Auckland swimmer Sarah O'Grady is vowing to never swim alone again after discovering a shark was pacing her warm up swim in Pilot Bay on Saturday.
She was swimming parallel to the beach before Sunday's Classic Builders Tinman Triathlon.
'A guy on the beach told me it was following me the whole way along the beach and we wish he had had a camera. So glad I didn't know about it until the very end of my swim,” says Sarah in a Facebook post.
'I didn't know it was following me it was only when I stood up at the end and it was there and then I ran in (tide was low) with it coming in hot behind me! Then a man on the beach told me it had followed me for ages!!
'I swam literally the loop we swam at Pilot Bay. Only found out from a spectator that the shark followed me the whole way back along the beach. I just saw the shark coming towards me after I stopped swimming and then it chased me into the shallows.
'This is why I don't go swimming alone. I was foolishly doing a pre-race swim by myself. Never again.”
The same shark starred in a video taken a few minutes later by another Tinman entry with Steven Morris from the Seamen Ocean Swim Squad who dived down to a fairly immobile looking shark on the harbour floor, and captioned it, 'Shark selfies in Pilot Bay with Seamen Phillips and Bruce The Bronze Whaler.”
6 comments
Scared Shark
Posted on 20-11-2017 15:39 | By Kefe
So she thinks that a shark wont attack her if she's not swimming alone or it is to raise her survival rate by 50%?
Amazed
Posted on 20-11-2017 16:33 | By daboy
I'm more amazed that there is not more sightings they are always around
Pilot Bay sharks
Posted on 20-11-2017 16:52 | By socantor01
At this time of the year bronze whale sharks come into Pilot Bay to give birth. There are no records of any attacks on humans by bronze whalers.Other species of sharks are rare in Pilot Bay. Certainly no man-eaters!
Socantor01
Posted on 20-11-2017 18:30 | By Christine1965
3 out of 10 attacks in NZ are bronzies. A guy in Te Kaha died in 76 from a bronzie and a guy up Auckland somewhere a few years ago got killed by a bronze whaler.
Silly
Posted on 20-11-2017 21:56 | By About that
Not swimming in a harbour because a shark may bite you is quite simply silly. These animals are not to be feared as they are harmless and are always swimming amoungst the thousands that swim at the mount beach every year for over 150 years and never one attack. The shark was probably following her feeding on small fish she spooked when she was moving through the water. Kingfish follow stingrays for the same reason.
As a longtime fisherman
Posted on 21-11-2017 11:24 | By The Caveman
I can tell you that there are far more small sharks in the harbor, than you would think.
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