Re: [Paddlewise] Shark attacks on kayakers

From: Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:55:06 -0700
Doug Lloyd wrote:

> Brad said (snip):
>> The shark that killed Mr. Martin in southern California was judged to 
>> be a Great White. They can exceed 16 feet in length, and are not
>> ordinary sharks; they are predatory killing machines. [snip]

> The guy was swimming in an area the GW has been know to come in to and 
> feed, looking for seals. He didn't deserve what happened, but he was 
> directly transiting through the GW's brunching grounds. Do these 
> swimmers not keep together and employ chase boats?

Doug, where did you get that info?

I know that beach and reef intimately.  I grew up in Solana Beach, and 
snorkeled the adjacent reef probably a hundred times, swimming out to the 
kelp beds now and then with buddies, during the late 1950's and running 
into 1962 when I left for college.

Over the course of some five seasons of very active snorkeling on that reef 
during my teens, we __never__ saw a shark of any size.  Now and then we 
would see a 4-5-foot one.  Nobody in my large acquaintance of surfers and 
snorkelers every saw a GW during that time.

There was one death/disappearance allegedly due to a GW attack during the 
15 years I lived in that town, down south off La Jolla, but although the 
eyewitness claimed she saw her husband attacked, there was no physical 
evidence later when authorities investigated.  Suspicion focussed on a 
staged disappearance when the widow aggressively pursued a declaration of 
death ... for insurance purposes, IIRC.  Is this TMI?

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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Received on Tue Apr 29 2008 - 00:54:51 PDT

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