12/06/2026
Hard to believe but This is what surfers started using in the late 60’s to surf in the cold water of Californian beaches.
What’s changed? Better neoprene, well designed and far. more flexible.
What hasn’t changed is the colour.
What if attacks on surfers is effected by the black wetsuit?
1960’s California surfing explodes huge surfboards no wetsuits and very few attacks.
1970’s boards stated getting shorter and black wetsuits more common then attacks spiked. So much Peter Benchley wrote Jaws to capitalise on the huge amount of fear generated.
When we saw the Californian attack data the first thought was “didn’t anyone notice?” The answer is YES.
A small local newspaper interviewed a shark scientist about increasing attacks. He said boards are getting smaller and the black wetsuits are making the surfer look like a seal”.
Did anyone pay attention? No
Hmmm know how that feels
Most famous attacks in Aus in the 60’s were not on surfers it was on spearos. Rodney Fox was the most well known but there were at least 4 or 5 others.
Attacks on surfers? Almost zero.
So when did attacks on surfers start increasing? Mid to late 70’s coinciding with guess what?
Shorter surfboards and great use of black wetsuits.
Bit like increase in lung cancer deaths and ignoring smoking as a factor.
Oh that’s right we did that for 50 years.
03/06/2026
29/04/2026