I was watching a show on shark attacks last week. Most of the attacks were on surfers or divers. Has anyone ever heard of an attack on a paddler?
Submitted by jh on Thu, 05/11/2006 - 6:26am
I was watching a show on shark attacks last week. Most of the attacks were on surfers or divers. Has anyone ever heard of an attack on a paddler?
Submitted by jh on Thu, 05/11/2006 - 6:26am
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In the mid 1980's a group of kayakers were doing the Makapu'u run on a relatively calm day. One of the paddlers heard a "wave" sound right behind him and felt the feeling of the back of his kayak being lifted on a swell and then...nothing happened. He turned around and just saw some swirling water...maybe a wave. The strange thing was that the conditions were NOT white-caps, it was calm and that would have been the only white-cap wave the group would have felt. When they were done with their run they looked at the kayak and found a bite mark and a shark tooth stuck in the kevlar hull. The size and shape led them to speculate that it was a 10-13 foot Tiger shark. The article (Advertiser or Star Bulletin, I can't recall) states that the "new" kevlar material is what saved the kayaker's boat and kayaker from the shark. I think the kayaker was someone famous in the kayaking world, maybe Marshal Rosa. This was a long time ago that I read that article BUT I think of it every single time I am doing the Makapu'u run.
I have heard of alot of sightings of sharks but this is the only interaction between paddler and shark that I know of.
Good question.
Mikala
#1 Thu, 05/11/2006 - 7:45am
Well in my short time as an OC-1 paddler, it was the first time I went beyond the marina in Hawaii Kai, I was recovering from a strained muscle in my back so I was very much riding on my left side. Well I huli, one of the guys was with me he stopped to make sure I got back up ok, well I was pretty stiff so I told him I was going to go back in. Well I took off to where my truck was, he told me after I had my canoe back on the truck that he saw something grey swimming near, it was moving slow and not smooth like a dolphin. I think about it but, you know we probably don't look appealing to a fish from below, we have an outrigger, we have a paddle and nothing that looks like legs or seal flippers. Not to mention we average over 20' long.
Aloha
#2 Thu, 05/11/2006 - 9:22am
THAT'S IT! From now on, I'm packing a bang stick along with my gps, marine radio, heart rate monitor, whistle, cable repair kit, flares, rubbers, fins, an extra blade and a PFD!
#3 Thu, 05/11/2006 - 10:04am
Off a popular beach in Perth Western Australia a few years ago a guy was on a morning training session when a large Great White came out of the water to his right and chomped down on the front of his ski. The jaws missed his feet by about two inches! He was thown into the water and while the shark was busy monstering what was left of his ski a mate came passed and he grabbed the back of his ski and they surfed into the beach. Had to hose out his shorts apparently!
Barts
#4 Thu, 05/11/2006 - 1:12pm
Okay, I'm bored so I'll share my story...
Last March, I went for a paddle outside of Nanakuli, Oahu. I was about a quarter mile from my finish and about 50 yards out. I was in my "zone", just focusing on my glide. Then all of a sudden I felt something ram me hard on the left side and I heard that sound you hear when you drop your boat on the ground (you all know the sound!).I looked to my left and saw a shark thrashing by the tail of my boat. I didn't even take a stroke and my heart monitor started beeping like crazy!! I looked back at my boat and seen the tail of my boat badly cracked. I sure as hell didn't want to be out there in a sinking boat and a curious shark, so I started sprinting to shore. I think I could of beat George Cronsteadt on that day! I looked to my right and seen the shark pull up to the right of me and just kind of stay there, as if it wanted to tell me my sprint isn't that fast. It was almost as long as my boat, and I couldn't see any stripes so I'm not sure if it was a tiger or not. It stayed there for a few seconds then disappeared into the deep blue. It took a few minutes for my heart rate to go down when I finally reached the shore. When I checked the damage, it looked like it only rammed me, no bite.
This is the second time that boat got hit by a shark. The owner before me had the tail bitten at Maile point. We think it's because of the rudder. It's a little loose so it kind of vibes through the water, like a dying fish. Or the bottom of the wave blade looks like a sexy ass shark or something.
Tighten your rudders...
#5 Thu, 05/11/2006 - 4:25pm
I was in town for my first Kaua’i relay. The Bartlett’s were cool enough to hook me up with my first Spica ride and we were going from Wailua River Mouth to Kalapaki. It probably would’ve been a good idea to adjust the iakos before getting too serious ‘cause I was obviously a lot heavier than the boat’s usual rider and I really had to lean hard on that fat bixler to keep it from dumping me on the right. But I figured I’d just live with it. If I couldn’t paddle on the right side, oh well.
It was a perfect afternoon and I was totally stoked as we punched out through some small waves and went outside. I felt like I was in the “big time.†The water was warm, the sun was bright and I was training in Hawai’i. It didn’t really bother me that I was having trouble keeping up – even with some of the other mainland guys I train with everyday. And Kai was just a memory ‘cause that dude is FAST. We’d been out maybe half an hour and were, like, two miles offshore. The ama thing was starting to be a pain. I was way behind – at least 300 yards – the next slowest guy when I saw, between me and the beach, a dorsal fin. You know whenever you see a dorsal fin and you get that one breath to hope it’s a dolphin? That didn’t even last a whole second ‘cause then his tail came up.
The shark was maybe thirty feet away, but cruising, just cruising closer. By the time he tucked in alongside the Spica, I could tell he wasn’t, like Jaws, or anything. He was (comparing him to the ama) less than eight feet. I’d never seen a tiger shark before so I was kind of tripping on the stripes. Like, “oh. THAT’S why they call ‘em that.â€
He was right next to the boat. Because of my ama issues, I couldn’t turn to watch him without dumping the canoe and I really wasn’t up for a swim at the time. So I did the only thing I could think of: I kept paddling, but, like, trying to be all cool and shizzle. Like this tiger shark didn’t mean nuthin’ to me. If I had tried to sprint for the beach, I would’ve had a long go of it – probably half an hour or so, so that was out. Nah – I was just gonna be cool. No panic.
I don’t know how long we went like that. I’m sure the clock woulda said less than a minute, but it seemed a lot longer. I was starting to think maybe I was gonna be okay after all – maybe he’d do the whole run with me. And then the canoe shuddered and I was sure that was that. I turned to look him in the eye – it sounds stupid now, but at the time I was sure I was going to see him eat the boat. Maybe I could feed him my new Kialoa instead. I figured, if he did eat the boat, it was gonna take me the rest of the day to swim back in. I couldn’t quite bring myself to admit I might not have to swim very far at all.
But all I saw was his big ol’ tail clear of the water. I guess he’d gotten bored of this haole and decided to get busy with more interesting tiger shark business. As he turned to dive to his right and down, his tail had slapped against the canoe and that was all it was.
But I still had almost ten miles to go. Kalapaki has been my favorite place in the world ever since.
#6 Fri, 05/12/2006 - 7:38am
The Kayaker that mikalakayaker was talking about was Dean Hayward. The shark was a Mako- the fastest shark in the ocean- and very rare in Hawaii. Mr. Hayward was my high school P.E. teacher and one of the first to race sufskis in Hawaii (with Marshall Rosa et al). I think he still has the tooth...
Another incident between canoe/kayak and a shark- a friend was oc-1 fishing off Waianae when he and his canoe were violently lifted out of the water by a large shark. His canoe was seriously damaged, but he was able to SPRINT to shore. He called the Hawaii Shark Task Force to see if they had any info on sharks in the area. They told him that there were a few Great White sharks that they were tracking in the area of Waianae to Waimea Bay. They further confirmed that the attack pattern was more similar to the Great White than a Tiger. Supposedly GW's bump and bite, while Tigers just bite...
#7 Sun, 05/14/2006 - 10:04am
Snarfblat I'm with you.. after reading all those stories, I'm just going to stay away from Kauai, Waianae, and any of those other places that they mentioned. Eh any one have shark repellant...
#8 Mon, 05/15/2006 - 10:42am
saw program on TV many years ago where this researcher in South Africa was testing theory on colour combinations to repel sharks. His theory was that sharks wouldn't attack black with bright red bands (like a sea snake). Sure enough, they wouldn't attack meat on a pole with that colour combination. Paint the bottom of the canoe?
He was going to try it out on a wetsuit. Never heard any more.......
#9 Mon, 05/15/2006 - 2:03pm
About two months ago, I headed down to Haleiwa to do a run to Waimea and back. I thought the people I normally paddle with down there would automatically be there, but when I showed up to an empty parking lot I kind of figured I would be going out alone. I grew up paddling on the North Shore so I wasn’t scared to go out by myself, I’ve done it many time before. I rigged up my boat and paddled into the calm waters, but as I passed Papailoa reef, just before Laniakea’s, an enormous dorsal fin surfaced out of the water about a yard from my canoe. I swear my heart stopped beating for a couple of seconds as the fin sashayed by then vanished back into the water. As I looked down I saw an immense white belly…of manta ray. The fricken manta ray was swimming vertically. A wave a relief fell upon me, but it didn’t stop me from turning around and sprinting my ass back to shore.
#10 Thu, 05/18/2006 - 11:05am
Last year at a OHCRA race at Nanakuli there were sharks everywhere. The drop off at Nanakuli is pretty good & it's one of the few courses where the boats race towards the beach instead of parallel to it. Well, at this race & at the time of my race it was high tide. You could see the sharks swarming in the water right under the boats, if you were sitting seat 5 or 6 you only had to wade in to your knees, everyone else had to swim out & then get in. The sharks weren't too big (2 to 4 feet) but let me tell you, I've never ever seen crews get into boats so fast. The choice came down to deal with the sharks and get into the boat, or deal with the coach.
We decided the sharks were smaller & less dangerous than our coach.
#11 Fri, 05/19/2006 - 5:27pm
Speaking of sharks, check out the little blurb on Manny (who placed sixth in the solo channel crossing) in today's Sports section of the Honolulu Advertiser.
"Manny Kulukulualani placed sixth in the men's division, but had the story of the day. He said a 15-foot tiger shark came straight for his canoe, then darted away, leaving a trail of blood.
"I actually braced myself for the hit, that's how close it was," he said. "And then I saw the big red cloud, so I knew it got something. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen.""
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/SP...
#12 Mon, 05/22/2006 - 2:05pm