Surfers say there’s no need to worry

Deirdre Newman

Most surfers catching the waves at the Newport Pier Saturday morning

were not afraid that a sharks might be lurking in the waters.

Three juvenile great white sharks have been sighted recently at

San Onofre State Beach and some surfers have even ventured out among

them.

Many said they have never even seek sharks here.

“Because we get dolphins and if there’s dolphins, there’s no

sharks,” said Max Yedor, 16, as he prepared to surf.

If any sharks did end up in the waters off Newport, they would

probably gravitate toward the pier where the fisherman hang out, said

Craig Wilson, who had just finished surfing for the morning with his

son, Alec.

“They’re not much interested in surfers,” Craig said.

Surfers were divided as to whether they would stay on their boards

if sharks were cruising nearby.

“I would surf down there,” said Tim Whalen, 46, of Long Beach. “If

they get close to you, then you bump them in the nose.”

Whalen’s friend, Chris Hamrock, 21, of Huntington Beach, surfed at

San Onofre Monday. The sharks were first sighted Sunday and then

reappeared Monday.

“I didn’t think twice about it,” Hamrock said.

But Wilson said he would stay away.

“They’re still wild animals,” Wilson said. “Even if they’re

docile.”

Alec agreed.

“They’re pretty crazy,” he said of the surfers at San Onofre.

Josh van Egmond of the Newport Beach Lifeguard Department, said

there has never been a shark attack or even a shark bite in Newport

Beach, as far as he knows. In the remote chance that surfers or

swimmers encounter a shark in the water, he advises they swim to

shore as calmly as possible without making any erratic movements.

On Aug. 19 in San Luis Obispo County, a woman swimming among sea

lions in the ocean off the Avila Beach pier died after she was bitten

by what authorities believe was a large great white shark.

Deborah B. Franzman, 50, was attacked as she swam alone within

sight of beachgoers on the pier and of about 30 lifeguards training

on the beach. It was the first shark attack in state since 1994, when

two men were attacked near the Bay Area.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.