Crazy picture in cape cod times

[outcast]

PFD's ARE required for SUPs by the Coast Guard...."Outside of the immediate surf zone"....open for alot of interpretation....My immediate surf zone is to the bumps on the horizon.

I think the kayaker dude looks like he would float, so i would give him a pass.

Yes i have some blue boards ...i'll do a taste test and get back to you
So many theories on what they like and don't like......when they attack etc. I think they get hungry. The hidden story in the pic is that the shark chose not to take a taste.

Turns out the picture was taken south of Liams (Pochet) hence the kayak

[amarie]

It made national news now. http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/09/12641045-kayaker-on-being-trailed-by-great-white-shark-i-just-turned-and-paddled?lite

Not a surprise because the media has a lot of interest in this shark stuff. But pretty exciting for the vacationing photographer who took the pic I suppose.

Surfing out there? Wow you're braver than me.

[bates]

Re-post from NESURF forum, not my words so who knows:

First hand account by the guy on the SUP (not me).

Nauset Beach, Orleans, MA*-*I am gently paddle boarding about thirty yards from shore at Nauset Beach on Saturday, staring out to sea, craning my head to see the next set of waves rolling in, when I think I spy a dorsal fin in the water close to a hundred yards off shore. Hmmm, really? It could be anything, a dolphin, a pilot whale, a sail fish, all of which I've seen while on the water. I see the fin again. Large...wow. Then to my consternation a tail fin flops out of the water about ten feet behind the dorsal fin. I am no marine biologist but I am pretty sure it is none of the aforementioned friendly creatures. This thing looks like a shark...a very BIG shark.*

I do not feel at all in danger and as I have the space and time I turn to head into shore and of course out of the water. As I do, I see two kayakers in blue and red kayaks about two hundred yards off shore, apparently exploring the orange buoy marking what I assume is the outer boundary of lifeguarded waters. Unless they turn around, I realize the shark will soon be between them and the beach! I wave at them frantically with my paddle to come in before catching a mellow Atlantic slow roller all the way in. (I may have gotten a few*toes on the nose*on the wave it, though I wouldn't stake my name to that.)

From shore, I yell in as many swimmers as I can and people begin pouring out of the water. I continue to focus on the kayakers, who I know are in a tight spot. The red kayak is still headed out to the sea but the blue kayak is paddling straight in at about a hundred yards from shore at this point. Talking to him afterwards, he said he had seen me wave my paddle at him but had no idea what was going on. He eventually noticed some people leaving the water so thought it was a good idea to head in…yes, good idea!*

As the blue kayaker heads straight for shore, now about a hundred yards off shore, the great white sees him. From about a hundred and fifty feet away it swims a slow, curving arc toward the kayaker until it is about a hundred feet directly behind him. Then the shark begins to close the gap. A hundred feet, seventy-five feet, fifty feet. The kayaker is now about seventy five yards from shore. The gap continues to close. Forty feet, thirty feet, twenty feet. At this point, many other beachgoers have noticed this scene unfolding and we all watch breathlessly. The kayaker must hear a swirl in the water as he turns around to look behind him. He would later recount to me, "I saw the fin…and this HUGE dark head about three feet wide. I was far [from shore] so I just paddled straight ahead thinking he would either get me or he wouldn't. I was pretty calm, actually." I will attest, he really was calm!*

The great white closes the gap to ten feet and then boom, it is right upon him.*Fifty yards from shore, the shark right on him, small blue kayak. For those who buy into the hysteria of a certain 1975 Spielberg movie, what happens next is obvious. Fish food, right? Nope. For all the hype, my sense is that great whites are not the man-eaters many believe them to be. They seem to me to be smart and curious creatures, albeit large, scary, and to be respected. Might it have taken a bite to see if the kayak was a food source? Possibly. My sense is that odds were in the kayaker's favor, though.

Anyway, back to the scene. The great white, now right behind the kayaker, seems to sniff the plastic at the back end of the kayak, deem the kayak inedible, and turns away at the very last moment.**After that initial glimpse at close range, the kayaker never turns back and continues to paddle like crazy for shore. At about ten yards from shore, with no shark in sight for the last forty yards, the previously cool as a cucumber kayaker capsizes in the surf and comes stumbling and lurching to the safety of the hot sand. He chose the right time to lose his nerve! At this point, everyone is out of the water and there are thousands of beachgoers buzzing on the shoreline, having seen this drama unfold. At some point the red kayak sees the commotion and turns for home. He paddles straight in from two hundred yards with no encounter with the mighty beast.*

Talking to the blue kayaker twenty minutes afterwards, he is still jittery while shakily having a smoke and nursing a cold Miller Lite. He offers his thanks for the heads up and I congratulate him on keeping his cool the way he did. Not many people would have paddled forward so calmly as a great white approaches slowly and stealthily from behind. All in all a truly amazing and scary thing to see and be a part of. Remember all of those wild stories your grandfather would tell and you would think he him the coolest thing going? Well, now I have mine. The white whale of tall tales and one I am sure will only grow with time!

That is one paddle I will never forget!

[ron.c]

OK

While having lunch, I figure it's a good time to add to my knowledge base i.e. tuning in here.

I saw the SUP'r on TV this morning. In spite of the fact that he was fully suited up on a pistol-hot day, he didn't appear to have any speech issues.

Therefore like almost everything else that comes out of NE surf, the copied-over letter appears to be fabricated horsesh!t. Those guys on NE surf hate just about everyone, especially SUP'rs. Take it from a good friend of the guy who runs NE Surf.

RC

[bates]

noted