Are there sharks in the Bay?

The basic answer to your question is yes, and you should be afraid, because the threat is very real. The person who said here is no big threat to surfers is wrong. There is a constant threat and you have to be aware of your surroundings or else you'll put yourself in an increased position of risk.

The bay area is teeming with sharks, and has a very significant population of great whites roughly from August foward, every year. Virtually none other than the whites are known to attack people on a regular basis. Which is unfortunate, because they are the largest and most dangerous.

As a beginning surfer there are a couple things to keep in mind.

1. Be aware of where you are relative to any deep water channels. Some surf breaks have these in between peaks. Others simply have very steep drop-off points just outside of the areas where the waves break. Deeper water presents the white shark with enough space to attack in the way that it prefers to -- from below. Do not drift into deep channels, or out beyond the "break". Do not let a current carry you further out than you want to be; this can happen while you are sitting still on your board, without you knowing it, unless you are paying attention to your position. So, pay attention to your relative position.

2. If you see good waves someplace, but there are no other surfers out, there's likely a reason for this, and it could be due to recent shark activity. Consult locals before paddling out.

3. Stay away from rivermouths. Don't surf anywhere near them on an outgoing tide.

4. Do not surf alone.

There are those who will try to tell you that your chances of being hit by lightning are higher than that of being bitten by a white shark.

Those people are ignorant and/o delusional.

When you paddle out into the pacific ocean in September dressed like a pinniped (black wetsuit) straddling a surfboard (shape of a pinniped) you are doing the equivalent of standing on top of a hill in a thunderstorm in a golf course. The only thing you have control over is whether or not you choose to then hold a 9-iron up over your head and wave it around.

There are tons of sharks. I get nibbled a little almost every time I go out. You should definitely not go surfing here. If your friends surf you should warn them too. Tell them to stop because they are in great danger.

My answer is in direct response to saltequalssharks. He makes a good point about doing all you can to avoid danger, but the fact of the matter is that Shark attacks are waaaaaaaaaaay less common than lightning strikes. Period. Try googling annual shark attack deaths vs lightning.

Here are some Links where you can compare the two:

People Killed By lightening: http://www.unitedjustice.com/death-statistics.html

People Killed by Sharks http://www.scubaaddict.com/articles/How-Many-People-Do-Sharks-Kill-Each-Year-/129/

Note that the statistics compare shark attacks in the WORLD vs lightening stikes in the US ONLY. Lightning strikes only in the US far outweights yearly shark deaths. Saltequalssharks had some good points about how to stay away from sharks territory, but is it delusional to think that sharks kill more people than lightening.

Surfing sucks, thats why you shouldn't do it.

Without being a surf expert I would guess that more than 99% of all injuries related to surfing are not caused by sharks.

Edit: This page in a "The Encyclopedia of Surfing" has some statistics about surfing related injuries:

um to the guy with the stats. your comparison makes no sense unless you take into account hte fact that there are 6 billion people on LAND (or 300 million in the US) whereas I bet there are less than 100,000 people in the water at any given time. Obviously sharks aren't attacking people on land. So while your chances of a shark attack aren't too high as a general rule, the second you get into the water - particularly in waters where they are known to be present - you are SERIOUSLY increasing your probabilities.

now that being said, your chances are still incredibly low and probably shouldnt' be worried about. but simply comparing the lightning vs. shark attack stats is misleading.

To see a list of shark species in the area see - http://sfbaywildlife.info/species/sharks.htm