kayaker Mr Szulc, 41, has a lot to be grateful for after a close encounter with a great white at a popular US Cape Cod resort.
Walter Szulc was paddling near a Cape Cod beach at the weekend when he saw the shark’s dorsal fin just behind him. He said he said he “paddled very fast” to shore in the eastern Massachusetts holiday spot. Experts say the ocean predator was probably drawn by an increased local population of one of its primary food sources , seals.
“I saw the fin out of the water. I looked down and saw the body and realised that part of the shark was underneath me, and I just proceeded to paddle,” Mr Szulc told the Associated Press news agency on Monday.
Mr Szulc arrived with his family at Nauset Beach in Orleans on Saturday, said it had been his first time kayaking in the ocean. His teenage daughter had mentioned recent local shark sightings, he added, although he did not expect to see one of the feared predators at such close quarters himself.
The beach reopened on Sunday after local officials said there had been no more shark sightings, authorities closed on Saturday after Mr Szulc’s brush with the shark, about 45 metres (150ft) from shore.
“There have been reports of sharks in the past, but usually they are farther out, not this close to the bathing beach,” said town beach director Lee Miller.
