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A racing team slicing through the waters of Monterey Bay over Memorial Day weekend got the shock of a lifetime when an overexcited sea lion launched itself straight onto their outrigger canoe in a now-viral moment caught on camera.
The wild encounter unfolded during the Monterey Hoe Wa’a race on May 23, when the marine mammal suddenly burst from the water and landed directly on the narrow racing canoe packed with paddlers from Outrigger Santa Cruz.
“I just screamed my head off,” paddler Channing Baker, who was sitting in seat three, told KTVU on Wednesday. “At first I thought it was a shark.”
The chaotic moment was captured on a 360-degree camera loaned to the team by fellow racer Alan Luckow.
Video from the race shows the sea lion springing onto the canoe with its mouth open and teeth bared as stunned paddlers tried to keep the vessel steady in choppy water.
Despite the panic-inducing appearance, nobody was hurt — including the sea lion.
Within seconds, the animal slipped back into Monterey Bay, though not before leaving what racers described as a slimy trail across the face of the team’s stroker, the paddler seated at the front of the canoe.
Luckow said the stroker never lost focus despite the surprise aquatic passenger.
“She did everything right,” Luckow told KTVU. “The boat could have easily tipped.”
Even with the unexpected interruption, Outrigger Santa Cruz still managed to place third in the race — something Luckow described as an impressive accomplishment given the circumstances.
The team later shared footage of the bizarre encounter on Instagram with the caption: “So this happened.”
For seasoned paddlers used to encountering marine life in Monterey Bay, the sea lion stunt still stood out.
“We see a lot of crazy things,” Luckow told KTVU on Wednesday. “But this is one of those situations where the animal wasn’t hurt. The stroker wasn’t hurt. It was sort of this great experience interacting with nature.”
English (US)