Shark attack MNC
Sounds pretty serious, hopefully he pulls through.
GWS Modus Operandi
Fark, big damage to the board, right through.
Man, hope you’re ok fella. Sounds like you’re a bloody fighter. All the best.
Mid to late morning, clear sunny day, small surf - seems such a common combo in these attacks
Amazing effort to fight it off and get to shore. Help on hand at the beach essential to then survive.
Saved by his own fighting spirit and the efforts of other surfers and medical expertise on hand.
Lets hope he pulls through.
Common thread again "....assisted by surfers..." "off duty doctor /nurse/ paramedic". Great work by the bystanders. Best wishes to all involved, great job crew
So lucky to have a professional on the beach at the right time. I'm coming back to Oz in two weeks and will be travelling from the MNC to VIC, surfing all the back beaches down that way as well given the season of NE'ers is nearly upon us.
My missus and I are also looking to settle between Port Macquarie and Seal rocks after we finish travelling but jeez, it's sharky.
Are there any locals here with kids that surf? Let me here your thoughts. I'm happy to take the chances myself but not so sure about my son who's not yet of surfing age but will be in the next couple of years.
First shark attack at a beach where the Smart drum lines have been deployed?
Distracted wrote:First shark attack at a beach where the Smart drum lines have been deployed?
The white that attacked wasn't tagged but two smaller whites were tagged during this last week due to the drumlines in operation
juegasiempre wrote:My missus and I are also looking to settle between Port Macquarie and Seal rocks after we finish travelling but jeez, it's sharky.
Are there any locals here with kids that surf? Let me here your thoughts. I'm happy to take the chances myself but not so sure about my son who's not yet of surfing age but will be in the next couple of years.
I think at some point everyone has to decide what it’s worth?
I mean you can’t predict these seemingly random incidents. They’re rarely ever associated with the usually warned against risk factors: dawn/dusk, bait fish, rain events, etc.
Nearly all the east coast attacks (bar greeny one) have been on the types of days you’d not have a care in the world. Living life as you should.
So where does that leave you? For me it’s not worth the energy worrying about. I know the risks and know they are so bloody slim.
Sounds like surfing has given you a good life and taken you to some amazing places? Sounds worth it to me
juegasiempre wrote:So lucky to have a professional on the beach at the right time. I'm coming back to Oz in two weeks and will be travelling from the MNC to VIC, surfing all the back beaches down that way as well given the season of NE'ers is nearly upon us.
My missus and I are also looking to settle between Port Macquarie and Seal rocks after we finish travelling but jeez, it's sharky.
Are there any locals here with kids that surf? Let me here your thoughts. I'm happy to take the chances myself but not so sure about my son who's not yet of surfing age but will be in the next couple of years.
juegasiempre (always playing).
You and or your loved ones have a much greater chance of suddenly leaving this world simply by travelling in a vehicle to the beach.
I wouldn’t worry about sharks, they are omnipresent, always have and always will be.
You and we know we’ve all surfed over the tops of them for all of our surfing lives .The less you know sometimes the better.
Of course, a lot of assessments are being made before we paddle out.
Should i be out on my own on a very clear day, after all, their biological/hierarchical position in the food chain tells us they are ambush predators.
Should we paddle out to spots that are a very long distance from the shore rendering assistance useless if you get in trouble. Up to each individual to make up their own mind.
I never think about sharks before entering or being in the water. The statistics tell us it’s generally highly unlikely that anything will happen.
Of course there is tragedy, but isn’t that the same for all phases of our lives.
Enjoy, wherever you guys decide to live. AW
Spot on AW.With everything.Peace.
I generally think about whites before entering and while out almost every time.
Yeah, the ignorance is bliss option doesn't really seem that smart around here anymore.
freeride76 wrote:Yeah, the ignorance is bliss option doesn't really seem that smart around here anymore.
So if and when you want to surf what is your strategy then?
Vantage points to check for any cruisers, I like shallow inside sandbar point waves with a restricted ambush potential.
If I'm surfing with kids or wife I try and keep between them and ambush points.
That Pic going around on Media of the Swirl just before Attack with Toby looking on ...Jeezus !
And would one of Hayden's Shark Stop Wetsuits saved a Limb Loss ?
Just saw that Udo.........
Size Large Brand New unused - $300
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/corindi-beach/surfing/shark-stop-wetsuit...
freeride76 wrote:Vantage points to check for any cruisers, I like shallow inside sandbar point waves with a restricted ambush potential.
If I'm surfing with kids or wife I try and keep between them and ambush points.
All seem like reasonable precautions. And I understand your trepidation given your zone’s history.
I’d be lying if I hadn’t done similar at times but I don’t feel I have any semblance of control or certainty even if I were to practice all of the above.
Getting high to check for anything is good for that time but once you’ve gone back down to suit up and paddle out it feels like a moot point?
It’s an emotive and difficult topic for sure. Totally each to their own. It’s good to learn from others observations or practice I guess, however I don’t think we have or ever will have the answers.
Yeah I agree Solitude.
I try to keep my head on a swivel in the line up these days without getting 'paranoah' but even then, a stealthy farker could be on you before you know it.
That photo of the moments before it happened is intriguing. Looks like it goes straight past a lid rider. No safety in numbers for the poor bloke in this case, maybe for the boogey boarder though.
I've thought about this the last few times I've been out. A few on SN, maybe simba, goofy, myself, and others have commented on that creepy feeling you get when that oily calm descends on the water. That 'sharky feeling'. There's no evidence this should be the case, right? Is it just that our mind-demons have time to play when there's no wind, chop and current to deal with.. when you're just bobbing there in the calm and sets are infrequent?
Yeah basesix who knows when 'that' feeling comes over you but these days if it dosent feel right i go in ......so many times ive regretted not listening to my gut when i should have in the past with different things
mm. Our gut is an under-utilised organ for sure. I've had a dog on the beach go sick twice while I've been out, and come in, and been glad of it.
(I get the rationalisations, but as a guy called Ash said to me at a Dowie Doole dinner party in the 90s 'fuck the odds of getting hit by a bus, it's a monster that wants to farkin chew on you!')
Best wishes to the victim. Sounds really rough.
On a sunny morning in shallow clear water on the FNC I was looking around thinking my visibility of what was in the water was good.
Suddenly a dolphin popped up within metres of me then disappeared on its way. Saw nothing prior to its surfacing and then nothing moments later. We see 5% of what goes on out there beneath us.
On a more positive note, I am quite amazed at how often some tiny movement or splash or out of place ripple catches my eye that later proves to be a bird, fish or dolphin.
I bet we see way more of such hints at "something" than virtually any other water user due to thousands of hours experience scanning for the right wave. Just another small odds shifting factor.
Terrible ordeal, and my heart goes out to this man, his family and any witnesses. Looking at that pic, it seems as though the shark approached from the side/front. Not the usual mo? Or perhaps he had just spun in that direction?
Trust your gut. That photo of the swirl reminds me of a time a few years ago. Surfing alone, about an hour before dark, beach break in Shoalhaven, clean conditions, about 4-5ft. Sitting outside the last bank.
Felt a bit eerie for a moment, turned around an saw a swirl just like that about 5m away, on an otherwise clean surface. Didn’t see anything else. Paddled for the next wave which was not far off and straightlined it to the beach. Have wondered if I’d over-reacted. That photo makes me glad I paddled in.
Good luck for the recovery to old mate. He’s definitely got some fight.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-08/emergency-doctor-recounts-toby-be...
My recollection of events from last week.
9:50 I arrive at lighthouse beach and park in the northern carpark next to the newly completed surf club renovations. I get changed into my wetsuit pulling it up to my waist which is a bit of struggle as its still wet from my last surf, I wax my surfboard, put zinc on my face then lock up my car placing my key in the surf lock as I have done so many countless times in my life. As I’m walking down to the beach Coast Café is buzzing, there are heaps of people out and enjoying the lovely day. I see Kamara, a fellow emergency colleague sitting on one of the newly placed stone blocks of the surf club deep in conversation with a friend, I choose not to interrupt her conversation by saying hello as I head down to the beach.
As I’m walking the 200m down to the water, taking in the sun, checking out the ocean, I can see shoals of fish, dolphins and whales everywhere I think to myself how lucky we are to live in such a great place. My attention turns to the surf and whether I’m going to paddle out at club rock or the break a little bit further down. As I’m surveying the water, I see a bunch of surfers all coming in at once and there appears to be a certain frantic energy to it all. I see one of the surfers approach a passerby on the sand who takes off up the beach towards me. A certain uneasiness begins to build in the pit of my stomach. Feeling something isn’t quite right, I begin to jog a little, still with my surf board in hand to cross paths with this lady and another surfer – she yells “Shark attack, there’s been a shark attack!” I ask if anyone is hurt to which the surfer replies “Yep, he’s pretty f*****”
At this point the gravity of the situation has hit me and my heart sinks. In the water I can still see a bunch of surfers struggling to get to shore down the beach. I throw my surfboard on the sand and sprint as fast as I can the 150 odd metres to the water’s edge to see if there is anything I can do to help. As I reach the knee-high water, I can see a man who is as white as a ghost with horrific injures and a massive bloody laceration to his left thigh and a traumatic amputation of his right foot. Now, I’m not sure of exactly what I said next, but my recollection is of sprinting to the bunch of surfers and saying “My name is Kurt I’m a doctor, we need to get this man to the high water mark and use some leg ropes as torniquets as soon as possible!” It was highly likely that there was much more swearing and a lot less concise communication at the time. I took hold of his wetsuit just underneath his arm and we dragged him the 50metres to the high-water mark with everything we had. Something that sticks with me is just how much how heavy he was despite having so many helping hands.
Unbeknownst to me another emergency colleague of mine Jacob had been out surfing at the time and come in up the beach just north from this group, he had already taken his leg rope from his board and raced into the surf to meet the injured man at the waters edge. I look up once we have finished dragging the man to the high-water mark. Jacob is already applying or had somehow already applied the leg rope torniquet whilst we were in the processing of dragging him to the high-water mark. I see two other familiar faces, Patrick (another colleague of mine) and Craig, the father of one of my son’s football mates. I ask them to get another leg rope and apply it to the right leg as soon as possible, place it on the thigh and tighten it with everything you have. The next thing I remember is Jacob saying, “Should we start CPR?”.
This whole scene has been so chaotic I’m not even sure if this man is alive or dead. As look down at him, I can see he’s breathing, he’s moving his arms, but I can’t feel a radial pulse, he has a central pulse, his eyes then open – he’s alive! I tell him, “My name is Kurt, I’m an emergency doctor, we are going to look after you okay, What’s your name?”. “Toby” he replies much to my great relief and joy. This joy soon turns to anxiety and dread - I know what we need to save this man’s life; blood products and an operating theatre to control the bleeding but I have no way to expedite this, we must wait for the ambulance to arrive. More people arrive on the scene, and I task someone with grabbing some thick sticks in case we need to tighten the torniquets if there is ongoing bleeding. I ask another to see if they can find scissors so we can cut Toby’s wet suit down ready to place cannulas.
At this stage the defibrillator arrives and Kamara places it on Toby’s now exposed chest, I brief the team and explain if he were to go into cardiac arrest there would be no place for running a rhythm check we would just have to perform CPR until the ambulance arrives. A bystander has contacted 000 and put me on loud speaker to ambulance dispatch who are clarifying our exact position on the beach, “200m north of Watonga rocks at Lighthouse beach” I reply, they clarify if the torniquets have been applied properly to which I check in with Jacob who reassures me there is no ongoing bleeding or spurting blood, I relay this back to ambulance dispatch who I, rather shamefully spoke to with quite a short tone “We have done everything we can I just need you to get me an ambulance now!”. I know this lady was just doing her job and I am forever grateful for her help and sorry for the way I spoke.
I continue to hold Toby’s hand and do my best to reassure him. He is fully aware of just how critical the situation is. For what feels like an eternity, we wait and then we begin to hear the wailing of the ambulance. In the background, more people are on the scene asking if there is anything they can do that will help the situation. I ask one to see if they can find a spinal board form the surf club maybe, if we meet the ambulance at the roadside, we can save valuable minutes. Another volunteer asks to wait at the closest walking access to the beach directly from Toby to which I agree is a great idea. Much to my relief we hear the sirens get closer and closer and then stop.
I see Keely and Brae (paramedics and friends of mine) come down from between the foliage of the dunes. I meet them en route to the patient so they can radio their local depot/colleagues. I give a quick IMIST (medical handover: Identification of patient demographic, mechanism of injury, injuries identified, signs/symptoms, treatment). I note they do not have their spinal board with them and reiterate the sooner we get Toby to the hospital the more chance he has to survive. Crucially, one of the people on scene was, also a holidaying paramedic who volunteers to go up to the truck and grab the spinal board whilst Keely and Brae attend the patient. I remember Brae remark on his arrival that Toby really isn’t any higher than the high-water mark, I reassure them we have been here for nearly 20minutes and not a single wave has come up this high.
Profoundly the application of the first paramedic torniquet is the first I realised just how much time has elapsed. 10:19am Brae applies a torniquet proximally to our makeshift leg rope tourniquet on Toby’s left thigh. He proceeds to apply a torniquet to his right leg whilst Keely places a 16g cannula in this severely shocked patient’s right cubital fossa on her first attempt whilst kneeling in the sand. During this time the spinal board has been brought and placed on the beach facing towards the beach access ready to go. The second ambulance crew has arrived and is organising some intravenous fluid, I’m considering placing a second cannula on the left side before we go to the ambulance (there is a tendency in field medicine to stay on scene too long and I feel I was flirting with this at this time). Thankfully the next thing I know there are shouts of “wave” we take one look towards the ocean and see the incoming white water our focus turns to Toby. We scoop him up and head for higher ground where the spinal board is literally there ready and waiting.
Most of this experience is a bit of blur to me but honestly, I could not tell you how many people helped carry the spinal board, was it 6 or was it 8? but we raced him up to the ready and waiting ambulance stretcher. This is the first time in reassuring Toby that he was going to make it that I actually believed there was a medical chance he might. The relief in seeing him still breathing, moving and talking as the ambulance doors slammed shut is something that will stay with me for life.
I have felt compelled to write about my experience because I really can not fathom just how Toby has managed to survive. His sheer grit and will to live by swimming him self to shore whilst bleeding to death with femoral artery laceration and a disarticulated right foot is beyond belief to me. I am just so thankful that everyone on scene was able to come together to help save this absolute warriors’ life, so he was able to see the ones he loves again.
I would like to thank everyone who helped on scene in some way no matter how small your contribution I am just grateful we were able to help. I apologise if I have not mentioned you by name and what you contributed on the day, or I assigned your actions to someone else.
After a quick statement to the police, I headed back down to the waters edge to wash the blood from my hands and grab my surfboard from the sand, it began to dawn on me just how fragile life can be and how quickly things can change.
Thankfully Toby is still with us, he and his family will have a very long road ahead if you can contribute in anyway to his go fund me page, I would be eternally grateful. Feel free to share.
jesus. harrowing.
people are amazing.
Far out. What a scene. Unbelievable team effort.
Jeezuz, what a story.
Kudos to that Doc, and everyone involved for helping save Toby's life.
God that is mental
Was reading with tears in my eyes. What a crazy story.
Geez that was heavy.
Legends all round.
All the best to Toby.
There's been some crazy stories of survival in the last decade as shark attacks became more common.
Body-boarder Matt Lee who was attacked July 2015 was grey and they managed to keep him alive.
Miracle the Westpac chopper was in the air and carrying blood products at the time.
It's noteworthy that in almost every instance, fellow surfers go towards danger to help out.
We aren't cowards.
Weren't you working on a book FR?
Any progress?
Would be interesting to read an analysis of who does what and why during one of these incidents.
Sebastian Junger/ John Krakaeur style.
Not really.
shoeboxes full of notes is about it.
Wish Toby well with his ongoing recovery and kudos to all involved. People at their best in a shocking situation. While none would consider themselves as such, how fortunate in having emergency doctors, nurses and paramedics just being around like bloody superheroes. First Aid training can be so valuable for everyone too.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-25/shark-attack-port-macquarie-light...
A 44-year-old man is in a critical condition after he was bitten by a shark on the state's mid north coast.
Key points:
A man, 44, is currently being treated at Port Macquarie Hospital with leg injuries
Paramedics were called to Lighthouse Beach at Port Macquarie at 10 o'clock this morning
Lifeguards have launched a drone to try and identify the shark involved
The Mid North Coast Local Health District has confirmed the man is being treated at Port Macquarie Base Hospital for leg injuries.
Paramedics were called to Lighthouse Beach at Port Macquarie around 10 o'clock this morning.
Surf Life Saving NSW said it understood the man was injured at Watonga Rocks, south of Tacking Point.