I would keep surfing. Seriously. Dude, if I sh1t my fullsuit every time a seal breached less than 30 yards from me, I'd have a big rubber suit full of sh1t. Last week, me and 2 buddies were the only guys out in 2'-4' offshore conditions next to our monstrous jetty. I paddled out and a nice left formed outside and was heading my way. At that very moment, 4 seals breached out past their chests and looked directly at me from about 30 yards away. I turned around and started paddling for the left. As I got up and started riding, 2 on my left were riding next to me while 1 on my right started leaping out of the wave face. They were no more than 5-10 feet away from me. Yeah, it made me a little nervous. But nothing happened, so I paddled back out. The same 4 kept popping up next to me and my buddies throughout the session. They said there was nothing to worry about, because the 4 were females. They said if a bull showed up, it would be time to clear the water. I worry more about the north jetty. It's like a gigantic rookery over there. Sharky. EDIT: I guess if you were surfing Ano Nuevo or some other sharky a$$ NorCal reef, I'd probably might sh1t I guess lol
I guess I might be concerned a big aggressive shark might be chasing it. But your pretty far out there, so I guess I would catch the next good wave in.
I was born and raised SoCal. If I'd have seen one single seal in the water during the 80's, I'd have freaked. Up here, you get used to it. They're actually pretty friendly critters, obviously very curious and playful. I read that some guy up here further north near Canada got bit by a seal about 10 years ago, but that's about it. But there's a lot of 'em up here, and nobody seems to ever be bothered by seals, much less attacked by them. I admit that I get nervous when they bark at me from close distance. I figure that either they're pissed, or they're trying to warn me about something. I'd probably be more worried if I saw them hauling arse out of the water and leaping onto the jetty or beach...like those Shark Week videos we've all grown to love.
I had seals all around me at coast guard beach, cape cod! Thought I was having a discovery channel moment until Whitey showed up and I shatt my suite! Have a cool pic which I've posted before!
Bruce@katecod/shark. 2 pics,one is 2 surfers walking through the blood trail! The other is a pectoral fin while it was rolling on the seal! I was too close for that shatt! Blood everywhere from large horse head seal! Average 600lbs! https://flic.kr/p/fSjwQz
