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Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board
True Shark Story...really!
Posted By: Pete W. P.
Date: Friday, 29 October 1999, at 11:09 a.m.
I knew with the nuerotic insistance of my fears i'd finally happen upon this. I found it Canoe&Kayak Magezine December 1999. I've condensed it, not for readability, I'm just too damned lazy to type the whole thing. Anyway, here it is...
Kim Couertenay 14' kayak Brisbane Autralia [Petes Note: A short kayak and australian waters! You kno its just gotta be good !]
"On a typical morning, conditions were calm and steamy and i was out paddeling a dark green 14' kayak, chasing schools of feeding Tuna that could easily be seen leaping and splashing as they herded bait fish to the surface and screaming seabirds rushed in for their pickings. I was about a kilometer out from the mouth of Roebuck Bay, near my hometown of Broome."
"About 600 meters from shore, my eyes caught a dark broad shape that was rising quickly. It resembled a big turtle to me. Just before reaching the surface it turned 90 degrees and then to my horror a dorsal fin knifed vertically into the air and a great sheer of water cascaeded from the body of the large shark."
"In an awesome display of fluidity it attacked, biting onto the very fron of the kayak with a sickening crunch as its teeth penetrated the fiberglass just above the waterline. The front was dragged down and water rushed across the deck and some spilled into the open cockpit."
"Just when a capsize seemed imminent, the shark, still gripping the boat, slewed sideways in a ripping motion that effectively pulled the kayak up straight again and flung it off the front amid more crackeling fiberglass. The motion exposed huge winglike pectoral fins, a body with dimensions of a 44 gallon drum, and vivid stripes along the flank, typical of an oceanic Tiger Shark."
"My momentum then carried me directly over the shark, which appeared as an enormous glistening blur with a black eye, and which, for a split second came into focus directly below me . It then disappeared with a great thrust of its tail. It didnt return, and on the beach I feebly inspected the perfect impression of its jaws on the front of my kayak."
Reflecting back on the above typed, it coincides with what i read about sharks and a fatty meal. Apparently, most shark attacks are the sharks attempt at "sampling" a potential meal. Often even after humans are bit, they are soon "discarded" due to lack of rich fat content as in the case of seals and whales. At anyrate, I suppose fiberglass wasnt on the menu either. By the way, please dont see me as an alarmist in this respect. Its just after the "SEA MONSTERS" thread , I thought it neat that I actually happened upon a true story.
Wouldnt you love to know how Kim went abpout kayaking after that episode?
Pete Kayaking among the man-eating Pickerel
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