Two Great Whites, a kayak … and a very lucky paddler!

We, like many others on 1^st April, were suitably fooled by stories that we read in the news that day. And the story of how Gonubian Kelly Janse van Rensburg had a ‘too close for comfort’ encounter with a Great White shark at Yellowsands recently was no different – we were left thinking that this too was another fabricated tale…

…that is, until this week, when we discovered that actually, Kelly Janse van Rensburg really was in seriously close proximity to not one, but two Great Whites a week or so ago. We chatted to Kelly about the incident and how it hasn’t deterred him from the water just yet.

Relaying his experience to us, Kelly sounds pretty calm but admits that he was absolutely terrified at the time. Perfectly understandable when you are watching the every move of a three-metre long Great White, wondering if that very moment would be your last.

A keen fisherman, Kelly is no stranger to the ocean and its inhabitants, but this was something different altogether. Kelly had gone out fishing on his kayak on the morning of Saturday 28^th March with his friend, Hylton Lewis, at Yellowsands. They paddled out to roughly 800 metres from shore, splitting up at that point but still in sight of one another.

Kelly got himself settled, draping his legs over the kayak and into the water when he spotted a fin about 500m away from him. Panic setting in but adrenalin pumping he grabbed his camera and started clicking away, observing the shark until he realised it was coming straight for him, and fast. Disappearing below the water several metres from the kayak, Kelly froze, not quite anticipating the shark’s next move and then felt himself being swung around in the boat as it came up and bit the tail end of his kayak.

Despite his understandable panic coupled with attempts to keep his balance, Kelly managed to bang the shark on the head with his paddle but with little to no effect. Disappearing and then reappearing several times over the next 30 minutes, Kelly was absolutely terrified and made repeated attempts to paddle to shore. Every time he did this, the shark came in closer, swimming in figure of eight circles around him and at one point even bumping and lifting him and the kayak with its back.

Kelly soon realised that his best option was to sit tight as every time he made for the shore, the shark got excited by the paddling noise. He says that even though he was far from relaxed, he remained still until it was safe to move to shore. The Great White on the other hand, seemed not to be showing any aggression but was rather calm in its movements.

During the shark’s quieter moments, Kelly had managed to convey a warning to his friend Hylton who had paddled back to join him and together they made for shore as quickly as they could, but not before spotting a second fin coming towards them from another direction.

Paddling because their lives depended on it, Kelly and Hylton made it to shore unscathed (physically, at least!) and possibly in record time. Kelly then assessed the damage to his kayak and found several 3mm-deep teeth gouges on its top and bottom.

This was a very close encounter for Kelly that day but a lucky escape from a situation that could have been fatal, had he outwardly panicked and reacted differently. He tells us that after getting home and relaying the tale of terror to his wife, she suggested that he look into getting a shark shield, a leash which sends out electronic pulses, keeping the marine world at bay. Kelly says that although he has investigated the shields, their purpose does seem to defeat the object of him fishing in the first place!

Kelly has been out on the kayak a couple of times since the incident, undeterred by his close encounter. For his friend Hylton, this wasn’t the first time he had experienced such an incident – he had a similar encounter with another Great White while fishing off his kayak in Chintsa West in January this year.

A shark expert has since commented on the Yellowsands incident saying that it is possible the Great White was swimming past the kayak and was attracted to the smell of the bait. He suggests that the shark was just being inquisitive and probably “mouthed” the kayak to see if it was edible, pointing out that if it had been aggressive, it could have easily bumped him off the boat or bitten it in half.

Take a look at Kelly’s video of the Great White that day, when it was still far away enough to safely film. For sensitive viewers, we have edited the video and removed all audio that understandably tended to run along the lines of …

Oh $&#!$&?^#@#-&$!@#!!!!!              –  Kelly Janse van Rensburg