Rowing is one of the most adrenaline sports, and rowing fans themselves know how many adventures the average rower has while practising this hobby. Well, if we add an encounter with great white sharks to all that adrenaline, this hobby becomes even more dangerous! Two paddlers in Southern California had an unusual encounter with a great white shark very close to Sunset Beach in Orange County.
Courtney Hemerick and Joseph Truckles had a camera with them to capture this unusual encounter with a great white shark and then shared it on social media. Viewers’ comments varied widely. Some were surprised and rated the video positively, others were scared. In any case, the situation was very risky and these guys really crossed a line.
The normal reaction of anyone would be fear, trepidation, and the vast majority would immediately run away from that place. Courtney andJoseph, however, remained calm.
“I think the guys had the situation under control,” said Gregory Skomal, a senior marine fisheries scientist and shark expert at Massachusetts State.
Great white shark numbers have declined worldwide due to fishing and pollution, but in recent years their numbers have increased again because of laws to protect them.
Today, great white sharks are found mainly in sheltered bays near surf zones on both American coasts. Small white sharks usually grow up to 7 feet long, later they can grow up to 20 feet long. The average weight of a great white shark is 5,000 pounds. They feed mainly on other fish, seals and dolphins.
“The sharks in the video are probably watching the paddlers with an air of curiosity, but also with caution because they don’t know what they’re looking at,” Skomal says.
Young white sharks are generally not yet capable of attacking larger prey, while larger white sharks consider a surfboard to be prey and will not hesitate to attack and bite them.
Experts recommend not swimming or paddling near seal colonies because of the high likelihood of an encounter with a great white shark.
The sea is their home, you should enjoy it but also respect their privacy and not disturb their peace.