Our Western Austrlia brothers are just starting to enjoy the windy season and one shark decided to join in early too.
Report from 'Old Git' on the seabreeze forum.
I was at the 3 mile camp when the incident happened. One of the Geraldton locals sailed out from the key hole at the camp on Friday afternoon in light winds. He was out the back of the bommie and his board stopped suddenly and he was thrown forward onto his sail.
A shark around 8 feet had bitten the back of his Starboard Acid Wave leaving a teeth marks the size of a large dinner plate. I can confirm this as I saw the board afterwards. The guy ended up with grazes down his legs from the abrasive skin of the shark. In the confusion they separated and he managed to waterstart and head back in.
One of the fishermen saw the board and made the comment it was red and white like the most popular lure in Australia and it was no surprise to him that a big fish would be interested in it being trawled through the water at around 8 knots. Everyone at the camp was in a state of shock for about 5 minutes and then went sailing again. Mind you the surf line-up was pretty quiet the next day.
Apparently when the shark launched its self on the sail it actually got stuck between the boom and the sail and was more intersted in getting off the sail than having lunch. This probably saved this guys life. I am sure will here more about this event.
The top of the wave board just ended up with lacerations into the deck pad and happened on the opposite side of the board to his foot. This is what makes this such a narrow escape as if it had happened on the same side as his foot he would have got bitten and what followed would be alot different.
Just for the record... more people die from bee stings than shark attacks !
Get out there and enjoy it... no point worrying about the 'what if's'
For more shark stories visit the Aussie Seabreeze Forum
www.deepfried.tv
