Shark takes a bite out of Plett surf-ski
A PLETTENBERG Bay holidaymaker was lucky to escape unscathed after a close encounter with a 4m shark yesterday.
Ben Swart, 55, from Pretoria, told rescuers that he and two friends, Nick Bester and Ronald Pronk – regular paddlers – were busy paddling from Plett’s Central Beach to Keurbooms when he felt an impact under his surf-ski.
The blow knocked him off the surf-ski and into the water about 400m offshore. Believing it was a shark, as soon as he hit the water Swart swam towards his damaged surf-ski and clambered onto it.
Bester and Pronk came to his aid and, after rafting the three surfskis together, they paddled to shore while calling the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).
Plettenberg Bay NSRI station commander Marc Rodgers said when the crew arrived just after 7am in two rescue craft – Ray Farnham and Airlink – they found the three men paddling to shore.
“One of the surf-skis was damaged from a shark bite. All three men were taken aboard the two rescue craft and the surf-skis were recovered and brought to shore without incident. The men were not injured – they required no further assistance,” Rodgers said.
Swart did not see the shark but Bester caught a glimpse about 30 seconds after the incident.
“No further sightings of shark were made after that.”
Dr Alison Kock, research manager at Shark Spotters – an organisation that conducts research on inshore shark presence and behavioural ecology – identified the shark from photographs and measurements of the bite mark on the surf-ski. She said, based on the circumference of the bite and the spacing between the teeth marks it was definitely a great white shark of between 3.9m and 4.3m in size.
“Judging by the velocity of the hit, it could have thought it was going after food,” De Kock said, adding it was likely that the shark realised its mistake and swam off. the