Few kayak anglers will dip a paddle in the ocean without first wondering if a shark prowls nearby. Some sharks, such as nurse sharks, are relatively harmless, but a two-ton great white could eat you for breakfast. Here are some of the competition’s secrets.
The Secret Life of Sharks
- Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, were inspirations for the fictional town of Amity Island in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 thriller Jaws. The movie instilled a generation of swimmers and anglers with an irrational fear of the water. In the last 76 years, there has only been one confirmed great white shark attack in this area.
- Great white sharks eat 11 tons of food per year; humans eat a half-ton of food per year. Sharks continually shed their teeth, losing up to 35,000 in a lifetime. A great white shark can generate up to 40,000 pounds of pressure when it bites down, enough force to take a chunk out of a plastic kayak.
- Shark Week, Discovery Channel’s man-eater marathon, first broadcast in 1987. It is the longest-running cable television programming event in history and is broadcast in 72 countries.
- The ‘80s hair band, Great White, got its name when a fan yelled out “There goes Great White” at one of the band’s first concerts. The fan was commenting on lead singer Mark Kendall’s white hair, white guitar, white jumpsuit and matching Capezio shoes.
- Aztec fishermen attached strings of chili peppers to their canoes to keep sharks away. While there is no scientific evidence that this works, we’re sure the sharks appreciated the seasoning.
- Of the 53 verified shark attacks in America last year, 24 occurred off the coast of Florida. Two deaths were reported in Hawaii. Half of the victims were surfing, boogie-boarding, kite-surfing or standup paddleboarding. Kayakers accounted for only two of the attacks.
The author gets into her work. | Feature photo: Lisa Densmore Ballard
