A wing foiler has told of the moment he came off his board and fell on a shark which promptly latched onto his leg.
Key points:
- Troy Brown says he felt instant pain when was bitten by the shark
- He had to sail about 2.5 kilometres back to shore to seek help
- He needed more than 40 stitches for 17 puncture wounds on his calf and ankle
Troy Brown, 46, was staying with his wife and three children in one of the Wedge Island “shacks”, holiday accommodation north of the town of Lancelin, about 150 kilometres north of Perth.
On Christmas Eve he was enjoying the relatively obscure water sport, which involves the sailor holding directly onto a sail that lifts the lightweight board out of the water and propels it forward, leaving just the fin in the water.
“I just went to do a jibe, caught a wave, the wave did a turn [and I] fell off,” he said.
“As soon as I fell into the water I thought I kicked the foil, my board, and quickly realised the pain was on both sides of my ankle.
“It was instant. I fell into the water and fell straight into its mouth.”
He was left with 17 puncture wounds on the inside of his calf and ankle and seven on the outside that required more than 40 stitches.
“I could see blood running down my foot … there was a big puddle of blood on my board,” he said.
Long trip back to shore
Mr Brown then had to sail his board about 2.5 kilometres back through the channel between Wedge Island and the point.
“I realised, ‘all right, I have to get back,'” he said.
“I just thought, ‘I have to get out of here’. The quickest way was to get up and sail.”
Mr Brown did not see anything of the shark but suspects it might have been a bronze whaler.
Once he got ashore he then had to walk about 500 metres back to where he was staying to get help.
He was taken to the pie shop, which doubles as a first aid station, and then an ambulance was called.
Mr Brown, who has been sailing in one form or another for 20 years, has pledged to get back in the water.
“Two weeks in the boot and stitches, and hopefully back to normal after that,” he said.
In 2012 a fatal shark attack claimed the life of 24-year-old Ben Linden who was surfing near Wedge Island.
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