Great white shark bites a hole in teacher’s canoe: Son saves father by paddling him half a mile to shore as predator circles them
- Roger Swinney, 58, was thrown into the sea off the South African coast
- His brave son Luke, 16, paddled out and rescued him as the shark circled
- Shocked Roger says the attack won’t stop him going back in the water
A teacher had a miracle escape when a great white shark bit a massive hole in his canoe and he was rescued by his heroic son in South Africa.
Roger Swinney, 58, was thrown into the sea by the impact and watched in horror as the shark circled just yards away.
He scrambled back on to his canoe shouting ‘shark! shark!’ but it started sinking just as his 16-year-old son Luke raced towards him on his own surf ski.
Brave Luke, a lifeguard, pulled his dad on to the back of his canoe and frantically paddled the pair of them back to shore, half a mile away.
Roger Swinney (pictured with his damaged canoe after the attack) was rescued by his son
Roger and his 16-year-old son Luke (pictured canoeing together last year) paddled half a mile to shore as the great white shark circled them
A great white shark like this one ripped a 15 inch hole in the teacher’s canoe with its teeth
Roger, a primary school teacher, was paddling at Nahoon Reef near his home in East London in Eastern Cape province, about 200 miles east of Port Elizabeth on Boxing Day when the shark attacked.
He told Surfski.info: ‘I was paddling and heard this loud bang and was hit so hard I fell in and then I saw the tip of the fins and saw a shark was circling and got back on my surf ski.
‘I fell off again and saw the swirl of the shark’s fins and I knew from the force of the impact and the movement in the water that it was big and I shouted out loudly ‘Shark! Shark!’.
‘My son Luke came alongside and told me to lie on the back of his surf ski and he got me to the beach and a couple of other paddlers brought my surf ski in and then I saw the size of the bite.
‘There was a 40cm gaping hole in my boat where the jaws had bitten into it.’
Roger Swinney (pictured right) said a great white shark bit a huge chunk out of his canoe (left)
Pictured: Roger’s canoe after the great white shark bit a huge chunk out of it in South Africa
He said he was aware there had been shark attacks at the same beach before.
‘Some surfers have even died,’ he said.
Great whites grow to an average of 14ft long and are responsible for more attacks on humans than any other type of shark.
Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film Jaws featured a particularly vicious great white with a taste for swimmers and surfers.
But Roger’s narrow escape won’t stop him from going back in the water.
He said: ‘It was a shock but I will go back into the sea as you can’t live in fear but I can’t help thinking why it picked on me!’
Roger added: ‘I was quite calm when it happened. I don’t know how I was so calm. Only when I got to the beach, it kicked in. I was quite amazed.’
The Buffalo City Municipality closed the beach down but it was later declared safe and reopened with a spokesman saying: ‘Fortunately a paddler who was attacked by a shark was not injured.’
The Buffalo City Municipality closed the beach down but it was later declared safe
Roger’s canoe after the shark bit a hole in it