all wetsuits I have ever rented and worn for diving have been black; hence they make you look like a seal. They might have a few color accents, but I am not sure the vision of sharks is good enough to fully appreciate them.

The guy who died in 2004 after a shark attack in Northern California was wearing an olive camouflage wetsuit that made him blend into the rocks (and possibly look more like a dolphin than a seal. Sharks like dolphins, too.) This page has a lot of interesting information about that attack.

Some sources, the surfing handbook being one of them, say the wetsuits with big color contrasts make you look like a fish, which is apparently not helpful, either. I have to say, I have never seen a 6-foot fish of crazy colors though.

Is it difficult to dye neoprene, say, all white or all orange? Would that help or is that wishful thinking?