Shark News

Man paddles out with shark shield at site of fatal attack

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 2 April, 2009 : - - The recent fatal shark attack on a 16-year-old Port St Johns surfer has sparked a campaign to buy fancy new technology to get talented township surfers safely back in the water. And while a Facebook appeal moved along slowly, a Johannesburg philanthropist flew to the Wild Coast at the weekend to watch a lone surfer paddle out at Second Beach wearing a shark shield costing R5400.

The mystery donor stood on the beach with traumatised surfers from the Iliza Surfing Academy, while East London’s Peter Jones calmly strapped on the battery-powered device and surfed the same spot where Luyolo Mangele died two weeks ago.

Having already pledged R250 000 to the academy to cover contest costs, equipment and daily running expenses, the Good Samaritan is now working on ways to streamline the donation to try to include the purchase of 15 shark shields valued at more than R80 000.

Amampondo Backpackers owner and Iliza volunteer surfing mentor Tim Whittaker , who was surfing with Mangele when he was attacked, yesterday said they had managed to take R17 000 from the initial donation which allowed them to buy three devices.

“A lot of the kids who were on the beach when Luyolo was attacked are still freaked out by what happened,” he said. “They all want to keep surfing, but they also do not want to have to worry about being attacked by sharks.”

Read the full article at Dispatch South Africa

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Source : Dispatch South Africa

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