06/26/2008 Kevin Macghie ( South Africa ) No Injury

[sharkbait]

South African spear fisherman has large white shark bite his fin and drag him around

Kevin's experience:

I was coming from the bottom in 14m of water when around 5m from the surface I looked up to make sure where the surface was and to check that I wasn't coming up underneath the boat.
I suddenly had my legs taken out from underneath me and could "feel" a sharp scratching on my fins as I was dragged upside down toward the surface.
Once I realised what had happened I was being pushed through the water with my arm wrapped over the side of the shark and his pectoral fin was under my armpit and he let go of my fins.
As we cleared the surface I managed to get a small quick breath and scream for the boat as the shark did a roll/flip in the water to try turn his head back at me and the rear half came clear out the water with the tail thrashing the surface.
I managed to turn the gun onto his nose as he pushed me through the water while trying to bite at my fins again as they were forced towards his mouth by the water pushing against them.
The shark then pushed passed and did another sharp turn this time a metre or two off and came back with some speed and I again managed to put the speartip between us, this time it sinking into his nose.

As the boat approached the shark veered off and I put my arm out the water (always keeping an eye on the shark) only to be flung right across to the other side of the duck as Dean and Sheldon ripped me from the water.
The shark circled the boat for a minute before swimming off.

Having heard of and spoken to other spearo's about similar encounters, I was not prepared for the sheer intent and determination this shark showed after the first "hit".

This is one of seven toothmarks on Kevins fins.

This is one of seven toothmarks on Kevins fins.



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[sharkbait]

Dean Inggs, Andrew Downey and Kevin Macghie went for dive at Struis Bay on Sunday. They got a few nice fish. The dive was ended off in a rough manner as Kevin was rushed by a hefty great white.

Here is what Dean has to say:

The day ended with a very nasty attack on one of our crew when a 4.5m great white had 3 full charges at him before we could get the boat to him.
On the way to pick him up I saw the whole back half of the shark come clear out the water thrashing it's tail as you would see on the Discovery channel!
He managed to get away with just some teeth marks in his fins and a bruised ego, extremely lucky.
The shark in no way made a "mistake" of his identity, two of the divers were very near each other and Kevin was probably 30m off, so the shark definitely singled him out displaying pure hunting behaviour and attacked from below in his "blind spot".
Vis was around 8m and the temp was 15.5 deg.
It was a serious reality check for us as to the possible dangers and the attitude that this type of thing always happens to someone else. The GW's numbers are definitely on the increase."

Well that sounds really hectic. 9 m viz does not offer much response time even if you see the white coming at speed.

I tend to think that Kevin was glad to be out of the water that day!

Kevin if you are like I was the experience was not that bad but worse is what comes after it when you dive in dirty water on your next few months of dives!

Here is a pic of some of the fish they got before the interruption:

Here is a pic of some of the fish they got before the interruption:


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