Swimming With the Sharks
For a week now, sharks have gathered just off Will Rogers State Beach. But far from keeping surfers away, their presence has largely been shrugged off by beach enthusiasts as just one more Los Angeles hazard to navigate.
On Friday, surfers traded strategies for swimming in shark-infested waves as if swapping shortcuts to get around a SigAlert on the 405 Freeway.
“Everyone’s got a theory right now,” said veteran surfer Kathy Laverly, 47. “People are saying the further north you go, the less chance you have of running into them.... Something about how sharks like eating fish in sandy water.”
Others urged surfers and swimmers to follow the “dolphin rule.”
“Dolphins are natural enemies” of sharks, Laverly said. “People said if they aren’t around, the sharks probably are.”
There was nary a dolphin in sight Friday morning, but Laverly and others dived into the surf anyway.
“It’s just like terrorists -- you can’t let them change your way of life,” said surfer Claudio Bonoli, 36, of Los Angeles.
Lifeguards kept a watchful eye on the waters but also took a philosophical approach to the shark sightings.
“It’s like that mountain lion they found at Griffith Park,” said lifeguard David Estey, referring to the wild cat spotted in the Hollywood Hills about a week ago. “You just leave it alone and tell people to be careful.”
A police helicopter first noticed two sharks Monday about 100 yards from shore.
Shark spotters since have seen as many as three swimming together, the biggest of them about 8 feet long. Television news choppers have beamed live pictures of the sharks during the marine creatures’ afternoon swims off Pacific Palisades.
Experts believe the sharks are either makos, salmon sharks or baby great white sharks. The latter possibility has generated the biggest buzz among beach buffs.
“But they’re probably too small to eat people,” Laverly said, propping up her white 9-foot-long Patagonia board. “Actually, I don’t know for a fact that’s true, but I like to believe it anyway.”
Lifeguards said the public need not panic, noting that they cannot remember the last shark attack in Los Angeles County.
When the sharks were first spotted, lifeguards called swimmers out of the water. But since Tuesday, people have been allowed back in.
On Friday morning, with skies overcast, the only swimmers at Will Rogers were five teenage boys in shorts and boxers.
When they were told by a reporter about the shark sightings, some of them leaped out of the water.
“Wait, are you serious?” one said.
But just as quickly, their teenage machismo kicked into gear.
Mike Mangasyn, 18, grabbed his friend’s arm and plunged back into the ocean. “Let’s go catch some. I’ll eat them alive.”
Another one, Mike Berbeyan, 18, curled a bicep and posed for a cellphone picture.
“The sharks are the ones who should be afraid of us,” he said.
