A 71-year-old man was knocked out of his surf ski by a great white shark in Australia on Wednesday.
Arthur Vidgen was paddling off Belongil Beach, Australia when he was knocked into the water; by what he thought was a dolphin.
He told Surfing life “I was just paddling along the coastline about 200 metres out and I was heading back to the surf club at about 11.15am.” “There was quite a bump and I got thrown off the ski and I just assumed I’d hit a pod of dolphins. There had been pods of dolphins about this morning off Main Beach.”
He quickly returned to surf ski and headed toward the beach.
As he was exiting the water, the ski seemed heavier than normal so lifeguards came to give the pensioner some help removing the ski.
This is when they noticed the stern of the boat had an eleven inch bite mark.
Due to the size of the bite life guards assumed it may be a shark and immediately closed nearby beaches.
A shark expert from the Department of Primary Industries confirmed that it was “most likely a white shark bite”
Mr. Vidgen is undeterred and plans on returning to the water.
On the same day a surfer was knocked into the water near the town of Denmark in Western Australia, possibly by a shark.
The location has been marked on the 2015 shark attack bites tracking map under interactions.
Direct link to the interview here.
