A 58-year-old man out for a morning paddle was suddenly knocked into the water when a great white shark bit into the back of his surf ski, leaving a gaping hole in the kayak-like craft.
Roger Swinney was paddling from Nahoon Beach to East London Harbor in South Africa last Thursday morning when the incident occurred.
“I felt amazingly calm during the attack, it was only afterwards on the beach I felt overwhelmed by all that happened,” Swinney told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors on Monday. “I thought it was going to attack again so I did feel a sense of dread. I was just focused on staying in my flooded ski and getting away.”
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A nearby paddler heard the shark’s initial impact. John de Smith told Surfski.info that it “sounded like a bang and then a splash; I assumed he had fallen out and banged his boat as he fell.”
Swinney told Surfski.info that he fell off the surf ski again and “as I remounted the second time, I saw the swirl and tips of the shark’s fins.”
The surf ski, a long and narrow craft similar to a kayak, began filling with water and was slowly sinking. A crescent hole in the surf ski outlined the jaws of the shark.
“I shouted, ‘Shark!’ to my son [Luke],” Swinney told Times Live of South Africa. “I paddled towards my son who was 50 meters behind me. My boat was sinking slowly, and I couldn’t paddle.”
Luke Swinney, 16, is a local lifeguard and was hailed a hero for rescuing his father, according to DispatchLive.
“Luke came along with his ski and told me to lie on the back and we paddled to the shore,” Roger Swinney told DispatchLive. “I am so proud of him. This was his first job and he made his first rescue.”
Two other paddlers retrieved Swinney’s abandoned surf ski and towed it to shore. Upon hearing what happened, some nearby surfers quickly got out of the water.
“This is the first time a shark has hit me,” Swinney told DispatchLive. “I am thankful to the Lord. I woke up and prayed this morning, and I am happy God saved me.”
Swinney is aware that there had been shark attacks at the same beach before and some surfers died, but he said he isn’t deterred from paddling.
“But I might paddle on the river for a bit,” he told SurfSki.info.
Photos of Swinney and the surf ski courtesy of Caron Williams. Photo of Roger and Luke Swinney courtesy of the Swinney family.