"Shark Attack Survivors News Archive"

07/29/2008 Aaron Seare ( Australia ) No Injury

Worldwide Reported Shark Attack Related Incidents in 2008.
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sharkbait
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Re: 07/29/2008 Aaron Seare ( Australia ) No Injury

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Surfer tells of terrifying brush with shark
Peter Collins
August 1, 2008 - 10:54AM
Aaron Seare after shark bit his surfboard leash.
Aaron Seare after shark bit his surfboard leash.
aaron_seare.jpg (21.41 KiB) Viewed 13895 times
Close call ... Warrnambool surfer Aaron Seare.
A surfer chased by a shark off a Warrnambool beach yesterday has told of his terrifying ordeal.

The 2.4 metre shark, which may have been a great white, came within centimetres of biting his foot.

The shark then chomped his leg rope in two, its jaws less than a metre from the surfboard.

"It was the closest I've ever got to being munched," Aaron Seare recalled yesterday, a few hours after the scare.

The experienced 31-year-old surfer had paddled out on his own to the back breakers, 150 metres off Levys Beach, west of Warrnambool, about 10.30am.

"I had caught two waves and was heading out again when I spotted the shark circling about 30 metres away," Mr Seare said.

"It was about eight-foot long.

"Then it turned and made a beeline straight at me.

"I immediately paddled for shore as fast as I could.

"I felt a tug on the leg rope, but just kept going. I was freaking out."

It wasn't until he touched the beach and stood up that he realised his leg rope had been bitten in two.

Serrated bite marks indicate it could have been a sevengill or great white shark, Mr Seare said.

The realisation of how close he had come to serious injury or death didn't hit him until he reached the sand dunes.

"I had to sit down for a while when it hit me what really happened out there," he said.

The leg rope had been borrowed from a friend, but Mr Seare will be pressing to keep the yellow nylon cord as a souvenir.

Despite the ordeal he still plans to head out for a surf today, but will go with a companion.

He suspects the shark may have been hovering in the area because of a northerly breeze blowing odours from the nearby abbatoir over the ocean.

Mr Seare's theory was backed by Warrnambool Diving Services operator Bill Karoly.

"Sharks have poor eyesight but a very keen sense of smell," he said.

"Divers and surfers should get a Shark Shield, which they strap to their leg and it sends out electric signals which give a shark a zap if it comes closer than seven metres."

warrnambool.yourguide.com.au

http://www.theage.com.au/national/surfe ... -3nok.html
sharkbait
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Posts: 1372
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2005 4:04 pm

07/29/2008 Aaron Seare ( Australia ) No Injury

Post by sharkbait »

Surfer has lucky escape from shark

A surfer has escaped a shark attack at a beach near Warrnambool, in western Victoria.

Aaron Seare says he was alone in the water yesterday when he spotted a shark near him.

The surfer felt a tug on his leg as he was swimming to shore, and later found the shark had bitten through the rope attached to his board.

Mr Seare says it was a lucky escape.

"Well yeah he was probably, I don't know, 30-odd metres, sort of out the back from where I was," he said.

"People say not to panic and splash around, so I sort of sat there and waited to see what he was doing and he sort of turned around and came straight at me and that's, that's when I did panic and paddled for the beach."


http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008 ... ion=justin
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