Russian around the world inflatable sailing cat ended by shark attacks

Why would you conflate academically verified studies with a whack job film ?

 

I was night fishing in a tropical harbour many years ago in a 12' aluminium dinghy when a tiger shark decided it wanted the large fish I had just pulled aboard and attacked the boat. It was intense for 10 seconds or so and we had the bite marks on the outboard to help verify the tale. Never been a massive fan of inflatables, coined "rubber duckies" here, due to their fragility and the salt shower they offer for free.

 

Not a whack job film, many of the studies they refer to I already was familiar with while researching electric radiant floor heating.

In the middle of another documentary related in nature, I don't think the doctors are quacks nor the patients lying.

Menu Icon https://tubitv.com/movies/512722/generation-zapped

Just watch it with an open mind, and verify what you can before buying into anything.

 

"It pays to have an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out."

I can't figure why, in a world full of actual conspiracies, that people are drawn to ones that have little to no evidence.

 

I’ve had all kinds of shark encounters over the years, and theiinterest has always been the boats running gear rather than the hull. Maybe the Russians were dead in the water when the bites happened? Possibly fishing, or dragging fish aboard?
Several years ago, my diving partner got hit by a Cookie Cutter Shark, it happened so fast that he didn’t even get a look at his attacker.
A clean round plug, including wetsuit, in the thick part of his calf.
I’d say Hypalon wouldn’t slow one down at all, they penetrate some pretty tough fish hides easily.
Even with Kevlar fabric, I bet they’re able to at least create leaks.

 

When they were in WA and Kodiak they were using tubes to store long term provisions (well they claimed to have provisions and many liters of refreshments) like is common in packrafts. Dunno if that factored in or not.

 

Most of the shark repellent devices don't require much power, if they even work ( kind of pricey $$$, for some),

6 Shark Attack Deterrent Devices on the Market | The Inertia https://www.theinertia.com/surf/shark-kryptonite-6-shark-attack-deterrent-devices-on-the-market/

Seems to me like Electro fishing methods might be adapted to be more effective than those listed above. That's assuming they can be graduated to stun and not kill sharks -but that might also require more power, if it's necessary to get through the Shark's hide?

 

If Wikipedia is right, electrical shark deterrents have not been particularly effective against cookiecutter sharks.

I'm glad these things apparently don't favor inland fresh water rivers.

Doesn't sound like the perfect fish to put in your aquarium with other fish...

I wonder if military divers and swimmers, like U.S. Navy Seals, have a few stories that they aren't allowed to tell about these creatures.

 

My guess is that high voltage charged whiskers hanging from the boat would work so long as the cookie cutter sharks brushed up against them, touching appears to be important. At least that's the case for electric eels that generate around 700 volts or so, when they come in contact with their prey. I've observed huge farm livestock Bulls accidentally come in contact with a single wire on an electric fence, nearly jump out of their skin when they accidentally brush up against that wire. Electric Shocking is a different mechanism than the zones affecting the sensory organs on sharks.

 

Do you think a boat that generated high voltage, at a high enough current level to deter them, would have adverse ecological consequences? E.g., kill more delicate sea creatures?

At lower levels, there are electrical pet "fences". Some pets learn to ignore them.

 

Only the craft where human life is at stake because of damage by Cookie Cutter or other sharks might be a consideration for the whiskers application, is what I am thinking.. That would be an extremely small number of boats and thus a most likely an insignificant effect on any delicate creatures- which would not necessarily be concentrated at every rare whiskers equipped boat location, JMHO.

Related Electroshocking techniques are often used by state officials to monitor the Ecology, and management of fish populations by stunning all fish within particular areas on rivers, year after year for comparisons. The stunned fish within a defined area float to the surface, and then the various species are counted; most if not all recover quickly, unharmed, AFAIK. The counts help in making various management decisions, sometimes including setting species limits. But I don't think those electro stunning methods can be used for counts at sea or in large, deep waters, because of the power that would be required, and the possible damage that might result.

Hope this helps.

 

A great deal of electricity would be required to protect an entire vessel all the time, not a likely commodity on board a minimally provisioned raft.
Cookie Cutters hurl themselves head first into a target with mouth wide open, so the electrical protection field would have to extend far from the hull to be effective against them.
Maybe a reflective coating would not offer such a tempting profile?

 

I looked up electric fence shockers, and If it could be set up like an electric fence shocker, it would not require much power, a tiny 10 Watt solar panel is enough to keep a 12 volt shocker battery charged up.. Fence chargers only draw Power from a capacitor at the instant of contact at 10,000 volts!, ( low amps) and are instantly replenished from a 12 volt battery to be ready for another shock.. The pulsed idler current with electric wire runs of distances up to 30 miles amounts to well under than 10 watts of power- (considering a 5-hour solar day). Of course, I am not an electrical engineer and don't know if it could be somehow engineered to work in a saltwater situation.

How common are cookie cutter sharks, and where are they encountered? I've read some accounts by survivors using emergency life rafts drifting at sea for extended time periods; I don't remember any that made reference to cookie cutter sharks. But a significant number of rafts were indeed bumped and tested by some of the larger sharks. It might have been nice to have a repelling mechanism or a shocking Pole to fight back with against the larger sharks at least..

Ps. It could be that all the rafts and occupants having cookie cutter encounters are at the bottom of the sea!

 

The article states that after the third accident involving their catamaran, it's unclear what they were hoping for. At the very least, after the second accident, it should have made them reconsider the rationality of continuing the expedition. They could have installed a boat control system or basic systems similar to what I bought at Computer Vision Development Services | Computools https://computools.com/computer-vision/ made for me, this is not an advertisement. But even if you have an old boat, you can somehow automate it to avoid blindly going out to sea on a broken boat.