Moments..............
 

What's the scariest thing you've experienced while kayaking?


Me.......I actually have two that happened back-to-back weekends, the first was while fishing a tournament at LJ. As I was getting ready to land one of the waves turned my PA 14 sideways, the kayak rolled but my body rolled toward the beach, the kayak flipped and landed on top of me pinning me down in what was probably no more than two feet of water. I tried to slide out from under the kayak but my PFD was getting caught on something, I’m assuming it was the chair. It took no more than a second or two for me to decide to slide out of my PFD, that worked and before you know I was able to come up from under the kayak. The whole thing lasted no more than a few seconds but it felt like a few minutes.

Unfortunately, the same thing happened the following weekend at San Onofre. However, this time I knew exactly what to do and was out and up from under my kayak in no time.

Glad you're okay...

A very persistent group of hammerheads with a big one in the mix.
http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/a...1&d=1663895596

Posted on here some 15 years ago but still has changed my choice of snacks on the water:

Then came the experience that I was not prepared for, By around 7:00 the fog was still pretty bad but not at it's worst. I decided to have some breakfast which today was going to consist of a coke, a doughnut and a Snickers bar. As usual, I was wolfing this down between casts. I took a bite from the snickers bar and somehow, part of it went down the wrong pipe, and I started to choke. I could not draw a breath, literally to save my life. It was panic city for me. My mind raced through the options that I had. VHF! Nope, I cant talk. Whistle!, Nope can't blow it. Wave my paddle back and forth to try to get someones attention! Nope, I was sure that no one was within 100 ft of me and beyond that it was hopeless. Self induced Heimlich Maneuver! Well maybe, but I'm wearing my PFD with zippers and buckles. I came to the point of believing that "This is it. This is how it will end". I could hear friends and family saying " Well at least he died doing what he loved". Well, thankfully what was blocking my airway was probably a piece of chocolate, and probably started to melt because I was slowly able to get some air into my lungs at least cough a little bit, which made it easier to draw the next breath. If this whole episode lasted a minute, it would surprise me, but it felt like an eternity. Looks like I have to start taking my home tracheotomy kit along with me on my trips.

Thanks to Tony(RIP), It looks like your La Jolla mishap has been eternalized... jump to 4:38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR0OdHR3S2w

That would have sucked to have something that unexpected end it all. Glad your still here. Love your Baja posts.

BTW.............I won that tournament.:D

Last July I was off LJ point maybe 1/2 a mile in front of the condo, I saw something subsurface pushing a bit of water and chucked a stick bait at it thinking it could be yellows. As I reeled in, a fin popped up. I'm thinking cool I'm about to hook a baby mako but the fin kept getting bigger I quickly got my lure clear as soon as I realized how big it could be and a second later a white shark that was bigger than my outback maybe up to 15 feet slid broadside along my kayak in the clear water and out behind me. I started yelling for my buddies "shark! giant fucking shark!" they were too far ahead to help if anything happened. I calmed my self and said if it was gonna strike it would have and just decided to sit and wait and not move and give it a reason. A few seconds late I hear movement behind me, it was the massive tail of this shark stirring the surface as it turned and took off in the opposite direction.

At this point I was shook, but waited 30 seconds to make sure it had left and then went to catch up with my buddies who had all grouped up ahead. As I pedaled towards them, white water exploded in front of me and I just started screaming like I was about to be eaten in Jurassic Park. It was just a seal haha. I checked my pants and caught up to the group. As I was telling them what happened, a large splash came up behind me and I nearly lost my shit again. This time a dolphin. About 30 minutes later and with a bit of perspective, I was back to fishing and we stayed out for a few more hours.

I realized, that shark wasn't looking for me and if it were, I'd never see it coming because it would breach attack. Still had me going for a bit and one day, I just may get hit but there's really not much I can do about it.

RIP TONY, MAKOBOB,, those were the golden days :cheers1:

Awesome! :cheers1:

Agree. Indeed golden years that they were among the top participants on this forum. :cheers1:

I have had numerous moments. Many shark interaction encounters. Flipped out in 250ft on a solo trip losing my VHF and Cell phone, I opted to activate the Personal Locator Beacon and within 20 minutes a USCG Helo flew by not seeing me. Kayak was unrecoverably flooded. Luckily the wind and drift set me back on the beach with the kayak but most of my gear was lost. The most humbling experience was when a huge Hammerhead swam up out of the depths to check me out. This fish had a 3ft tall dorsal fin. It was longer than the kayak, but what impressed the most was the girth. That shark was bigger around than the kayak with me included in the chair. The shark was cautious and stayed just outside of poking range, but could have easily messed me up.

A moment that comes to mind.....
 

Having to hand-grab a 15lb mako shark, to get my rapala magnum deep diver back. "I had no net" At 15lbs and a full set of razor sharp teeth the mouth was big enough your hand could fit in. They are strong It skuirmed back and forth making it tough to get treble hooks out.
Boy when I tossed it back in the water it took off like a bullet.

I got a 40 pounder next to my kayak and I let him keep my rapala.

Tense moments.....
 

Indeed

Two incidents here...

First, was out in the PA17 about 200 yards off the beach, swells were maybe three to four feet, doable. I was in a deeper area so they faded as they came over a reef further out. Except one... Ever surf in a PA17? Kayak swamped, waves kept going over me and a passenger. I pulled the rip cord on the guests life jacket but somewhere along the line mine went bye bye. After about half an hour we got close to the beach and were bombarded by waves. Life guards finally showed up and dragged us and the kayak up on the beach where we got warmed up. The guest never went out again, don't know why.

Second, was fishing along the beach playing with the leopard sharks, hooked up on a heavy one that barely moved. saw it off about 75 feet in dirty water and it wasn't a leopard, kind of grey. It sank back down. Thinking I had a soupfin or something, I continued to bring it to the kayak. It cruised under the kayak, still couldn't see it, thought I was winning the fight when it popped up under my kayak. I froze, swimming out from under my kayak was a huge GW, as long as my PA14, I could have pet it. I froze, the darn thing didn't even know it was hooked as it nonchalantly cruise out in front of me. Then it realized it was hooked and with a swish of the tail took off breaking my line like it wasn't there. I have to say, those things are massive up close, vids don't do it justice. I returned to the harbor to change my pants.

The GW stayed in the area for several months, came around to check me out nearly every time I went out, I named it Bob. It has since moved on.

That would have made some great video footage......
 

Glad you made it safe after flipping over in shark infested water's

Thanks, but the surfing wasn't shark infested... Just cold.

Not really scary cause I was 24 or so at the time.. O' dark thirty an hour before greyligh we get to deer creek and it sounded like constand thunder.. 6 foot shore pound mabe 3/4's of a second interval.. Mama didnt raise no bitch was the war cry,, two complete washes in the machine 30 minutes, second flip later I couldnt overturn the kayak cause putting pressure on my knee felt like a knife impaling it.. tried to radio the guys outside the surfline to just head out as that was it for me but no luck with the waterlogged radio.. we hit it because the wsb were on and they later send a couple pictures of their bounty :D

Torn MCL.. luckily everything was tucked in the hatches so no yard sale but yeah,, lugged my shit up those stairs all on my own at sunrise..

talk about walk of shame to drive my self to Kaiser on a Sunday at 5am sandy and soaking.. have some other stories that may or may not include being too inxoicated, flipping while taking a piss and losing a brand new torium/saguro setup among other things that werent leashed or stored..:cheers1: talk about a horror story

balls were puckered here to for sure tho..:reel::the_finger:

thinking back I'm not too sure I loosened the drags