Shark Horror: Stalked by Great White Shark

from: lolled.net
Shark horror: snorkeller dead, kayakers menaced
Rebecca Richardson and Claire Kelly
December 28, 2008

THIS is the horrifying moment when a giant shark menaced kayakers off Sydney yesterday.

White pointers caused terror on opposite sides of Australia yesterday, with snorkeller Brian Guest killed as he swam with his son at a beach near Perth.

Sydney paddlers Justin Stanger and Steve Kulscar were lucky to survive, with Mr Kulscar falling from his craft as the four-metre white pointer circled them about a kilometre off Long Reef.

Fisherman Glenn Morgan was in a runabout nearby when he saw a large fin break the water near the kayakers about 11am.

All of a sudden I saw one bloke topple off his kayak, so we cut our anchor rope and went straight over to him and got him in the boat, Mr Morgan told The Sun-Herald last night.

The shark came perilously close as the two kayakers fastened their craft to the tinnie.

It circled for at least another 10minutes before leaving.

The adrenalin was just pumping, Mr Morgan said. I reckon they would have died if we werent out there - the shark was pretty hungry.

I might get him a case of beer - thats the least I can do, one of the men told the Seven Network.

Mr Guest, 51, and his son, Daniel, 24, were diving for crabs off their local beach near Rockingham, 30 kilometres south of Perth, when the former suddenly disappeared about 7am.

Daniel had heard his father cry out and had seen the shark and a heap of blood in the water.

Something very traumatic and pretty violent has happened there and we are treating it as a probable shark attack, acting police inspector Mark Valentine said.

Police, marine rescue patrols and three helicopters searched unsuccessfully for Mr Guest.

[Daniel] was on the beach shaking and looked really white, and he was just really shocked, resident Luke Tubbs said.

Family spokesman and policeman Steve Kent said Mr Guest, a banker, was a devoted husband and father who knew the dangers of the ocean.

[He was] an avid fisherman, an avid diver and a loving husband and father, Sergeant Kent said.

Mr Guest had campaigned to protect sharks from hunting.

Our place on earth is not so sacred that we remove every threat that exists, he said in a forum about sharks on the Western Angler website.

Every surfer, fisherman and diver has far more chance of being killed by bees, drunk drivers, teenage car thieves and lightning.

Searchers have only managed to recover scraps of wetsuit so far, prompting this Beast to conclude the victim was eaten. Purely predatory attacks on Humans are rare in this hemisphere but more common south of the equator. While the west coast USA still leads the word in White Shark attacks, they tend to be of the bite and spit variety, which the victims often survive. Those who die do so from blood loss.

The bloodiest Christmas season off Australian shores happened the third week of December, 2004, which saw two men killed by White Sharks just days apart. Surfer Nick Peterson was ripped off the side of a skiff he had been holding onto, torn in half and consumed by two white sharks in front of his horrified mates. They said he fought for his life desperately, punching the first shark as it dragged him away.

A spearfisherman was killed a week earlier by another White, who bit him in the leg.

Both fatalities came after weeks of shark sightings and warnings in the area. If the Beast lived in Australia, hed spend the next two months poolside.