The Wannabe Economist

A few days back i talked about the shark attack at Bondi Beach.

Turns out - it’s nothing more than a lie. Bondi Beach is still safe.

Reminder to side: Don’t panic while waiting for the swell beside the surfers. There’s no shark.

I’m still alive and kicking.

And yes there was a shark attack very recently at Bondi Beach, which is the only other place you can most likely to locate us, other than in the apartment.

Earlier on, i convinced Mrs Chongky that Bondi Beach is safe because of its past record of no shark attack since 1931 after the shark nets were installed. Now i have to eat my own words.

Just how effective are these shark nets and how safe is it at the beach?

Firstly, despite them not completely keep the sharks out, but having a shark with disrupted swimming pattern coming through into the beach is extremely slim. And what are the odds of them coming past the surfers and coming right up to the swimmers?

(At this point, i’m starting to regret getting the damn fins as well. Given the danger of being eaten alive, i doubt i would ever summon enough courage to go out far enough to use the fins. And not to forget that i had experienced first hand the danger of being noob and trapped in a rip current. And again, that account is exciting enough to warrant a post of its own.)

And secondly, i would love to think that sharks big enough to eat a person with just one bite should not be able to come to chest deep level. Then again, given my limited and noob knowledge of the big waves and the sea, i can only continue to think this way and hit the sea again when the weather clears.

Lastly, the lifeguards are extremely professional, and that idea is definitely comforting while we’re in the water. In fact, despite not seeing them around at the beach (probably in the lifeguard pavillion themselves), they managed to notice the idiots caught in the rip current and came to see if they’re doing well, or not too well.  Once again, it’s first hand account.

It’s not secret that i worship the bondi lifeguards. In fact i’m so going to watch Bondi Rescue when i come back from holiday. Due to limited bandwidth here that is.

I’m glad i didn’t contribute towards the statistics of rescues. Thankful to be alive, and looking forward to more action at the beach.