Santa Barbara man shares encounter with large “Swiftie” great white shark off Gaviota

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - You could say, Taylor swift is up against some big competition and, it's right off the local coast.

"Might be a little bit of edge in my voice, but it isn't often that you see something this magnificent giving you the eyeball. Please enjoy it!" said Scotty, as he recorded his encounter in local waters.

The Santa Barbara resident (who asked to keep the story on a first name basis) shared his video exclusively with your NewsChannel team.

He said he was out fishing in his kayak the other day off the Gaviota Coast when he spotted the "gorgeous female" -- a 13 to 15-foot Great white shark.

"I saw a little tail whip. It wasn't a dorsal fin, it was a tail whip ... oh God, please be a thresher or sea lion!" he said to himself.

Scotty said she was "beautiful" and named her "Swiftie" after Taylor Swift. He said the only time he felt a "little nervous" was when he couldn't see her. But then, he'd spot a wake of water coming at him. No fin.

"You can either revert to your lizard brain and go fight or flight but you're not gonna out-paddle her and you're surely not gonna out-wrestler her. So, I had an engaging conversation with her about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce."

"Who doesn't love a fall romance? I think she engaged me a little bit because in those moments she'd kinda tip one fin, look at me bigger with her eyes and say, 'Yeah, I think I agree with that!"

Scotty says "Swiftie" got within three feet of his kayak, kind of rolled over and gave him "the eye."

"And it wasn't her length. I mean, my kayak, again, is 11 and a half feet but it was her girth! I mean, her dorsal fin wasn't out of the water and she was drawing a wake behind her. And, her dorsal fin from pectoral to pectoral was probably seven-feet. It was massive! I don't know her weight but I'm sure it was on the sexy side of 2,000! Pounds," he said with a huge smile.

Scotty calls his 11-foot-long kayak "Yum Yum Yellow" and painted the bottom black and yellow stripes so it won't be mistaken for the silhouette of a sea lion.

He called his "Swiftie" encounter "magical."