Three rookie kite boarders from Germany and Australia this morning had a harrowing encounter when one of them came face to face with a giant Great White shark in the shallow waters of Shark Bay just across from Kraal Bay.
Bjorn Zentner (22) and his sister, Selma (18) from Frankfurt, were standing in knee-deep water, waiting for their instructor, when they heard a blood-curdling scream coming from their Australian friend, Carl van Aswegen (23), a few metres into the water. Minutes before, Carl had become impatient and ventured into the lagoon on his own before their instructor arrived for their scheduled kite-boarding lesson at 07:00.
“Carl was waving frantically and screaming like a madman . . . and we had no idea what was going on.
“The next moment we saw the dark shadow circling him and understood he was shouting “Shark! Shark!”
“There was no wind to push Carl back and we had no idea what to do . .. I grabbed the paddle of our kayak and started running and swimming towards him, waving the paddle and screaming to deter the shark.
“Carl was frantically hanging onto his kite board, trying to get back to shore. The next moment the shark leaped out of the water like a torpedo with something black sticking out of its mouth . . . it plunged back into the water, there was some activity and then all went quiet . . . “, Bjorn said.
“We realised we just witnessed a Great White breaching and attacking a seal in mid-air . . . a few metre from where Carl was!”
Still in shock and freaked out by the close encounter, Carl told Weskusontheline that he never saw the shark in the murky, shadowy water.
“I was concentrating on handling the sail when I first became aware of a dark spot in the water. At first I thought it was merely the shadow of my kiteboard sail. Then I thought it was a huge seal or a playful dolphin following me . . .
“It was only when it crossed underneath me that I realized it was a giant shark . . .I almost lost control . . . I mean, nobody warned us that there may be Great Whites in the lagoon!”
Selma managed to take some cellphone pictures from the shore, but was so shocked when the shark leaped out of the water that she momentarily froze. “It happened so quickly . . . and I thought it was Carl in its mouth . . . so I just froze on the spot.”
By the time their instructor, Bryan Lawrence, arrived on the scene, Carl was safely back on dry ground and there was no sign of the shark or its prey – only the shocked threesome and Selma’s cellphone pics as proof.
Bryan immediately informed the NSRI and a rescue team is still searching the lagoon near Schaapen Island as we speak.
Although Great Whites are sporadically spotted around Schaapen island, there has never been a recorded shark attack on swimmers or kite surfers in the lagoon – especially not by a 4M Great White . . . .
“The shark probably chased the seal all the way to the channel in Shark Bay . . . and Carl just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – although I envy him the once-in-a-lifetime thrill to see a Great White breaching and predation in such close proximity! It is not something that one see . . . and walk away from unscathed to tell your friends about,” Bryan laconically commented.
“If anything, I hope it taught him never to go kiteboarding on his own again in foreign waters – and especially not until he has completed his training!”