Two paddleboarders had a close encounter with an unwelcome visitor Sunday when drone footage captured a great white shark following them off the coast of Santa Barbara.
The pair, who were in the area visiting family over Father’s Day weekend, had heard reports of a shark sighting and set out on the water hoping to spot it.
An uncle of one of the paddleboarders launched a drone to help track the shark from above, but the two eventually headed back toward shore believing they had missed their chance.
“The feeling is a mix of adrenaline and just this excitement mixed with this –– it’s a big deal. Like probably shouldn’t be doing that. There’s a moment it becomes real, especially when I saw the shark,” Robert Kagan, one of the paddleboarders, told ABC.
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“As soon as I saw the shark I started telling Kayla (Ross) ….We were terrified going back to shore,” he added.
Kayla Ross said she did not immediately see what Kagan had spotted and focused on paddling back. “He said that he saw something… 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,” she said.
The sighting follows a similar encounter earlier in June, when a large shark was seen swimming near a surfer off the coast of Aptos, California.
Shark sightings have become more frequent along California beaches, with experts warning of a potentially “sharky summer” tied to unusually warm conditions and the beginning of the El Niño cycle.
