Land lord inspection

 Good thing he didn't  have scuppers  draining that were all fishy smelly from bait and caught fish. Then he might have had real trouble. 
  When you get hit by one of those things, it must  seem bigger than the one in "Jaws", where it hits the stern of the boat.
   Amazing that the guy kept his cool and came back smiling.

dude, that is pretty incredible.  this guy seems pretty hardcore.

I was just in Huntington over the weekend, thinking that I might try and paddle out to the rigs someday. Maybe not lol

Duane is a serious distance paddler. Although I don't know him personally, I've seen his name in the touring yak world for many years.

I spoke to Nathan & E2G about the "keeping cool" thing, & we agreed that it is actually not too hard because something in your brain knows that the situation is not within your control, which is a little liberating.
Personally, during my encounter my focus was concentrating on a brace in the event the shark 'tested' the boat, exactly like it does in Duane's tale.

I think these fish are curious, and although they can tell the kayak does not move like a seal, they've never seen a kayak before & are learning about them with the only thing they have...their mouths.

Yeah, why another red boat.....

Thanks for being the voice of reason.  Even more valuable coming from one who has had the direct experience.

I get so tired of every interaction with a GW being labelled an "attack."

Still don't want to share the experience however......

Allen

I think the best defense for a shark encounter, IMHO, is just that...a good defense. A solid boat, backup flotation, pump, self rescue skill, and paddling partners if you can get /want them.

These fish are so huge & powerful there's really no "weapon" that you could realistically paddle with & deploy that would do anything.
The best thing is to know something about these fish & how they operate.

Thanks for the photo link Al!

Screw that.  I'm sticking to the lake!

These fish are so huge & powerful there's really no "weapon" that you could realistically paddle with & deploy that would do anything.

the military has those decoy things they use in subs and planes to screw with missles.  We need a seal version.  When we see a fin,we push the big button and a life size seal blow up doll is fired 50 yards from your yak and starts to spill chum.  You then paddle like hell for shore. 

or a bangstick with a shotgun shell.  Of course you are more likely to blow off your foot or put a hole in your yak 

 I used to carry pepper spray. I had in mind seals more than GWS .

Props to Alshobie for posting the smugmug link.... Thanks for the back-up Al...!

On a related note... My brother-in-law used to work those rigs. He said a lot of those seals have large bite scars.
One GW he says was over 20'.... They called him "The Gate Keeper".


Gue/LP

I would have beat the shit out of him with my paddle. Not saying this is intelligent, but instinct would have taken over.

"I was crossing to all 23 oil rigs in Southern California to raise awareness of them after the oil rig disaster in Louisiana."

Hate to say it but anybody who has driven on 101 or lives in the area knows that the rigs are there. So what is the point? At least we are out there for a good reason.  BTW, another advantage of a SIK that I never thought of.