The last time a 500kg, three-metre long Great White jumped into my boat, I woke up safely under my duvet, with my great white cat playing bouncy castle on my bed. You have to hand it to these boys though, not only did they escape this situation unscathed, but they had to shack up with sharky while being towed from Seal Island all the way back to Mossel Bay harbour.

According to the Beeld Newspaper, the researchers were on an expedition near Seal Island when the shark jumped out of the water, partially landing in the boat. One of the researchers, Dorien Schroder, had this to say:

‘This is not a situation that I want to go through again’

(I predict that his reluctancy to go through this again could also be measured by the skid marks on his onderbroek, which were probably longer than the shark.)

Schroder did manage to call for help, and when the other boat arrived, they tied a rope around the animal’s tail fin, attempting to drag it out. Unfortunately this only resulted in the research boat being pulled as well. In the end they had to be towed back to the harbour, shark and all, with the researchers pouring water on the shark to keep it alive. The creature was eventually freed with a hook.

Apparently the shark didn’t injure anyone but did manage to damage some equipment and luckily, no one was hurt.

[Source: sowetanlive]