A kayaker had a run in with a great white shark off the California coast on Memorial Day.
Michael Thalheimer, Jr., 40, headed out in the waters of Shelter Cove in Humboldt County around 6:15 a.m. May 25 in his peddle-powered kayak.
“I had caught two small ling cod and then caught a large one about 36 inches or so,” he told the North Coast Journal. “I put it on my fish clip—I cut through the gills and it pumps all the blood out–as soon as I did that, it wasn’t 30 seconds after, that [the shark] attacked.”
Thalheimer identified the shark as a great white between 16 and 18 feet long.
“All of a sudden, [the shark] was attached to the side of my kayak. I saw a nose and an eyeball with no soul,” he said. “That animal doesn’t give a sh*t . . . [the shark bit] right in the middle of the kayak directly next to my knee and thigh, about 6 inches away.”
Thalheimer said he instinctively struck back. “I slapped the thing as hard as I could on the end of its nose. The shark instantly let go. As it started to turn, it whipped its tail real hard and hit the kayak,” he said. Thalheimer believes it may have been confused or scared after getting hit in the nose and swam away.
He began peddling back to shore but realized the shark had bitten through the rope holding his paddle. He quickly circled around and picked up the floating paddle and headed back toward shore.
About halfway back to the harbor his yellow kayak was beginning to sink. He quickly dialed 911 and said he was worried about capsizing and then was hit by a wave and capsized. He lost his phone, but quickly focused on rolling his kayak over.
Unfortunately, every time he would enter the boat, it would roll over. He tried lying on top of the overturned boat, but eventually had to enter the water.
“I got off and held onto the side of it . . . I was in the water maybe 15 minutes . . . it never left my mind the whole time that [the shark] might be going to come back,” he said. “I had a freshly-killed fish dangling around my feet because it was clipped to my kayak . . . I kept telling myself, Be calm. Panic is not going to do any good.”
He heard rescuers speaking over his handheld radio clipped to his life vest and was eventually picked up by local fisherman.
The event left him in a state of shock. “I was definitely cold [but] I was more shook than anything,” he explained. “I pretty much was uncontrollably shaking for half an hour or so [after the attack].”
He is very thankful for all those involved in his rescue, but is kicking himself for going out alone.
Earlier this month a surfer was killed by a great white shark about 300 miles to the south in Santa Cruz.
Both locations have been marked on the 2020 Shark Attack Map.
