The great white shark encountered 45-year-old Adam Coca from Pinole while he was alone in the Ocean. It happened this past Saturday.
El Sobrante resident Chad Coca recounted this past weekend's harrowing survival encounter with a great white shark attack on his uncle's kayak.
"'We got to get over there. We're going to have to fight a great white guys' -- I yelled at my friends. 'Move in closer to my kayak, everybody stick together, we're going as a team.' Mentally, I think we're going to have to pull him out of the water and fight a great white off," said Chad Coca.
He heard his uncle's radio distress call while the group was on a morning fishing expedition on the ocean waters off the San Mateo County Coast, at Bean Hollow.
"When we arrived he had just gotten back on his kayak. The shark had already hit and it had pushed him in a circle and he was holding onto his kayak. It had pushed him a couple circles out in the middle of the water out there. So he was able to get on top if his kayak and he is seeing the shark biting the front," said Chad Coca.
Luckily the shark only bit into the kayak and a paddle. It also left some gashes in his sandals and booties, but amazingly just missed cutting into the flesh.
The group out on the water that day are members of the Northern California Kayak Anglers. They are fishermen who are well-aware of their surroundings.
"We know we're in shark territory and just north of Ano Nuevo. You know what's out there. But it's kind of the thing where the risk is worth the reward, or the reward worth the risk - however you want to say it," said Chad Coca.
The Northern California Kayak Anglers have reported about five encounters in the Bean Hollow area. There was one attack in 2007 and that person survived.
The group said in the future they will stay together in a group.
