Earlier this week, Connor Lyon was kayak fishing with a few friends just 500 yards off the coast of Gaviota State Park in Santa Barbara when he came face to face with the last thing any person perched in the ocean wants to see.
“I heard and felt this really intense impact, Lyon recalled.” Seconds later, a huge shark emerged and began thrashing in front of his kayak. Luckily, Lyon’s friends were quick to the scene. And after what felt like the longest minute of his life, Connor was brought aboard a nearby fishing boat. “I couldn’t believe that I had just gone face to face with the apex predator, and now I’m sitting on a boat 100 percent safe,” said Lyon.
By the large bite marks found on the bottom of Lyon’s kayak, it was estimated that the shark was a great white around 13 feet long. Why the shark attacked Lyon we may never know. Perhaps it was that “yum yum yellow” color Mick Fanning believed to be a contributing factor in his horrifying ordeal. But as frightening as an encounter like this can be, it’s not stopping us, or Connor, from getting back in the water.
