A shark bites a hole in a kayak, paddler safe

Guys, there is this piece of news about a man off coast of Australia, whose kayak was bitten by a shark. The man was not attacked and was rescued, so all is fine!!

The article is posted in many online outlets like:

news.sky.com/story/lucky-escape-as-shark...alian-coast-10823265

abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/m...alian-coast-46537307

etc

By the look of that piece and the length of 6.5 meters described in the text, this must have been a surf ski? If so, can anyone recognize the ski by the fragment displayed on the photo?

And another question, the article states: "Police said the 39-year-old man made an emergency phone call from his damaged water craft that was taking water after the attack on Sunday in Moreton Bay off the Queensland coast."

Are there sealed compartments in a ski/kayak that are waterproof? Otherwise, how come it didn't sink in a minute or two?

Thank God all is good with the man!

"Are there sealed compartments in a ski/kayak that are waterproof? "

IMHO, mostly it's a "one piece hollow" body, but maybe I am wrong. Except for the seat area in skinny elite boats I'd guess, where the opposite walls are that close together, that water takes longer to leak through from the half with the hole to the other half ...
If the intact side is raised due to water getting into the damaged half, the intact half will keep a contained air bubble (dep. on where the vent is) and thus still be able float for a while, I'd say.

www.surfski.info/forum/1-general/18840-s...s-surfski.html#27718 There are skis with hatches in the back and thus have bulkheads (in sea kayaks you have bulkheads anyway).
Bulkheads would also help when a rock was hit and/or the rudder broke off and thus m.b. even a part of the ski broke out (see Big O's incident with the rudder of a 560) ... they'd also increase stiffness, yep also weight though ...
Bulkheads are part of in take-apart skis obviously, but how many standard skis do have bulkheads?
I don't know actually but would also like to know.

PS: I have big respect for paddlers paddling with sharks under their butts.

It looks like an Epic Ultra from the construction. Not sure of the model. Kevlar-Nomex sandwich construction. Just the tail was taken off. Not many skis have that high cost of materials throughout.

The lesson leanrt for us all in this matter was that when doing a downwinder like these guys were doing at 4 Pm on a Sunday is that you must buddy up . If that had have occured this guy would have had someone to hitch a ride with back to shore rather than float about ( with a likely Bull Shark still around with a belly of Epic Ski) until the water police turned up
.

Epic Australia Facebook post states that Gavin was paddling his brand new Epic Ultra V12 when attacked. Kept afloat in Morton Bay, Queensland until rescued by the Water Police by blowing into the breather hole above the pedals/footboard. Looks like Epic are supplying him with a new V12. If true...great customer service.

Mick

This makes me grateful for the cold water we have in the PNW... shark repellant! All of the Epics that I have seen in the insides of have a fairly substantial foam beam that runs almost tip to tail - so there is some built in buoyancy in an event like this that would keep most paddlers afloat for a good stretch unless of course there was a follow up hit.

Epic are replacing the V12, but taking full price for replacement at $5000AUD.
Not Epics fault the shark attacked, and ski was damaged - just stating facts.

How do you hitch a ride back to shore on the back of a buddies elite ski?
I've never tried it, and I don't see how its possible..
(Unless you are fully in the water and holding on to the very pointy and slippery stern)

More than happy to be corrected. Has anyone done this?

@hamishglen, it can be done. If a person lies on the back of the ski and holds on to the waist of the paddler, you can make forward progress. Additionally the person on the back can spread their legs out to the side to use as outriggers for additional stability. Not sure if I'd want to do that with an aggressive shark in the area!

To quote "Not Epics fault the shark attacked, and ski was damaged - just stating facts."

Totally agree hamishglen, but the Facebook post by Epic Australia is extremely misleading as has been pointed out on other social media forums. From a legal perspective it would be advisable that Epic Australia edit the post.

Gavin has stated that Epic is going to give him a free pair of foot pads... very magnanimous of them....

Lol, and this is still a normal durable kayak, but imagine what would have been with the www.bestadvisers.co.uk/inflatable-kayakinflatable one . I'm wondering why the shark generally decided to grab a kayak, usually they are not aggressive, as far as I know. Maybe that`s some fake?

They aren't usually aggressive. I paddle in Cape Town in False Bay, which is famous for its Great White Sharks and if they were habitually aggressive there would be many more interactions between sharks and paddlers (and surfers).

But they have been observed to be inquisitive animals and when they investigate something (a floating clump of weed, a buoy or a surfer), they usually give it a feel with jaws capable of exerting pressures of several tons per square cm. And that usually involves a certain amount of damage.

I dealt with sharks only twice, the first was not very interesting, and the second was remembered for life. I'll tell you about the second one. My father and mother are divorced, but he often took me out for a summer somewhere. And that's how once we went on vacation to the Caribbean islands (not those that are 5-star resorts, they cost like tons of gold, but on a normal, populated island, there is not worse, believe) and the purpose of our trip was diving. And there I met a tiger shark, I did not believe that they were not carnivorous and was very surprised. In her poems, she is beautiful and very, very majestic. Therefore, I know so little about sharks) But with such shark would swim once more, divers told us we were lucky that we met it since they rarely come across in the open sea.

Cryder wrote: This makes me grateful for the cold water we have in the PNW... shark repellant!

Funny the little lies we all tell ourselves to put the though out of our heads The landlord loves cold water too.

One of the many things I love about a mountain lake is that there is nothing that will bite or eat me. I grew up on the ocean and have caught many sharks. They're everywhere. Although I've never been attacked I once was nearly capsized by a humongous loggerhead turtle.
I do know one thing, you sure can learn to remount faster when the higher food chain is lurking below.

Two shark attacks reported in Santa Barbara | The Tribune. tiny.iavian.net/i1qi

This is one of those rare occasions when you've got to be happy you were paddling a plastic boat in a sea kayaking setup :|