FlyYaker
12-24-2013, 01:41 PM
Leffingwell launch at 0700 12-24-13.
Myself and my brother in law paddle out, he is having a little trouble adjusting to sea kayaking with a little swell. He tells me they don't have any swell in Puget Sound. He showed off his reentry skills twice, he has it down. I tell him we'll hang close (50') until/if he gets comfortable.
We fish a little bit, nothing but gophers. He tells me he is good to go and we can move out.
We begin heading to deeper water and have passed through the paddies and are in 74' of water looking for some deeper kelp or structure.
I hear him ask me if I have a destination in mind. I am about 20' ahead of him so I turned around to answer him. When I looked back I hear a loud thump and see my kayak, my brother in law, and various items on the deck flying up into the air. All being pushed upward by about 3 1/2' of shark head. It was not a huge shark by any means, but when it launches a 6'4" guy 4-5' into the air with his kayak, its big enough.
The reentry lessons have paid off, because he was back on top of the kayak before I finished turning around. He is shaken up but otherwise fine. I told him numerous times that morning, if he wasn't comfortable, let me know and we'll head in. While I am doing an inventory on limbs, I see the holes that are now in the bottom of my buddy kayak. This is the point he tells me. I'm not comfortable anymore, I'd like to head back in. He wants me to gather up his tackle box and water bottle then rethinks his position (belly down on an upside down kayak in open water).
He transfers over onto my kayak, we flip the other over, pull up the tethered items and start for the beach. Fortunately we were more or less 1 mile out and just north of the landing. It was about a forty-five minute paddle back in. I was glad for once to be in the beast(a Fish and Dive). Quite a work out for sure, we had the beast maxxed out. Has any one ever tried to land an overloaded kayak in the surf with two big guys on board? It was low tide and the swell had dropped to 4' or less so the last reentry of the day was clean and except for the rubber legs and fatigue all went smooth. My kayak may be up for sale to cover my hospital bills since my sister in laws, three his sisters and one his wife may beat me violently about the head and face at dinner tonight. I was already looking for another kayak, now I have another reason. I don't have to look for another brother in law though so it is of course all good. I would trade a kayak, paddle, and some assorted tackle any day for a positive outcome to a scary situation like this. PS Ryan, you can take a dump on your kayak without making a mess of your kayak. Your shorts...another story indeed!
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/Coachscott1/70e0e007-877d-4987-a3ec-8f32704884af.jpg (http://s36.photobucket.com/user/Coachscott1/media/70e0e007-877d-4987-a3ec-8f32704884af.jpg.html)
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/Coachscott1/9d677a75-c3de-4757-9a23-bac7c430da24.jpg (http://s36.photobucket.com/user/Coachscott1/media/9d677a75-c3de-4757-9a23-bac7c430da24.jpg.html)
Myself and my brother in law paddle out, he is having a little trouble adjusting to sea kayaking with a little swell. He tells me they don't have any swell in Puget Sound. He showed off his reentry skills twice, he has it down. I tell him we'll hang close (50') until/if he gets comfortable.
We fish a little bit, nothing but gophers. He tells me he is good to go and we can move out.
We begin heading to deeper water and have passed through the paddies and are in 74' of water looking for some deeper kelp or structure.
I hear him ask me if I have a destination in mind. I am about 20' ahead of him so I turned around to answer him. When I looked back I hear a loud thump and see my kayak, my brother in law, and various items on the deck flying up into the air. All being pushed upward by about 3 1/2' of shark head. It was not a huge shark by any means, but when it launches a 6'4" guy 4-5' into the air with his kayak, its big enough.
The reentry lessons have paid off, because he was back on top of the kayak before I finished turning around. He is shaken up but otherwise fine. I told him numerous times that morning, if he wasn't comfortable, let me know and we'll head in. While I am doing an inventory on limbs, I see the holes that are now in the bottom of my buddy kayak. This is the point he tells me. I'm not comfortable anymore, I'd like to head back in. He wants me to gather up his tackle box and water bottle then rethinks his position (belly down on an upside down kayak in open water).
He transfers over onto my kayak, we flip the other over, pull up the tethered items and start for the beach. Fortunately we were more or less 1 mile out and just north of the landing. It was about a forty-five minute paddle back in. I was glad for once to be in the beast(a Fish and Dive). Quite a work out for sure, we had the beast maxxed out. Has any one ever tried to land an overloaded kayak in the surf with two big guys on board? It was low tide and the swell had dropped to 4' or less so the last reentry of the day was clean and except for the rubber legs and fatigue all went smooth. My kayak may be up for sale to cover my hospital bills since my sister in laws, three his sisters and one his wife may beat me violently about the head and face at dinner tonight. I was already looking for another kayak, now I have another reason. I don't have to look for another brother in law though so it is of course all good. I would trade a kayak, paddle, and some assorted tackle any day for a positive outcome to a scary situation like this. PS Ryan, you can take a dump on your kayak without making a mess of your kayak. Your shorts...another story indeed!
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/Coachscott1/70e0e007-877d-4987-a3ec-8f32704884af.jpg (http://s36.photobucket.com/user/Coachscott1/media/70e0e007-877d-4987-a3ec-8f32704884af.jpg.html)
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e43/Coachscott1/9d677a75-c3de-4757-9a23-bac7c430da24.jpg (http://s36.photobucket.com/user/Coachscott1/media/9d677a75-c3de-4757-9a23-bac7c430da24.jpg.html)