Great white shark gashes fishermen’s boat
WHEN Stefan and Franco Speed set out for a morning of fishing in the waters off Mtunzini, 140km north of Durban, the father and son had no idea they would come face to face with one of the ocean’s most feared predators, a great white shark.
On Saturday morning, the men set off from the Mlalazi River mouth in their rubber duck. Speed said it was a calm day at sea and at around 10am, after nearly five hours on the water, he saw a dorsal fin.
“It swam to the side where my son was and we noticed that it was a great white. It went under the water. We pulled up our fishing rods,” he said.
Speed said 25 minutes later he felt the boat move, and it was then that he saw the shark had bitten the pontoon.
“I called out to my son to cut the anchor rope,” he said.
He said the entire ordeal happened so fast, he did not have time to panic. “You always see these kinds of things happening to other people and on YouTube. You never think one day it could happen to you.
“I was more worried that the shark would pull the boat under the water. I suspect he mistook the boat for a dead whale and the smell of the blood of the bait on board could have lured him to where we were.”
Speed said he believed the shark was one of two great whites frequenting the area.
NSRI Station 19 Richards Bay duty coxswain Norman Rautenbach said a crew was dispatched.
“Following the incident, they reported being unable to start their motor, and asked for help,” he said.
Rautenbach added that the pair subsequently made it safely to shore after getting their boat started. They were helped by a private boat and did not require any further help from NSRI.
Speed, 42, said it was going to cost him R50 000 to repair the boat.