Shark attacks Pacifica kayaker with ‘pink gums and his teeth bared’

Micah Flansburg was fishing off the coast of Pacifica State Beach on Tuesday afternoon when the bottom of his kayak suddenly jolted.

“I had my paddle on my lap, and my fishing pole and a bottle of home brew,” he told San Francisco television station KGO. “The next thing I know, every single thing I had went flying in the air.”

It was a shark -- one Flansburg guessed was a 10-foot juvenile great white.

“The shark came and it hit the bottom of the boat, lifted the boat up and grabbed ahold of it and just started shaking the whole boat,” Flansburg said. “And I’m just hanging on to this thing.”

Ross Webber, who was in another kayak about 10 feet away, watched as his son-in-law tried to stay in the boat.

“He was riding like a bull and keeping his balance,” Webber told KGO. “And I was like, ‘Go for it! Don’t fall in the water!’”

Flansburg guessed the battle lasted about 10 seconds before the shark let go. Pacifica police said the fish briefly circled the kayak before swimming away.

Authorities noted the attack “occurred outside of the area where surfers and swimmers frequent” the beach -- Flansburg told KGO he was about 100 yards offshore -- but said signs would be posted “in a precautionary measure.”

Flansburg called the incident “intense.”

“It was just like the Discovery Channel,” he told KGO, “where you see the eyes roll to the back of the head and the pink gums and his teeth bared.”

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