Posted on 09/07/2020 8:07:12 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
Fwiw, the shallowest water that I know that a shark took someone was a 9YO boy, who was taken in water about a FOOT deep, east of Galveston Island. - His father was allowing the child to wade, while he set up folding chairs, when the heard a scream. = The child disappeared in a huge splash & was never seen again. Just some blood in the water.
My GUESS is a BULL SHARK.
Yours, TMN78247
FYI, I am “looking at buying” a 22.5 foot deep/wide aluminum V-bottom runabout with a 140HP MERCRUISER & OD from the early 1970s.
The lady whose late husband owned it, is looking for the Texas title & offered it to me for 600.oo cash.
(It runs OK but needs the seat upholstery replaced.)
Yours, TMN78247
And get a good trailer for it. -Tom
I thought it was just me. When I read about those women who couldn’t get back in their kayaks after being knocked out by a large shark, I could see that as a problem.
I am no spring chicken, and when I purchased my own kayak for the first time, I thought I would take it over to a friend’s swimming pool and try to get in and out of it in water over my head, fully clothed, with boots, etc.
Man. It was damned hard for me. I was able to do it, but...I found it to be pretty strenuous and not easy, and my heart was pounding. (if I were knocked out of my kayak by one of those sharks, I’ll bet my heart would be pounding too...and the water would be warm, and probably smell like a baby diaper, too. I would have probably found a way back into the kayak faster, too.)
A couple of years back, I went kayaking with a bunch of guys out to an island off the coast of Maine (Marks Island, off Hermit Island near Bath) maybe a mile or two out. Weather was nice, early to mid September, so the water wasn’t bad. There were about six of us. Well, we were several hundred yards off the island, and I wasn’t paying attention because it was such a nice day, that I tipped my kayak. Well, I couldn’t get back in, and determined I was going to have to side stroke to the island, which I did, one hand holding the bow line of the kayak, one arm doing the side stroke.
On the way back, the wind had picked up, the seas were choppier and a bit more confused coming from different directions as we went between a channel on the way in, and I’ll tell ya, I didn’t want to go back in the water that far from shore, so I was concentrating and gritting my teeth.
Heh, after reading this article, I thought I should see what is out there on YouTube for getting in and out of your kayak in deep water, and the first five or ten all showed people in these open kayaks doing it! I thought “What the hell? This does me no good...” and then the first one that showed the sit-inside kayak like I have said “Don’t fall out of your kayak!”
Okay, so I read on...
“Have your friend in his or her kayak...”
Then...”Unless you really know what you are doing, don’t take a sit-inside kayak into water deeper than you can stand in...”
Okay. I get the part about a friend in a kayak and all, shouldn’t go out alone and all that...
So. I now have a “Yum Yum Yellow” kayak which sharks seem to think is a meat flavored yellow popsicle, I can’t take my kayak into water over my waist, and I better have a friend with me...
It’s ON a 26 foot/decent tandem-wheel KINGFISH (made in San Antonio) trailer, which desperately needs new carpet on the runners, 2 new rollers & a re-paint.
Yours, TMN78247
It’s ON a 26 foot/decent tandem-wheel KINGFISH (made in San Antonio) trailer, which desperately needs new carpet on the runners, 2 new rollers & a re-paint.
Yours, TMN78247
When I got my first inboard boat, my mentor had me get in the water and try to get back into the boat.
I couldn't do it, so he spliced a rope onto my port side back cleat that could not be removed. Then he made a loop into the water and adjusted it on the starboard side cleat; so I could swim to the back of the boat put my feet in the loop and stand up lean forward and get into the boat.
When the proper length of the line to the starboard cleat was determined he marked the line; so if I fell overboard I could swim to the boat; pull the line spliced into the port cleat overboard; move to the starboard side and cleat the rope at the mark and then stand in the loop and get back into the boat. -Tom
Indeed! That is a great solution...:)
When I was 10, I was on the Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan, and I wanted to learn how to sail. Being a dependent on the base in those days was great, because they had all kinds of things you could do that were either free or cheap, and I could sign up for courses.
One of the most intimidating thing for me for getting qualified was learning how to right the little dinghies they had us sailing in, which was harder because they were all wood with no flotation stuff in them, and they filled with water.
I really struggled with that, but I had to pass that part of the test before I could check out a boat and go out on my own.
I sure do miss sailing.
Most Lifeguards are teenagers who are back at school after labor day.
Some of the Cape Cod beaches have a reduced life guard presence after Labor Day.
This shark alert below is from today. -Tom
MA Sharks Shark @MA_Sharks SHARK ALERT !! Newcomb Hollow, Wellfleet is closed to swimming until 12 Noon following a confirmed sighting by lifeguards. 11:15 AM · Sep 10, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
SMART SOLUTION to a LIFE-threatening problem.
Fwiw, the BIG runabout that I’m buying has a Boarding ladder, that folds down to the surface, on the port side of the stern.
Yours, TMN78247
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