One lucky man. I would have had to change my, well, you get the point...

Sharks are not known for having the best eye sight. A boat that size sitting in the water probably looked like a sea lion hanging out on the surface to the shark. All the shark saw was a dark shape that was about the right size so it struck. The kayak tasted terrible so the shark realized it was not a sea lion and left looking for a real one. The guy is lucky the shark did not decide to take a taste of him before it left. This is the same reason divers and surfers need to be careful - a person in a black neoprene wetsuit looks too much like a seal or sea lion to a shark as does a surfboard floating on the surface. The neoprene tastes terrible too but the blood in the water send the shark into a frenzy so the diver or surfer usually does not get as lucky and escape with only one bite, except maybe the surfer if the shark only gets the board with the first hit.

This guy should definitely buy a lottery ticket. He is very lucky that the shark did not strike at him when he hit the water. It sounds like he had the presence of mind to keep still and not thrash around trying to get back on the kayak right away. This probably saved his life.

To the contrary, the White Shark has a highly developed visual system.

He's gonna need a bigger boat. Just Saying!

JS, PJ has it correct, but so do you. Most sharks, at last those that hunt other fish, have excellent eyesight, but when nearing the target they have a membrane that covers over their eyes to protect them. It may have spotted what looked lick the shape of a seal or sea lion, but by the time it would have been close enough to notice its mistake, it would already have involuntarily been blinded. This is why they use many more senses than just eyesight. Smell and electro-magnetic field detection as given off by every living creature are two others. The video mentions that the kayak had been used for fishing, a successful trip. Did the kayak leak any blood from the fish, or was the kayaking fisherman dangling them over the side to keep them cold till he and his friends could fillet them?

Some 20+ years ago I studied sharks for over two years. Granted this was in the Atlantic, but off Long Island we see not only Great Whites, but their close cousins the Mako and the Porbeagle (all part of the same line of Elasmobranchii, plus a whole lot more to boot. Sharks, by nature, are curious and don't attack needlessly (though I do admit that Bull Sharks may not fit this mold, as they do seem to be the nastiest fish in the ocean). Most shark attacks are simply the result of a shark using its sense of taste to confirm if something is in fact eatable, and when found it is not (like the kayak) or unpalatable as is the case with humans, they swim off. Severe injury and possible death occur simply because of the size of the bite - it usually means that some artery, vein or vital organ has been bitten, and/or loss of blood before a proper medical team can get to the "victim". Tens of millions of people enter the ocean every year and there are only around one-hundred "attacks" a year, most of which aren't fatal, though they can be disabling.

All in all, I am glad the guy is unhurt, but might caution him that if he must fish, to do so from something larger than a kayak, and to take care with any fish blood. The waters he is fishing in belong to the sharks, not Man.

That is a very scary experience. I'm glad this dude is OK, but it is also karma: now you know how it is when someone is fishing FOR YOU.

Well, Celtic Pagan...many sharks have a nictating membrane that indeed covers their eyes at the time of strike. but the GWS does not. Its eyes do roll back, however. GWS are known to break off attacks as they are nearing the end of the typical polaris-style attack if they discern that the prey is not what they thought. These attacks require massive amounts of energy to launch because they are warm-blooded, and the GWS is thought to try to conserve the energy if they come to recognize that the prey will not yield a meal with the optimum high blubber/fat content.

The attack is not necessarily always to determine edibility or suitability of a meal, either. It is believed to be a stun technique that induces shock and massive trauma on the victim, which can then weaken by bleeding out, causing less of a risk to the shark when it returns to finish the job.

So you might have studied sharks for a couple years 20 years ago and know a bit about them. I, on the other hand am just an avid diver, paddle boarder and kayaker. Including in the stretch of Central Coast where this took place. I did my certification open water dives at Avila. But my sister is a shark biologist and has done a lot of work on GWS.

Like when you do some chumming?

Lightning has struck the Empire State Building hundreds of times.

Yes,a lottery ticket would be in order cause you are one lucky man! Good luck on the ticket and so glad you are here to tell about the harrowing event!

It isn't an outrageous calculated risk. There are things in life people do everyday that are more dangerous.

@ rfaber9.. yeah stupid guy still want to repeat it again americans are really crazy. this great white shark are huge and some of them can be measured like a small baby bus.. this guy is lucky 15' feet shark is big enough to him to be devoured next time around he will not be sure and encounter a far more bigger agressive one..lolz its better in a real boat even 20 feet its safety.

Yes, you are more likely to be injured or killed in a car accident, yet people don't stop driving.

For what it's worth, you're more likely to be killed by a falling coconut than being killed by a shark.

Yes, that's right, Popoki: in the ocean.

Franzman died at Avila Beach, which if you know the Central Coast at all is a fair piece south of this location. GW sightings/encounters are not all that uncommon between Pismo and Monterey.

FRANZMAN attack:

Authorities closed the picturesque beach in Avila Beach as well as those in Cayucos, Morro Bay, Oceano and Pismo Beach immediately after the 8:15 a.m. attack.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/08/20/MN253292.DTL#ixzz1v8Lm8mRp

Well said TomUSN.... well said..

Shark biologists and Shark ethnologists have experimented to determine what sharks like to eat. Humans are too bony and lack blubber. Sharks prefer the taste. Unfortunately the first bite can be fatal to a human.

This research is nothing new. It's easy to find online if you want to learn about it. It's been reproduced multiple times (that means the findings weren't a fluke the first time and other scientists have found them valid). There's a long running project at the Farallon Islands on this subject. It began in 1969. The link is below. The scientists go out in a 16 foot Boston Whaler to observe and study the Great Whites and their natural feeding behaviours.

http://www.prbo.org/cms/172

So if you'd truly like to know 'how the hell we know what they like,' here's the answer.

It's illegal to fish for White sharks. They are a protected species. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

So we are in rattle snake, mountain lion and bear natural habitat so I guess its ok if they eat us too. They are in our natural habitat! People have just as much right to be here as any other animal, in the water or otherwise. Thats a pretty crappy attitude!

Not really Niece, they were here long before man has proliferated so. Really we bullied ourselves into their environments. Just Saying!

cmbm,

And there was something else there before the shark came on the scene. Sounds like you are saying whatever is occupying that spot for a given amount of time is the owner. By that logic, if man annihilates the sharks, then he is the new owner and anything else coming into the territory is a trespasser.

Dogg, pay attention to the experts. They are right. Almost all shark attacks by whites and tigers, are one bight attacks. As soon as they realize they don't have a seal or or something else normally on their menu they drop it. Unfortunately, when you are talking a large shark, one bight can remove arms, legs, and can kill.

World wide we average about 60 shark attacks every year, resulting in an average of 10 fatalities. Most attacks occur in the vicinities of inlets and the sharks are small, usually less that 5 feet.

Bull sharks are an anomaly. They are just plain mean.

Actually, Ed, Great White Sharks are very picky eaters. They prefer consuming calorie dense foods. Unfortunately, they have no hands with fingers to explore with when they come across new prey items. They only have their mouth and teeth to use in experimental food testing.

Imagine a human infant. When it begins learning about the world, how does it experience it? It put everything straight into its mouth, does it not? The only tool a shark has is its mouth and this is how sharks experience the world, by tasting it. What they dislike they spit out, but mortal wounds can be caused with that first bite.

Tiger sharks have a different method of feeding and a completely different diet. They're known as the trash cans of the sea. They eat anything and everything.

That video was an ad for a pencil company in the Domincan Republic. There's a serious dearth of documented attacks by orcas in the wild although there are several instances of captive orcas attacking humans.

World wide, about 60 every year and about 10 deaths. That comes out to a little more than one every week, but then we are talking the entire world. How many murders happen every week in the city nearest to you? How many car accidents in your county each week?

Don't think I'll ever understand why people keep getting into cars, trucks and other vehicles knowing full well that 60,000 people die in automobile accidents every single year. More still are maimed.

Worldwide annual shark attack deaths: 10-15

Which is safer, the water or a car?

Peridot, you're right on with the number of deaths due to shark attacks each year but the automobile deaths in the U.S, are about 40,000 each year. World wide, the number of deaths due to car accidents are a little higher than 1.2 million.

And he was in the sharks environment. Another stupid post Niece. Just Saying!

"Another stupid post" from someone who compulsively ends every single comment with "Just Saying!"

Don't forget "Hold my beer." Just Saying!