wiltonh - 12-25-2009 at 10:09 AM
We are camped at La Ventana and sailing off the camp beach.
Last week I decided to do an upwind so I left the camp and went North to visit friends who have a place near Mr Bill's. They were not home so I headed
back down wind and came to two large fishing boats that were moored about a half mile
from the beach. I jibed by the second one and was headed out when something jumped up right in front of me. It was probably less than 6 feet in front
of the board and its head was about boom height. It had its mouth open which
showed about 12 inches of teeth on each side. The larger ones near the back were an inch long and the front ones were about 3/8 of an inch long.
My first reaction was to use my back foot to turn the board so that I would not hit it head on. I turned it so hard that the board spun out and I was
headed directly towards the animal. The nose of the board missed the animal by a few
inches so I pulled my rear end in as far as I could and it went by with about 2 inches to spare. It had doubled over by this time and its head was
almost back in the water.
It took me a few minutes to understand what had happened. I believe it was a sea lion and it was hunting a fish that was near the surface. It missed
so that it came out of the water with its mouth open and probably did not realize I was there.
As it was, I missed it by a few inches and everything worked out okay.
Wilton
[Edited on 12-25-2009 by wiltonh]
DENNIS - 12-25-2009 at 10:27 AM
You sure that wasn't MrBill out gathering breakfast? [jes kiddin, Bill]
woody with a view - 12-25-2009 at 10:47 AM
AKA
chupacabradelagua