Battle With The Paddle: Shark Attack Victim Tells How She Fought Back and Won

“I’m happy to be alive and to have all my limbs” were the first words that Linda Whitehurst said after being released from the Emergency Department at Byron Bay Hospital yesterday after she was attacked by an 8 ft great white shark off Main Beach, AU.

Linda and her husband Glen were paddling surf skis about 150 metres from shore and heading back to the beach at the time of the attack.

“We were riding the waves back in and I saw this big thing underneath me. At first I thought maybe it was a dolphin or a turtle so I kept paddling. Then I turned around and saw this big dark object and I knew it was a shark
thought, ‘oh my God’ and screamed and tried to scare the shark.”

Glen was paddling in his own surf ski when he heard his wife scream and saw the shark attack her.

“It lifted itself out of the water and onto the back of the boat. It had the back of her boat in its mouth and gave it a good shake,” he said.

Linda was knocked into the water.

Glen said that after she was knocked out of the boat she went underwater and at that stage he was ‘very concerned’.

“I just tried making as much motion and noise as I could to show the shark that I’m bigger and stronger than it, ” Linda said. “I got my blade (paddle) and was punching the shark in the face as hard as I could.

Linda managed to beat the shark away and swim back to her surf ski which had drifted away. Glen told her to swim over to his surf ski, but hers was closer. She managed to get back in and paddle to shore.

Linda, a registered nurse, used to work at Byron Bay Hospital. She said she wasn’t panicked once she was out of the water. Glen drove her to the hospital where she was treated for a cut she got hitting the shark and got four stitches in her forearm.

[source]