When Ray Short and his wife were in London, a salesman told them an extraordinary tale of a shark attack at Bondi Beach.
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The Englishman claimed in the 1960s he had witnessed a teen pulled from the surf with a shark still attached to his left leg.
Ten minutes into the story Mr Short realised it was his story.
‘‘I casually said: ‘Gee, that’s funny, that is exactly what happened to me.’
‘‘I pulled the leg of my pants up [and] I said: ‘Except it was at Coledale, Wollongong’.
‘‘The poor man nearly fell over on the spot.’’
It has been 47 years since Mr Short was attacked by a great white shark while body surfing at Coledale Beach.
And it is one of the most extraordinary tales in the 100-year history of the Coledale Surf Life Saving Club which celebrates its centenary this weekend.
Mr Short was 13 in February 1966 when he headed out for one last afternoon surf.
It was then that a white pointer bit into the flesh of his left thigh, then released him.
He quickly started for the shore when the shark looped around and attacked again swallowing his leg up to his left knee.
‘‘By the time I knew what was going on it was dead on the leg, it was just there,’’ Mr Short said.
With all the blood, sand and dirt kicked up in the water no-one could see anything.
‘‘By the time they got to me I was kind of dancing around on one leg in a little bit closer to shore,’’ he said.
‘‘No-one realised it was still there when they came out, because it wasn’t thrashing and kicking or anything else.’’
‘‘I kept saying: ‘It’s still there!’’’
One of the lifesavers had to feel down the boy’s leg and bumped into the nose of a shark before rescuers realised the beast’s jaws were still locked onto the limb.
‘‘They picked me and the shark up, dragging us both into the beach,’’ Mr Short said.
‘‘They didn’t know what to do. They hit it and did all sorts of things trying to get it to let go and nothing worked.’’
In desperation rescuers decided to take both the shark and the teen to hospital. However when they picked Mr Short up, the shark – which was still alive – slid off his leg.
Coledale Surf Life Saving Club life member Ray Robertson was not on patrol but was on the beach that fateful day.
He ran to the surf club to call the hospital.
‘‘No-one knew what was going on, they just saw a lot of blood,’’ he said.
‘‘When they got him onto the beach we couldn’t stop the bleeding.
‘‘Ray was lucky. Coledale Hospital was really close.’’
Rescuers had to make a life or death decision: wait for an ambulance or rush the dying boy to hospital.
‘‘We decided that even though it was against the rules it was the best chance for his life,’’ Mr Robertson said.
Mr Short was thrown into the back of a panel van and rushed to hospital.
Coledale Surf Life Saving Club life member Mr Kevin Waddingham said the quick thinking of the patrol was the reason Mr Short survived at all.
‘‘That’s the only thing that saved his life, otherwise he would have bled to death,’’ he said.
The incredible tale of survival made news internationally and Discovery Channel covered it.
Mr Short returned to Coledale yesterday and will retell his story tonight at the surf club’s centenary dinner.
Centenary celebrations began yesterday with the launch of a book on the club’s history.
Tomorrow a junior carnival between local surf clubs is expected to draw a large crowd.
Surf rescue demonstrations, including a visit from the Southern Region SLSA rescue helicopter, will also be a feature.
For more details, go online to coledalebeach.com.au.