Puetz wrote:
... ok, I'll keep them short:
Tiger Shark, kiting along 3.5km upwind of launch spot and about 200m out from a creek mouth. shark lazily on top of the water when I kited over it, clipping the tail fin. Both of us sh!t ourselves and parted ways. It was clearly a tiger shark, maybe 10 -12 foot. The area is know for sharks.
Hammer head shark, same as above only when I clipped it, it turned and I clipped the dorsal fin too, lucky I was on my twin tip and had plenty of wind and power.
Shovel Nose shark, clipped it with my Sector fins when coming in at end of session, in the shallows where they hang out. Here is a video where my son brushed up against one:
https://vimeo.com/52364121
Green turtle: flying upwind on sector, cutting really close to some rocks when turtle popped his head up, no time to change direction I missed him by milimeters, still not sure how I missed him.
Leatherback Turtle: this was a huge one and really slow to react. On sector again and not looking for it, amost hit it but being big, I saw it in time to point board down wind. When we made eye contact I'm sure it had a scared face just like me.
Dugong: These will surface slowly and same as other animals, I fly up to it before each other know what the hell is going on. There was once a pair of them and I think they were mating. Side note: back when I was windsurfing, I hit a Dugong at full speed and the huge fin cut it. Found the thing dead on the beach a few days later, so sorry about that one
Stingray: flying along in a lagoon with my twin tip, sudden ray was just under me and it was racing off under me but happen to go the same direction as I was travelling. While doing mach 9, just as I noticed that it was getting too shallow, roughly 2 inches of water I realized I should gybe. No sooner had I thought it and the damn stingray turned on me and thrashed around trying to stab the board or worse, me. Tail and barb smashing the nose of my board. Madly did a slide turn and headed away, sh!t scared face on me again. Lagoon know for lots of big stingrays by the way.
Eagle rays: I just snapped 2 front lines on kite and was grabbing kite and walking back in waist deep water. Saw a bunch of moving shadows up ahead of me that got me nervous so I reacted by jamming my twin tip into the water and putting it on the ground just infront of my legs when bang,,, the bunch of shadows where eagle rays racing around and one of them hit the board instead of me. Not sure what would have happened had I not put the board infront of me, the other rays flew around me.
Manta ray: kiting along in slow low winds when I kited over it, water was clean and it was clear enough to see it nicely.
Flying fish: kiting along in good winds with my new sunnies on. Saw a flash of white but didn't react thinking it was a piece of chop I just saw. Bang, it hit my shades which flung my head back to see the damn fish flying way from me. It hit square in my left eye would have been had I not been using my new sunnies.
Still got more stories but I'm sure your getting bored by now. Want more, I got more?
We got alot of sea life around us here in the tropics, and most fish life is around a reef 2 and a bit kilometers from our usual launch spot.
cheers for now,
Robbie
