Slippery Pole

You may remember a film from a while back called JAWS... all the real life shark bits were filmed at Port Lincoln where the Tunarama is held each year in January, here too you can pay your money and go cage diving with huge Great Whites, free diving in Seal colonies (where Great Whites feed) or feed and touch them like this....

I have to ask...Why would you want to?

I've seen a few sharks up close and personal, once in the water while we were spear fishing, once in my 'much too small' kayak, (the shark was way larger than my 12 foot kayak) again in my 'much too small' alloy boat while fishing...but I digress. 

The other thing you can do to see sharks is swim in the ocean at Port Lincoln...

To make it interesting lets lube ourselves with oil so we slide down easier then make a lot of splashing about like a wounded animal...better yet, let's do the Slippery Pole..

Each year at Tunarama one of the premier events is the Slippery Pole, a 5 metre plastic pipe is hung off the side of the town jetty (across and away from the Shark Proof Netting put there for swimmers) The pole is then mopped down with cooking oil to make it slippery then each potential meal, prey item, competitor, is wet down just to make them even more slippery than you ever thought possible.

The stated aim of the event is for the competitor it make it out to the end of the pipe and back in the least amount of time...the real aim of the event is to watch as the hapless victims competitors fall into the shark infested seas.

Of course this is heaps of fun and you end up walking away with sides hurting from laughing.

In case you think this would be completely impossible I have the sad duty to tell you that two young men made it all the way out and back with only time separating winner from runner up...

Years ago this event was open to all comers and since the town jetty is right across the road from the town pub (bar) there were lots of inebriated contenders.. sadly this is no longer the case as all contenders must be under 17. (drinking age is 18..and in anycase it's hard to swim without spilling your beer)

You may notice that female tryers are few and far between (none this year) I believe this is because sliding along the pole causes numerous wardrobe malfunctions..... enough said!

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