Mossel Bay, South Africa, 28th June, 2008. Jan-Hendrik Barnard and his friend Kobus Maritz were paddling near Bay View when a shark hit Kobus' Fenn Mako Millennium surfski from underneath.  "The shark bit the ski near where the Fenn Mako logo is," said Jan-Hendrik...

Great White Shark (Photo by Terry Goss, copyright 2006. Taken at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico, August 2006.)

"We're keen paddlers," said Jan-Hendrik.  "We paddle 2-3 times a week - but I think I'm now a very keen river paddler."

The shark hit with such force that the ski split underneath the seat and there was massive damage to the nose.

"It was incredible. Kobus was sitting on my slip and the shark must have come underneath me.  It hit Kobus' ski with terrible force," Jan-Hendrik went on.  "Only when Kobus fell in the water did the shark swim away. As the ski started sinking the nose lifted out of the water and we were able to paddle to shore.

"It was not a nice experience."

The two men reached shore unhurt, but considerably shaken.

Photos to follow soon.

Comments (5)

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sharks and ski's
written by Dave R, July 02, 2008

Holy cow! Glad everyone is ok. That's got to be one nightmare of an experience.

Seems most of the shark bites on the Fenns are around the mako emblem on the front of the ski. Clearly sharks hate that logo terribly so a big thanks goes out to Keith Fenn for placing that mako emblem far away from the paddler.

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Red Ski??
written by superted, July 03, 2008

What colour was the ski?

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written by Gareth Roberts, July 03, 2008

Well, I can honestly say that's the scariest thing I've read in a long time. Was the boat FG or carbon? I don't suppose it would make much difference to the shark even if it was made of aluminium. Was the boat recovered?

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Ski Colour, etc
written by Rob Mousley, July 03, 2008

Apparently it was blue underneath - but we'll have photos shortly. I believe it was a fibreglass. Kobus was able to paddle the ski to shore - and we'll be talking to him this evening (I hope) to get his point of view.

Jan-Hendrik said today that he told his wife that he "nearly let go a low trajectory brown flare when the shark hit". His wife's response? "I didn't know you had flares on your ski..."!

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written by bing trinidad, July 05, 2008

stuff happens. scary stuff for sure and I sympathize with the victims. There are mountain lions and bears on trails, freeway shooters, serial killers etc etc. we've gotta live, cie la vie.

/bing

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