don't sit in the water to long off the coast of cali
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 9:10 amSan Onofre - Not really wind related - except that I surf right there every year and have kited there a few times.
Chuck Patterson (kiteboarder) was SUP'ing and caught this on video..
http://vimeo.com/14054518
Had a similar experience about 4 years ago in Ventura, CA at C-Street. I was there kiting on a nuking day.. just me and 1 windsurfer, on the water. I saw dolphins earlier that day, which just have a dorsal and a flat tail. I stopped to take a break floating in the water after i passed over a kelp bed. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a something move from the side behind me. I turned and noticed a very large dorsal about 75' away, thought it was a dolphin, but then saw its tail come up and knew it was a very large shark and it was coming right for me. I panicked, powered my kite and was ripped out of my board and thrown about 40'. I tacked away for a while, but then decided I was too far off shore to try to get back without a board, so i had to calm myself and tack right back toward the shark and my board. The swell was too big to see a long way off and it took my 10 minutes which seemed like forever to find my board. Never saw the shark, so i thought it had left. Watching this video made me realize that it was probably right under watching me the whole time. Finally got on the board and got the hell into shore. When i landed a guy was walking down the beach, and i asked him if he had ever seen shark in the water. He told me that he was working construction on a house close to the beach a week before and saw what he though was a jet ski coming full speed at shore and hit a seal near shore, then he realized it was a great white. I know attacks are extremely rare but it still makes you think. So i don't sit too long in the water off the coast of cali anymore. Lucky we dont have that big of fish in our waters - only a few carp that might catch your fins.
Chuck Patterson (kiteboarder) was SUP'ing and caught this on video..
http://vimeo.com/14054518
Had a similar experience about 4 years ago in Ventura, CA at C-Street. I was there kiting on a nuking day.. just me and 1 windsurfer, on the water. I saw dolphins earlier that day, which just have a dorsal and a flat tail. I stopped to take a break floating in the water after i passed over a kelp bed. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a something move from the side behind me. I turned and noticed a very large dorsal about 75' away, thought it was a dolphin, but then saw its tail come up and knew it was a very large shark and it was coming right for me. I panicked, powered my kite and was ripped out of my board and thrown about 40'. I tacked away for a while, but then decided I was too far off shore to try to get back without a board, so i had to calm myself and tack right back toward the shark and my board. The swell was too big to see a long way off and it took my 10 minutes which seemed like forever to find my board. Never saw the shark, so i thought it had left. Watching this video made me realize that it was probably right under watching me the whole time. Finally got on the board and got the hell into shore. When i landed a guy was walking down the beach, and i asked him if he had ever seen shark in the water. He told me that he was working construction on a house close to the beach a week before and saw what he though was a jet ski coming full speed at shore and hit a seal near shore, then he realized it was a great white. I know attacks are extremely rare but it still makes you think. So i don't sit too long in the water off the coast of cali anymore. Lucky we dont have that big of fish in our waters - only a few carp that might catch your fins.
