Basking Sharks are early and large

[FWB]

Had a report of Basking Sharks being sighted off Porthleven yesterday which I found surprising for the time of year. However here's a report from the Western Morning News today.
http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk...rks-Cornwall/story-21067398-detail/story.html

 

[prv]

Would be great if we get to see them when we swing over to the West Country in a few weeks' time.

Bit worried by the mention of Portuguese Men of War though - I thought they were only found in the tropics. Seriously nasty, aren't they? Anyone care to remind me of what to do if stung?

Pete

 

[FWB]

Bit worried by the mention of Portuguese Men of War though - I thought they were only found in the tropics. Seriously nasty, aren't they? Anyone care to remind me of what to do if stung?

Pete

Er, you're supposed to get someone to pee on you

 

[rotrax]

Would be great if we get to see them when we swing over to the West Country in a few weeks' time.

Bit worried by the mention of Portuguese Men of War though - I thought they were only found in the tropics. Seriously nasty, aren't they? Anyone care to remind me of what to do if stung?

Pete

Apply vinegar or get someone to piss on the affected area.

Unless the above is folklore-I have never been stung.

The vinegar is used for Box Jellyfish attacks in Australia by their Surf Rescue teams, according to the telly.

 

[prv]

Apply vinegar or get someone to piss on the affected area.

Just looked it up - apparently while vinegar might help with other kinds of stings, it is not appropriate for man-of-war and may make them worse.

Treatment is to ensure all tentacle remains are removed from the body, then apply hot water (as hot as the patient can bear) to "cook" the poison.

Pete

 

[explores]

Saw six basking sharks off Falmouth two years ago,all in the same day.They seemed bigger than my day boat so stayed well away,just in case.

 

[chrisbitz]

Urine is alkaline, Vinegar is acid. It's going to be one or the other, not either!

 

[Adonnante]

Had to have a quick course alteration to miss one on Monday, 3 miles west of Rame Head.

Peter.

 

[dancrane]

...seemed bigger than my day boat so stayed well away, just in case.

Are they known for being disagreeable? Or is one more likely to be damaged by accident, after getting in the way?

 

[FWB]

Are they known for being disagreeable? Or is one more likely to be damaged by accident, after getting in the way?

They just ignore you and can swim quite close. You are supposed to let them come to you rather than the other way round.
Look for bird activity. Whenever I've seen them the sea has been relatively smooth with interested birds flying over them.

 

[Sybarite]

Would be great if we get to see them when we swing over to the West Country in a few weeks' time.

Bit worried by the mention of Portuguese Men of War though - I thought they were only found in the tropics. Seriously nasty, aren't they? Anyone care to remind me of what to do if stung?

Pete

Apply shaving gel and then "shave" using a credit card in the sense of the body hair on the affected part. When as much as possible of the stings has been removed this way, apply local heat to kill the poison.

 

[NDG]

Here's a pic of one under my kayak....

 

[dancrane]

Thanks, NDG...however safe they tell us the basking shark may be, as the dockside fisherman in Jaws said, "that is a big ****ing mouth!"

 

[Jcorstorphine]

Thanks, NDG...however safe they tell us the basking shark may be, as the dockside fisherman in Jaws said, "that is a big ****ing mouth!"

I was told that the only danger they pose was that they like to come up under a boat and scrape there back to remove parasites (true or false?)

 

[NDG]

I was told that the only danger they pose was that they like to come up under a boat and scrape there back to remove parasites (true or false?)

Don't know about that but my main worry was that he might mistake the kayak for a potential Mrs Basking Shark, which could have been problematic.

 

[dancrane]

I was told that the only danger they pose was that they like to come up under a boat and scrape there back to remove parasites (true or false?)

Great, if they do a spot of anti-fouling down there at the same time!

 

[MrB]

Pics and a video of a sighting in Plymouth yesterday on the mobo forum. http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?395699-Basking-Shark-off-Plymouth

 

[dancrane]

Yeah, that would make me nervous in the dinghy!

 

[KevO]

Last week Whalesharks...

Next week Basking Sharks... cool!

 

[RobBrown]

Hot as you can stand water is the standard treatment for weaver fish stings at Boscombe! Beach Rescue used kettles, but not boiling water