PP and GWS! Its that time of the year.

Well, we all know they lurks in the shore of SMC.

https://abc7news.com/pets-animals/video-bay-area-kayaker-has-close-encounter-with-great-white-shark/12550286/

Wow what a good video.   That 3rd encounter must have been quite a butt clenching experience!

Yikes.  Was this event recent?  The video looks like he was wearing shorts - bold choice for December, especially with a sit-inside kayak. 

The reporter said he is going back but with a bigger kayak. Thats real smart.

Yikes.  Was this event recent?  The video looks like he was wearing shorts - bold choice for December, especially with a sit-inside kayak.

Bold? 

Good quality video. Thanks for sharing. You sure it wasn’t just an oversized sardin?

Puckered right up… definitely a juvey

Good grief! 

looks like he was wearing shorts

There are literally hordes of people along the coast who, through their poor decisions, will bring more and more scrutiny on our sport.  For years now I've figured on the USCG eventually coming up with some standards and maybe some kind of licensing for kayak fishing the coast - other than mandatory PFD on board, whistle, signaling device...etc. 

Dressing for immersion is no joke, but this video makes it into one. 

SMH.

Honestly, even with other regulations, lots of people fail to simply follow rules in all things, or even have common sense for that matter.  I know most will say I'm a dick, but I just think that some of these folks just need to learn things the hard way.  This isn't the pre 90's where you need to learn things from an encyclopedia book, all the resources are out there easily accessible at your fingertips. Its like the people who refuse to wear seatbelts because in the X years they have been driving, they never needed it.  Well...as they say, the more you f around, the more you will find out...just need to let nature take its course. 

Anytime I plan a kayaking trip with folks new to the sport, I go over the safety gear requirements and am pretty firm with them that I won't fish with them unless they're wearing said gear.

But it's those jeans+hoodie guys who you run into at the same launch site or OTW that stress me out. When the jeans+hoodie guy paddles out and I'm anywhere nearby, I feel responsible for their safety. It's not like I wouldn't try to help the jeans+hoodie guy who flips into the water. They're usually the same ones who put themselves in situations where they're more likely to flip, such as fishing among wash rocks in swelly conditions.

I hate being put into that situation, and it's mostly why I rarely post up "open invites" on message boards or social media anymore. I want to be as dissociated from the jeans+hoodie crowd as possible.

Glad they made it back safely.  I have had some large sharks check me out on the kayak -- very humbling experience.   Thankfully in most GWS/kayak incidents seems like the shark never finishes the job.  Shark hits once, or maybe multiple hits on the plastic, but then swims away. 

When the jeans+hoodie guy paddles out and I'm anywhere nearby, I feel responsible for their safety.

I can relate to that.

Fishing in Santa Cruz, I often see those guys. Last year, one of them caught a big halibut, then proceed to hang it over the side of his kayak for the next several hours, in an area filled with sea lions and where sharks are often sighted. I tried to stay close enough to hear the big splash and scream, but fortunately it didn't happen. This year, there was one of those guys I saw a few times who was on a leaky inflatable SUP-like thing that was virtually invisible in the water, and he would go out pre-first-light (without any lighting). He also launched from the boat ramp and managed to piss off quite a few boaters by butting in line and blocking the ramp. I asked him a couple of times whether he had a radio and even tried to offer him a spare one that I was carrying, but he wasn't interested.

Paddle slooowly away from the jeans and hoodie guy......

Bouché

Paddle slooowly away from the jeans and hoodie guy......

Bouché

What if that triggers him to chase you down and call you a kook and a wuss for wearing too much safety gear?  

Paddle slooowly away from the jeans and hoodie guy......

Bouché

What if that triggers him to chase you down and call you a kook and a wuss for wearing too much safety gear?  

Hey!  I resemble that remark!

Bouché