Posted: 06/27/2013 11:39 am EDT
A kayaker is thanking his lucky stars after surviving a terrifying shark attack that happened while paddling off a California beach Tuesday.
Micah Flansburg was fishing with his father-in-law about 100 yards from shore in Pacifica, near San Francisco, Calif., when what may have been great white shark attacked the craft from behind, local ABC affiliate KGO reports.
“As I’m looking back, trying to figure out what the hell is going on, he came up straight underneath me…and the whole kayak was probably lifted out of the water,” Flansburg told CBS affiliate KPIX 5. “And as it grabbed a hold of me, it started shaking the boat front to back. And it wouldn’t let go.”
Flansburg said the scariest part of the roughly 10-second attack may have been when the shark eventually let go, only to circle back.
‘I thought he was going to come and take another bite, right where my legs were,” said Flansburg, who also showed the station the teeth marks the creature left in his kayak.
Although officials have yet to confirm the shark was a great white, Flansburg told NBC Bay Area that he recognized the species immediately.
“It was, it looked just like the Discovery Channel,” Flansburg said. “Shark’s eyes were rolled up in the back of his head. I saw his gums and all his fangs bared. His whole head was halfway out of the water.”
Although the kayaker can’t remember what exactly he said during attack, his father-in-law, Ross Webber, does.
“Yeah, it was a lot if religious stuff, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!'” Webber told KGO. “He was riding like a bull and keeping his balance and I was like, ‘Go for it! Don’t fall in the water!'”
Great white sharks rarely attack people; they prefer to eat seals and sea lions, the San Francisco Chronicle notes. However, the sharks are found more frequently along the Bay Area coast in summer and fall.
ORIGINAL SOURCE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/27/pacifica-shark-attack-great-white-kayaker_n_3510598.html
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