"We were shouting out, ‘Swim for your life, mate! Swim for your life!’ But he obviously didn’t have a chance."
Editor’s note: In BeachGrit’s quest to bring surfers the latest news, our San Diego desk monitors various news feeds for breaking stories. The story below, which ain’t breaking ’cause it happened in 2004, was all over the feeds, and long before the Australian desk felt the sun and could correct it, was published, following the lead of those venerable defenders of public discourse The Mirror, Daily Express and AOL.com.
Absolute horror in Western Australia, over the weekend (long ago), when 29-year-old Brad Smith was bitten in half in what appeared to be a coordinated great white shark attack. The nightmare unfolded at Lefthanders, some twenty clicks north of Margaret River, the second stop on the World Surf League Championship Tour and exactly one month away.
The Mirror reported eyewitnesses describing a “sudden and dramatic commotion around Smith” in the water before a shark “the size of a car” burst through the ocean surface, rammed his surfboard and snapped it directly in two. Smith is said to have fought off the shark but, terribly, another shark moved in and began circling then lunging.
Mitch Campbell, Smith’s friend, was out in the water and shared, “You could see Brad trying to whack at them to keep them away. We were shouting out, ‘Swim for your life, mate! Swim for your life!’ But he obviously didn’t have a chance. They were massive.”
That’s when the second shark made its final move, opening its jaws “the width of a car” and taking him down. Moments later, the water turned red and what was left of his body floated to the surface.
Smith’s friends boldly paddled out to him, dragging his body back to shore where an anesthesiologist, who was surfing nearby, rushed over to help, though it was too late.
Officers launched a search by boat, for the two monsters, and also a helicopter though they were never found.