‘Shark Eyes’ inventor hopes to deter attacks.
We can confirm that Captain Snarky is not affiliated with the marketing campaign for “Shark Eyes,” a deterrent for sharks involving a decal of two giant eyeballs plastered on a surfboard, paddleboard, diving fins, or a dive tank.
You can see why there would be a few #eyerolls for Shark Eyes.
But the beauty of Shark Eyes is its simplicity. Sharks are predatory creatures, have keen instincts, but also like a quick and easy meal and are cautious by nature. Having two big eyes staring back at them rattles their senses.
“They want everything to be in their favor before they push the button on an attack,” said Shanan Worrall, the inventor of Shark Eyes. “If you can take away the element of surprise at the start of their assessment — and that can be anywhere from 20 to 40 feet — they move onto another situation where everything is lined up perfectly to proceed.”
Worrall — an abalone and shell diver and avid surfer — is rolling out the U.S. distribution of
Shark Eyes at the Surf Expo in town this weekend. At 20 bucks a decal, it’s one of those “nothing to lose and a lot to gain” investments.
Florida is key to the marketing pitch. (Chamber of Commerce people please close your eyes right now). Florida proportionately had most of the unprovoked attacks (62.5 percent) in the United States and the largest portion (41.7 percent) of the world’s total in 2016, according to the International Shark Attack File.
At New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County, there are more shark-related incidents per square mile than on any other beach in the world.
I can relate whenever I poke my toes in the water. I am rarely comfortable hanging out wading or body surfing, especially at Daytona Beach, where the clarity of the water can run a little murky.
As a scuba diver, I am much more comfortable seeing what surrounds me, even though at times it has involved the presence of a bull shark.
Worrall, an Aussie by birth, can relate to my state of mind, and easily trumps my teeny tale of trepidation.
While spear-fishing one day, he saw a Great White making a beeline for him and had to use his spear to keep it at bay. He also once helped save the life of his friend Greg Pickering, attacked head first by a great white while diving for abalone in Western Australia in 2013.
A gory, mangled mess, Pickering had to back his way out of the shark’s mouth, tearing into more flesh. He had a shark tooth hanging out of his eye socket when he finally disengaged. “[Quentin] Tarantino couldn’t have done a better job [of staging the scene],” Worrall said.
“I stayed on the back of the boat for three hours pushing my legs against the surface with my arms wrapped around him applying pressure the whole time. We have oxygen bottles on the boat, but we didn’t know where to put the regulator on his face. We were afraid he would fall apart.”
Pickering survived, and is now one of the unpaid watermen who endorse the product, which included marine scientists in developing the concept.
Worrall, 39, still takes to the water, but not so much for commercial dive runs. He prefers the occasional surfing gig, including a serendipitous run that earned him the 2017 WSL Big Wave Awards Tube of the Year.
Shark Eyes could be a much greater legacy.
“Any deterrent even if it is a placebo is effective because if you’re sending out a positive deterrent,” Worrall said. “Sharks pick up on that. Like any animals they react to fear and stress. Even if you didn’t believe you’re lessening your chance of attack.”
It’s worth a roll of the dice, and a chance to turn the phrase “Snake Eyes’” into a fortuitous twist of fate.