Unprovoked attack on yakker at LJ

[Iceman]

Click here to watch 1-22whale (http://media.putfile.com/1-22whale)

[Dennis]

Damn, Andy... That's SOME footage. Did ya crap your pants? Were you close to flipping? Or did it lift you? Hey, at least it wasn't whitey..

[steamroll]

NOM! Spill the beans dude, that was crazy. I crapped my pants just watching it!

[tylerdurden]

Did ya toss a big hammer plastic his way :D ?

[Iceman]

I saw the lil whale, just circling and went over for a closer look. Once it saw me it came right over. I'd paddle off to try and shoot some video and it would come right under me again, so it was hard to shoot what I wanted. This happenened a few times, then Big Mama came up from the depths. She breached almost coming completely out of the water. That was when I put some distance and shot a little with the zoom. The lil one never bumped me, but I paddled out of the way a few times and it did splash me pretty good with it's tail.

Weather was great, just got better as the morning went. Only fish was a sandbass and a short halibut. If I went tomorrow, I'd go north, tons of sardine along the beach.

Very cool experience. :D

[kurt]

Almost impossible to have a bad day out there.

[rdahl]

Reminds me of an encounter 2-3 years ago. I was fishing with Eagle Eye and Johnnie C. We paddled over to where a baby was just floating around on the surface. The baby decided he had a thing for Johnnie and started to rub up against the yak. Johnnie thought that was cool, and was taking a picture, when he looks down and sees big mama about a foot under him. I have never seen anyone paddle faster, or swear funnier than Johnnie as he practically flew over the water to get away. I still laugh when I think about that one.

[katchfish]

HOLY CRAP indeed!! :shaking2:

Ken

[MKNOTT]

:shock: Cool. Very cool.

[aguachico]

Great film Andy. Deens along the beach... T's on the 200 foot line.

[Aaron&Julie]

What a rush, Andy.
Kind of a flashback for us to our close encounter off of DP. In less than 20 feet of water, a gray surfaced between us, it's tail about 3 feet from Aaron's yak. When it came up it blew air out it's blowhole (very loud when that close), scaring the crap out of us. We were definitely not expecting it that close to shore, about 50 yards out.
The thing about grays, is ya never know. In whaling days they were nicknamed "Devilfish". They would often attack the boats that were hunting them. Considered to be the most dangerous whale because of such incidents.
You have to wonder if some of the gray whale/private boater disasters weren't intentional on the whales part. Seems more likely than a coincidental breach randomly landing on someone's boat.
Good thing we don't have to call you "crushed ice" :shock: :roll: :) .

[madscientist]

I'll be honest, whales kind of scare me. The time one went right by me where I could make it out under water, the sheer size and power was intimidating to say the least. I'd be very nervous that close to a baby, because you know mamma's going to show up, and she might just be having a bad day. Sounds like you pretty much kept your cool Andy (or did you edit the little girl screams out :wink: ). Guess you're Iceman for a reason. :lol:

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

Very cool Andy, it is experiences like that, that make heading out great even when the fishing sucks.
It is a very broken up video and hard to see what is going on, is the original better quality or is it just my computer. I would love to see that more clearly.

[Iceman]

"or did you edit the little girl screams out"

I did edit out one"Mommy!" but mostly F bombs and paddling with the camera shooting the sky. I definately would have been bumped several times if I did not move. Hearing the little blowhole over and over and then hearing one WAY deeper and louder scared the crap out of me. When the big one breached (I think the breach was for my benifit) I had a flashback of the killerwhale landing on the yak spoof.

Jim, the original video is way better detail, but i think I was somewhat zoomed in when shooting close. Shooting video on the rolling water in bright sun, trying to see the view screen, is rediculously hard.

[Ed]

Way cool. I had a momma and baby gray up close right in the cove on christmas. Couldn't have been 20 feet deep.

[Zed]

I'm with Mad, I don't like whales.

They're not mean or out to kill you, but when they're bearing down on you and then do a deep dive, there's no way to know where they're coming up.

I feel the same about cattle. Sure they're big dumb herbivorous animals, but trampling you could happen in the blink of an eye, and without provocation.

I'm way more wary of whales than I even think about sharks.

In Laguna on Sunday I saw at least 10 whales cruising through pretty tight to the beach. I just can't concentrate when I hear that deep spout noise.

Andy, try and be a little calmer camera man next time. Ha.

Z

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

I'm with you, Every time I see a cow out swimming in La Jolla It scares the crap out of me. :roll: :lol:

[Holy Mackerel]

Can't see the video until I get home... stupid work firewall... :x

My buddy just sent me a link to a dive site with this pic.... probably scare me more underwater than on a kayak... :lol:

Steve Nau
1/21/2007
La Jolla Cove
Inside the Reserve
30'

Gray Whale
Eschrichtius robustus

Olympus C-50
Internal flash


http://week.divebums.com/2007/Jan22-2007/gray-whale_steve-nau.jpg

[Jim Sammons LJKF]

That is one very cool shot, would love to see that in person.

[madscientist]

Cool pic Chris. I remember one evening last year on my way out hooping saw a pair frolicking in ~45ft in the kelp. They were just kind of tossing stringers around and have a grand time. Best thing was that there were a bunch of tourists out near the canyon staring out to sea, oblivious to the show behind them. At first I was tempted to get closer for a better look but one good tail smack and I thought better of it and hauled ass in shallower and out. :D

[Mike K.]

Whales may not be the only thing to be wary of....was surfing reefs between Torrey Pines and 15th street in Del Mar with a buddy when a small group of 3-4 dolphins came in close to us. They seemed to be playing aggressively with eachother when their attention then focused on us. They made several repeated speed runs in tandem pairs right at us with fins out of the water, then making a quick dive under our boards at the last second. The first time we though it was way cool, but in that shallow clear water you could see just how big and close they were. After the third pass we figured it was time to get out of the way but they followed. Couldn't tell if they were playing or being territorial over a female but they were getting way too close so out of the water we went.

[aguachico]

Great film Andy. Deens along the beach... T's on the 200 foot line.

Looks like I was right 8)