Shark Attacks Paddler on Surf Ski in Plett, South Africa

A paddler in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa, was lucky to escape unharmed from a very close encounter with what is believed to have been a 4-metre Great White shark… that took a rather large bite out of his paddle-ski!

Ben Swart (55), from Pretoria, was with two friends – Nick Bester and Ronald Pronk – when he got “bumped off his surf-ski by a shark”, according to NSRI Plettenberg Bay station commander Marc Rodgers.

Rodgers said the men were paddling behind the breaker line about 400 metres off-shore of Keurbooms Lagoon, when Ben suddenly felt a hard bump from underneath his surf-ski (behind the seat of the surf-ski).

He was thrown into the air and landed in the water.

NSRI said: “Realising that a shark, believed to be a White Shark, and believed to be about 4 meters in size, had breached from underneath his surf-ski, knocking the surf-ski into the air and taking a fair sized bite out of his surf-ski, Ben was able to swim back to his damaged surf-ski which still had a fair amount of buoyancy.

“He lay down on the surf-ski while his two friends rafted their surf-ski’s alongside the damaged surf-ski and they began gently paddling towards the shore while calling NSRI Plettenberg Bay raising the alarm and requesting assistance.”

Although Ben did not see the shark again after the incident, Nick saw it in the water nearby about 30 seconds after the incident… but no further sightings were made after that.

NSRI launched a rescue at 07h13 Monday and found the three friends, with their surf-skis still rafted together. They were taken to shore, and fortunately there were no injuries.

The three are regular paddlers on holiday in Plettenberg Bay, and were paddling from Central Beach to Keurbooms.

NSRI are urging the public, paddlers and bathers, to be cautious. NSRI coast watchers monitoring the coastline have noted shark sightings along the Plettenberg coastline following this incident today and caution is advised.

Source: NSRI