Here is what really happened. I am with Ruby's Dad, Albert on this one. That is the behaviour of a Great White Shark not a Bronzie! Fortunately, not in an aggressive mood.
I was interested to read an interview with 50 year old big wave hellman Tom Carrol in the Saturday paper this morning and when asked about sharks he said. "They were the least of his concerns and fortunately he had not come across an aggressive one to date!"
I find that a slightly comforting notion. I will try to remember it if I ever find myself being checked out by one and and at the same time try to forget how remarkably like a seal I might look to it on a surf mat!
THIRTEEN-YEAR OLD surfer Ruby Adams is lucky to be alive after a frightening confrontation with a 3m shark at Ocean Beach last Saturday morning.
The shark nudged Ruby on her surfboard and though not toppling her dragged on her board possibly because its fins became entangled with her leg rope.
Ruby was surfing with a group of about eight people, including her father Albert, waiting during long periods of calm between breaks amid a pod of dolphins.“The dolphins had been mucking around all morning, riding the waves and I noticed two or three coming under me,” Mr Adams said.
“They came back again and caught my eye; they were moving rapidly and I said to Ruby ‘look at the dolphins’.
“Next I noticed a shadow in the water then a flash of white the size of four dolphins.”
Mr Adams said the shark swam about 0.5m past him and started towards Ruby before it bumped her surfboard.
“I got the fright of my life,” he said. It seemed to pull her down though it did not try to bite her.”
Mr Adams paddled his board towards his daughter and lunged at the shark so it swam out to sea but not before he saw the shark swimming near a man on a boogie board.
“He was hanging on tight, obviously vulnerable in the water,” Albert said.
“By then people were going towards the shore.”
“Someone yelled out not to panic – it was amazing we all calmly went to the shore.
“I thought people would be walking on water.”
There have been reports of a curious dolphin checking the group as they left for the shore.
Mr Adams said Ruby weighs only about 35kg and was shaking when she arrived on shore but in the long term she has not been ‘rattled’ by her experience.
“She insisted on going for a surf at Point Hillier on Sunday,” he said.
“The surf was massive.
“I didn’t go out, I’m not fit enough for those conditions.”
Mr Adams was warned that his daughter could lapse into shock but took her to the town for a hot drink and lollies to lift her blood sugar.
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