Read all about it

www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/3709568/windsurfer-escapes-shark/?cs=305

wow, decent bitemark size !!!!! Could've lost a few toes....

I suppose that the FSW for a wave board now stands for 'Frantic Shark Watcher' Maybe it was attracted by menu item...Full Wood Sandwich Sharks have been in the news a lot during recent times and mostly from NSW. Could happen anywhere, anytime. Sharks do need to improve their table manners though

Mark comes from Cardiff!
If he had stuck to sailing at cold knap this would have never happened.
Glad you are ok Mark.

I myself have no chance of getting atacked by a shark as my ezzy mast taken from the pond on wed 3rd feb at the pond in safety bay has still not shown up. Surely the kindly guy who took it will see all the posts on seabreeze and all my flyers stuck to trees.
pleass all... keep an eye out for sharks and my mast
......

Sounds like a close call, luckily he is OK. Makes you think twice about going in the surf........

Urghhhhhh that gives me the willies. Imagine how he felt waterstarting to get going again..... Reckon he went for the uphaul?

Geezus - never would have thought that a shark would go a fast moving board? I've always thought you'd be safe when moving along.

Can't even imagine what it would be like to be cruising along, minding your own business and a shark stops you in your tracks! Looking down at a beasty biting into your board. F... that!

Could have easily been a body part involved - his foot comes to mind.

A shark expert might be able to identify what species? Any tooth fragments in the punctures?

All the best with your getting back out there mate. I'd be interested in hearing some more about your heavy ordeal. You dodged a bullet!

I'm curious to know how fast he was going? Chugging along at 5 knot's or powered up planing at 30 knot's.
I also wonder if the quatro graphics look like food to a shark?

Maybe it kinda exciting for them like a popper is. Good to hear you made it thru all right morrie.

I'm told he uphauled, got it first attempt, good effort with jelly legs!
If you didn't have an uphaul, how long would you wait until getting in the water to waterstart?

Apparently GWS (whitey bitty) have a top speed of about 21-22 knots, although they are not the fastest shark (or so google tells me). So speed is your friend as well as an up-haul rope and a few hard pumps to get the hell out of there!

Glad to hear he was not injured!

You can see from the 2 pics how close it came to his foot, lucky man. Hope the memory of the moment fades fast....

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R1DER said..
I'm curious to know how fast he was going? Chugging along at 5 knot's or powered up planing at 30 knot's.
I also wonder if the quatro graphics look like food to a shark?

It was pretty windy last Thursday and from the description of events it sounds like he was catapulted so probably he was planing when attacked.

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Mobydisc said..
It was pretty windy last Thursday and from the description of events it sounds like he was catapulted so probably he was planing when attacked.

On his mate's facebook post, he said "Just gybed and was going slow"

Surely this is a warranty

So much for the premium construction sticker.

See you at Catho next southerly then?

Bite the bullet and have that sucker on your wall for the rest of your life mate. Doesnt get much better than that.

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dan berry said..
Bite the bullet and have that sucker on your wall for the rest of your life mate. Doesnt get much better than that.

I reckon Keith would love to have it on the wall at Quatro, he might even exchange for a new board

Lucky man it makes you wonder when sailing along if it has happen to anyone but the shark has just missed by a whisker.

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dan berry said...
Bite the bullet and have that sucker on your wall for the rest of your life mate. Doesnt get much better than that.

Yea I considered it but its 3 grand for a replacement so I will probably get it fixed but still leave a reminder of the bite.

Put some fibreglass mat with a clear finish so to can see the teeth holes, like this one I did on mine but less bodgy.

I can hardly notice the repair Dunko, ha

Two solid days in a row and my dropped gybe (90%) time in water has been cut in half with this in the back/front of my mind. Its helped though, used to be 95%

I can do your board repair for $20 a tooth hole?

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ma said..



Surely this is a warranty

The evenly spaced tooth holes go right around into a neat semi circle. That shark had a big head. The diameter of the bite marks seem to be 3-4 handspans wide = 300mm - 400mm approx. Can anyone guess from this how big the body was? Not a littely is my guess. Definitely a leg swallower.

^^^ After doing some googling, if the bite mark has a radius of 400 - 450mm (at a guess from the photo), the shark (based on a GWS ratio) would be 3,500 - 4,000mm long - that's not a small fish!

The good thing is that shark wont chomp on a sailboard again. He was swimming around and thought can I eat this? has a chomp, NO, swims off, thinks I can't eat them.

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Sailhack said..
^^^ After doing some googling, if the bite mark has a radius of 400 - 450mm (at a guess from the photo), the shark (based on a GWS ratio) would be 3,500 - 4,000mm long - that's not a small fish!

Sailhack, that bite mark at best is 300mm diameter so only 150mm radius. Still not insignificant but 3.5 - 4.0m I think not.

Also does anyone recall who the sailor was off WA around 2007-08 who experienced exactly the same thing. I recall he was on a red starboard acid or similar and it could have been up north of perth??????

Found it (2006) - my memory's not too bad.

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Shark-attack-at-Gnaraloo/?page=1

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sausage said..

Sailhack said..
^^^ After doing some googling, if the bite mark has a radius of 400 - 450mm (at a guess from the photo), the shark (based on a GWS ratio) would be 3,500 - 4,000mm long - that's not a small fish!

Sailhack, that bite mark at best is 300mm diameter so only 150mm radius. Still not insignificant but 3.5 - 4.0m I think not.

Also does anyone recall who the sailor was off WA around 2007-08 who experienced exactly the same thing. I recall he was on a red starboard acid or similar and it could have been up north of perth??????

Yep, diameter (Monday doh!) - but let's say it's 350 across for argument sake? (it looks more than 300?) which would be a bite circumference of approx. 500mm? Those results still point to a >3m shark.

How strong was the bite? Sometimes you see surfboards bitten all the through. A windsurfing board would be stronger, though I look at the depth of the teeth marks and wonder if it bit down hard or changed its mind. Tiger sharks can bite through a turtle shells and they are fairly tough. A shark of around 2.5 - 3 metres would have considerable strength. The even spacing of those holes also make me think it was a GW as others are suspecting.