From BWE, a mathematician's take on the attack data, specifically on the paddle vs. pedal question:

Quote

As someone with a stats background (Ph.D. in Sociology with a quantitative focus, M.A. in Demography), I would agree that there is nothing here that suggests any conclusive "statistically significant" differences by propulsion method.

The OP is correct that you would really need to know how many people are out there in these types of kayaks at risk of getting attacked to do the analysis correctly.

In fact, you would ideally need to know not only what kind of kayaks are out there in consumers' hands, but how much they use them. In other words, if you had 1000 people with Hobie mirage kayaks and 1000 people with paddle kayaks, and the mirage drive kayakers spend twice as much time on the water as people with paddle kayaks, you would expect them to experience twice as the number of shark attacks even if the rate of shark attacks was exactly the same.

Ryan contacted me about his ordeal Friday night. He walked me through the incident, although there's a chance there are a few inaccuracies as we didn't speak for long and he was pretty revved up. My interest was in recording the details so the community can learn from it. 

All of these great white strikes have been harrowing, but this one is scarier than most. His Outback was absolutely shredded in comparison to some of the other attacks. He's a lucky man to emerge physically unhurt. Once again, the fishing kayak was a life saver. So were having friends nearby, wearing a PFD and most especially, carrying a marine VHF to call for help. He told me they would have had to abandon his sinking kayak. 

Here's the story: http://www.kayakfishmag.com/news/vandenberg-great-white-shark-attack-details/

One of our readers pointed out that the first kayak struck was a PA14. So far as I know, it was the first hit on a fishing 'kayak' of that size. Anyone know of another?