Man Fights Off Shark at Sydney Beach

[tonioseven]

By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press Writer

CANBERRA, Australia - A surfer fought off a seven-foot shark with his board at an Australian beach Saturday, and then continued surfing, a life guard said.



The surfer, Simon Letch, returned to Sydney's Bronte Beach 30 minutes after surviving the attack with a replacement board, despite the beach being closed because of the danger, life guard Aaron Graham said.


"He was pretty calm about it, very laid back," said Graham, who was on the beach when the surfer, aged in his 30s, rode his damaged board in.


Nine Network television news reported that Letch is English. He declined to comment to the network.


Letch was among a small group of surfers sitting on their boards about 100 feet offshore at dawn when the shark attacked, Graham said.


"He jumped off the back and pushed the board toward the shark, keeping it between them," Graham said.


The shark took two bites of the fiberglass board before ceasing the attack, Graham told The Associated Press by telephone. "There were two big puncture mark bites on the board, but it didn't actually bite a hunk out of it so he was able to ride it in."


The species of the shark wasn't known.


Last month, a 20-foot great white shark tore a man in half, killing him instantly as he snorkeled off Australia's west coast.


That was the first shark fatality in Australian waters since last December, when an 18-year-old surfer was bitten in half by a 16-foot great white off a beach in the southern city of Adelaide. A week earlier, a shark killed a 38-year-old diver spear fishing on the Great Barrier Reef off northeast Australia.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...a_shark_attack
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[blindside.AMG]

Originally Posted by tonioseven

By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press Writer

CANBERRA, Australia - A surfer fought off a seven-foot shark with his board at an Australian beach Saturday, and then continued surfing, a life guard said. :

I think he just crossed that fine line between bravery and stupidity.

[tonioseven]

I agree!!

[RickwithaTbird]

hmmm...

*note to self* cancel snorkeling and surfing trip to australia. Book something safe... like maybe a cooking class, or ballroom dancing. I don't remember the last time anyone died doing that.



Bitten in HALF... what a sad way to go.

[-Jayson-]

damn 2 people are bitten in half? thats so sick.

[Steel]

hahaha! Sharks are so cool

[Hossain_Trance101]

Hmmm, I wouldnt like some 3 metre creature biting my parts off when i gone surfing...Also, i ve heard that this guy found a FOOT of a random guy in some beach in the Northern Beaches of Sydney (JUST a foot, NOTHING else and it was floating on the waves) a couple of months bak. The police took it to the lab if i could remember...

[YogsVR4]

I doubt I'd head back to the same water so soon after something like that. I'd be worn out from all that adrenaline and scared shitless for a few days













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[SiGNAL748]

Idiot.

[Oz]

Pussies.

[Ssom]

It was me.

[95cord]

And thats why I don't swim in the ocean. I'll stick to my swimming pools.

[240NIZ]

Gives a new meaning to the phrase " I'm only half the man I used to be"

[imtheoneandonlyD]

Whatever works i guess. Sharks are cool on tv....not when they are trying to bite me in half.