(Horrifying moment. Photo by Sun Nigeria)
Two paddle boarders had a hair-raising encounter with a great white shark off the Pacific coast of Santa Barbara, California ironically after setting out specifically to find it.
Footage captured the moment the predator closed in on Robert Kagan and Kayla Ross as they frantically paddled back toward shore.
The incident occurred during Father’s Day weekend while the pair were visiting family in the area.
Having heard reports of a shark sighting nearby, the two eagerly headed out onto the water to locate it, with an uncle deploying a drone to help guide them toward it.
After spending some time searching without success, they turned back toward land believing they had missed it only to discover the shark had been trailing them the whole time.
“We paddled pretty far out,” Kayla recalled. “He [Robert] said that he saw something and that we had to head back to shore right now.
But I didn’t see it because I was just looking forward, paddling. So I didn’t know what he saw, how big it was, so we just went straight back. But that was a little nerve-racking.”
Robert described feeling a rush of adrenaline and excitement during the outing, while acknowledging the risk they had taken.
“There’s a moment it becomes real, especially when I saw the shark,” he said.
Far from being deterred, Kayla who ventured out twice during the search said she would do it again and hopes to encounter an even larger shark next time.
The episode comes weeks after a separate and more harrowing incident in California, in which a surfer was seriously injured in a shark attack.
The 39-year-old victim, whose attacker was reportedly visible from the shoreline, sustained injuries to both legs and was rushed to hospital. Witnesses said the shark appeared to return for a second strike.
