Kayakers, I saw my first great white shark today. It was a beautiful summer day down at San Onofre State Beach in Southern California, where I was surfing my sea kayak in some small waves. About 40 yards outside the breakers, a woman stand-up paddle surfer was paddling back and forth. It looked like she was a bit unsteady on the board and was practicing just paddling rather than surfing. Suddenly, the woman came paddling up to a group of us as we were waiting for the next set. She was visibly shaken and said she just saw a great white shark. I asked her how big it was, and she said, "huge!" As she paddled on in, I paddled out 40 yards to where she had been. As soon as I got there, I saw it. We were heading in opposite directions, and it passed by 3-4 feet down to my right. It was only about 7 feet long, but it was very thick, which makes me think it was a young great white. I felt pretty safe behind the plywood and layers of fiberglass of my kayak and was disappointed it wasn't a 20-footer. But I didn't do any more static braces with my head and shoulders laying in the water. I've been hearing about some great white sightings at San O', this year and in the past, but even with so many surfer's legs dangling in the water, I haven't heard about any bites. So I still think it's a pretty safe place. But I'm glad my legs are in a kayak and not dangling in the water. Duane www.rollordrown.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Mon, Jul 13, 2009 at 3:47 PM, Duane Strosaker <strosaker_at_yahoo.com>wrote: > > I saw my first great white shark today. Yikes! > > I felt pretty safe behind the plywood and layers of fiberglass of my kayak > and was disappointed it wasn't a 20-footer. But I didn't do any more static > braces with my head and shoulders laying in the water. > > Just hope they don't begin to like that crunchy outside and the yummy middle. :P Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
That ought to provide some extra incentive to stay in the boat when capsized. Cheers, Rob G *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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