NYCkayaker great white shark bite a surf ski paddler in oz

[mike]

 <http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22592101-662,00.html>
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22592101-662,00.html 

She fought off what she believed was a 2.75m-long great white shark, using
only her surf ski paddle. 

Miraculously, the 52-year-old from Coopers Shoot, near Byron Bay, received
only a minor bite to her right wrist that needed just four stitches. 

It was the second shark attack in northern Australian waters in two days. 

A Brisbane man was attacked by a bronze whaler on a reef east of Cairns on
Saturday. 

After yesterday's attack, Ms Whitehurst climbed back on to her damaged ski,
making a frantic 150m journey to shore with her husband. 

"We were out about an hour and were just coming back in," Ms Whitehurst
said. "Glen was about 3m from me to my right side and I just saw this big
thing down in the water. 

"I just turned my head and happened to see this big dark object coming back
and I knew it was a shark." 

Ms Whitehurst said she thought her number was up as she tumbled into the
water. 

"Absolutely, I thought this is it," she said. 

"I thought, 'my leg is gone, my ankle's gone, he's going to grab a leg'." 

Ms Whitehurst said she fought the shark out of pure instinct. 

"I was just screaming, trying to scare the shark, and I had my surf ski
blade in my hands. 

"I was just punching into the shark. I had my blade and I just kept
punching, punching, punching." 

Mr Whitehurst said he watched in horror as the shark latched on to his
wife's surf ski. 

"I had just looked around so I watched it hit," he said. 

"I turned around and I watched it literally lift itself and the back of
Linda's boat as it hit the back of the boat. 

"It had the back of the boat in its mouth, gave it a shake and Linda got
knocked off. 

"From what I saw, after it bit the boat it kind of did a U-turn back at her.
My first thought was, 'uh-oh'. 

"After the initial dump, where the thing shook her out of the boat, she went
under water and it was at that point that I was very concerned. But then she
popped back up." 

Having successfully fought off the shark, Ms Whitehurst said her attention
immediately turned to getting to safety. 

"My boat was closer and I wanted to be straight on if the shark came back up
again," she said. 

"I was paddling as fast as I possibly could straight into shore. My arm was
just bleeding and I was thinking, 'great, now he's really going to come back
and get me'." 

Lifeguards and police closed the beach for 2 1/2 hours as crews hunted the
shark. 

Northern NSW lifeguard co-ordinator Stephen Leahy said the crew located a
shark about half an hour after the Whitehursts came ashore. 

They then shepherded the shark into deeper water. 

Mr Leahy said Ms Whitehurst had been fortunate. 

"She's very lucky. She's obviously kept a very calm mind and I think that
has gone a long way to saving her life," he said 

Mr Leahy said another kayaker had reported a great white shark circling his
surf ski last Tuesday.

 

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