Dave Seymour was lucky to get back to the beach after a six- to 10-foot shark hit his e-foil. Photos: YouTube//Screenshot
Dave Seymour has been surfing for over three decades, but in all his years in the water, a recent session on an e-foil might be the most memorable. And not for good reason: a shark hit him from below, launching him off his board.
“Always heading into the water here, it feels a bit sharky, you know?” he told 9 News about the ocean off Bundaberg, Australia. “But I’ve spent a life in the ocean and that hasn’t really affected me.”
Seymour, who was riding a friend’s e-foil at the time of the attack, had only been in the water for about 10 minutes when it happened.
“I’m there, I’m ready to go, and I’m about to push up,” he remembered. “Finger on the remote, and I just go flying.”
Despite the fact that he was in sharky waters, he couldn’t quite comprehend the fact that it was likely a shark in the water. At first, he thought it was a log — until he looked around and didn’t see a log. That’s when the reality set in.
He got back on the board and began making his way back to the beach. It was only there that he saw just how close of a call he’d had. The board was covered in teeth marks. Punctures and scratches adorned the carbon fiber, and Seymour realized how lucky he was.
Dr. Vincent Raoult, a marine expert from Griffith University, told reporters that it was likely a “fairly large shark” in the six- to 10-foot range. Although the species is unknown, DNA samples will be taken from the bite marks in the board to try and figure out what attacked Seymour’s ride. For Seymour’s part, he’s not letting the attack scare him out of the water.
“I think the ocean always delivers way more good than it does bad,” he said. “It’s a good reminder to just be careful out there.”
