www.perthnow.com.au/news/sharks/wa-man-windsurfing-bitten-by-shark-at-wedge-island-north-of-lancelin--c-13011377

Unusual event for sure ,hope injury not to bad.

Latest updates day he was foil boarding at South rocks, so may not have been a windsurfer. Media rarely gets it right. Wishing a speedy recovery anyway.

Just shows you how niche all our wind sports are. windsurfing, kiteboarding, various types of foiling. for the media it's all either windsurfing or "kite flying".

Foilers are reporting loads of sharks giving their foils a tap at south passage in lancelin! Keep those legs up people!.

Hiya..

Sorry to ask and sorry to hear but was wondering the details ..time of day .how deep was it .and how far out and wherabouts .oh..south rocks .and was he/she off their sail(foil) and if so for how long in water.. on wedge shark attack

Hope all is ok

Myself and a mate had been out at lancelin south passage windsurfing and had been back in for 30min packing up. Two guys came over and asked us if we were heading out. We told them we had been out already and asked why. They said they just saw a significant size white cruising in the wave zone. They ran their boards onto the shallow reef and waited 15 min before scooting back to shore!.....

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timmybuddhadude said..
the details ...d was he/she off their sail(foil) and if so for how long in water

interested to know this also. did the shark bite into the foil or was the unfortunate person in the water at the time of the attack?

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timmybuddhadude said..
Hiya..

Sorry to ask and sorry to hear but was wondering the details ..time of day .how deep was it .and how far out and wherabouts .oh..south rocks .and was he/she off their sail(foil) and if so for how long in water.. on wedge shark attack

Hope all is ok

I saw an interview where the guy said he fell off the board and must have put his foot straight into the sharks mouth. think he said 2.5km out.

I guess he was being followed. This is not the first time I've heard of a foiler falling off only to realise a shark was right below

At Valentine Lake Macquarie I windfoiled past 2 big sharks who were waiting for me in the spot where I had fallen off the last time I gybed there.
I was foiling when one appeared in the wind swell as the wave lifted it up above the average water height. I was heading towards it.
If I turned around I would slow right down in front of it and likely fall off. The Southerly wind was just hitting hard up to 23knts with lots of messy short chop to make turning problematic because I'm not good at gybes yet.
So I decided to head up wind as much as I could. Straight towards the shark but trying to go around up wind.
The shark turned towards my new direction of sailing. Luckily the strong wind was hitting at that moment and as I got level within about 20' upwind of it, I turned slightly downwind to pick up speed.
I was doing around 16.1 knots according to my GPS. Silently flying over the nasty rough waves around me.
I thought I would be clear when I saw the other bigger shark in front and slightly upwind.
I looked behind me and the other 7 or 8' shark was still close behind me. About 40 or 50' away heading towards me. The second big shark appeared to be circling around behind me. I think the first one was herding me towards the second one. Not in any big hurry though.
I was then thinking how lucky I was that the gusty medium strength southerly had turned into a strong 23knts or more. I had my small 5.1m2 sail on and my small fast 1000 cm2 Fanatic Flow foil and I would likely be wallowing around nearly stopped if the wind hadn't picked up strong and steady. I quickly made a lot of distance away from where I had seen the sharks.
The wind got very strong while I was trying to make distance so much so the swell picked up. I suddenly broached my foil out the side of a big wave because I was looking behind me at the sharks following. I lost control but I kept my weight over the centreline of the board so I would fall onto it and not into the water. The nose of the board dug right down into the lake about a foot deep. Went to Tronto and waited for a lift.
I had another previous similar encounter with a shark on the wind foil and one got agro behind my Trailer Sailer at the same spot.
I haven't been back in the water since and I'm going back to my old safer sport. Foot launched motorized hang gliding.
There's nothing wanting to digest my limbs at hang gliding. Except for eagle attacks.

Above post stopped me from going sailing yesterday.

Legend has it; Pcdefender is still reading to this day.

Just sail to the edge of the earth so it falls off Pete...

Am up at Gnaraloo at the moment. 2 days ago a 2m salty was spotted near the launch beach.

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Flying Dutchman said..
Am up at Gnaraloo at the moment. 2 days ago a 2m salty was spotted near the launch beach.

What do you mean by a "salty"? Are you talking salt water croc or do you have a nickname for sharks nowadays?

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Vince68 said..

Flying Dutchman said..
Am up at Gnaraloo at the moment. 2 days ago a 2m salty was spotted near the launch beach.

What do you mean by a "salty"? Are you talking salt water croc or do you have a nickname for sharks nowadays?

Salt water croc

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PaulRoche said..
At Valentine Lake Macquarie I windfoiled past 2 big sharks who were waiting for me in the spot where I had fallen off the last time I gybed there.
I was foiling when one appeared in the wind swell as the wave lifted it up above the average water height. I was heading towards it.
If I turned around I would slow right down in front of it and likely fall off. The Southerly wind was just hitting hard up to 23knts with lots of messy short chop to make turning problematic because I'm not good at gybes yet.
So I decided to head up wind as much as I could. Straight towards the shark but trying to go around up wind.
The shark turned towards my new direction of sailing. Luckily the strong wind was hitting at that moment and as I got level within about 20' upwind of it, I turned slightly downwind to pick up speed.
I was doing around 16.1 knots according to my GPS. Silently flying over the nasty rough waves around me.
I thought I would be clear when I saw the other bigger shark in front and slightly upwind.
I looked behind me and the other 7 or 8' shark was still close behind me. About 40 or 50' away heading towards me. The second big shark appeared to be circling around behind me. I think the first one was herding me towards the second one. Not in any big hurry though.
I was then thinking how lucky I was that the gusty medium strength southerly had turned into a strong 23knts or more. I had my small 5.1m2 sail on and my small fast 1000 cm2 Fanatic Flow foil and I would likely be wallowing around nearly stopped if the wind hadn't picked up strong and steady. I quickly made a lot of distance away from where I had seen the sharks.
The wind got very strong while I was trying to make distance so much so the swell picked up. I suddenly broached my foil out the side of a big wave because I was looking behind me at the sharks following. I lost control but I kept my weight over the centreline of the board so I would fall onto it and not into the water. The nose of the board dug right down into the lake about a foot deep. Went to Tronto and waited for a lift.
I had another previous similar encounter with a shark on the wind foil and one got agro behind my Trailer Sailer at the same spot.
I haven't been back in the water since and I'm going back to my old safer sport. Foot launched motorized hang gliding.
There's nothing wanting to digest my limbs at hang gliding. Except for eagle attacks.

Cripes. Glad I didn't read this earlier. Valentine is my favourite spot and I fall in regularly when it's windy.
I've been told the sharks haven't been seen recently and it's suspected they've gone out to sea.
I hope so.
I'm supposed to be sailing today and it's dodgy wind, rain and overcast. That's put a bit of a dampener on my enthusiasm.

I've just researched how fast they can swim..about 17kts in a short burst. So ..if they aren't right under me and there's wind I'll have the incentive to get the hell out of there.. The problem is the wind over here is so bad I'll probably be off the plane and wobbling..