Sharks fail to keep students from surf

Learning to catch waves at Secret Harbour beach has soared in popularity despite repeated shark sightings and attacks across the State.

Gone Surfin surf coach Doug Kitchingman said the five shark attacks, over the past two-and-a-half years, had caused the public to become more “dubious” about getting in the water.

“I think it just backed off a bit and I think it was just all that hype — we just had it damn rough — five people in two-and-a-half years is definitely going to make people start waking up a little bit,” he said.

“I didn’t have any of the schools back off, but the public for sure, they were a lot more dubious about it.”

A surf coach for 28 years, Mr Kitchingman said he was not affected by shark “hype”.

“There has been 16 attacks in 60 years here in WA and we lose 250 (lives) on the roads every year and nobody bats an eyelid,” he said.

“I think the kids realise it is a good healthy sport from doing programs with their school and a lot of parents just want to get their kids away from computer screens.

“There are definitely a lot of people who are trying surfing.”