Shark chasing seal rams New Zealand kayaker twice

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A New Zealand kayaker recording video of a shark chasing a seal captured video when the shark rammed into his boat -- twice.

Greg Potter said he was fishing in his pedal-powered kayak a few miles off the coast of Waihau Bay when he saw a commotion in the water that he initially thought was some tuna.

Potter got closer to the splashing and soon discovered it was actually a seal being chased through the water by a shark.

Potter said it appeared to be a young great white shark, but experts who reviewed the footage said it may have been a mako shark.

The fisherman said he tried to stay a safe distance away from the chase, but the seal sped toward his kayak with the shark in hot pursuit.

The seal attempted to hide under his kayak.

"When the seal hid under the kayak, the shark came crashing up from underneath and smashed into the bottom of the kayak," Potter told the New Zealand Herald. "Then they did another few laps around the kayak, and then a second time, the shark again smashed the underside of the kayak."

Potter said he nearly fell out from the second impact, spurring him to pedal quickly away from the scene.

"If it had managed to get me out of the kayak, that that could have been a pretty disastrous ending," he said.