First shark attack at Bondi in 80 years

The surfer, known last night only as Glen, 33, of Dover Heights, suffered deep cuts to his arm when he was struck by the shark while surfing the break off South Bondi about 8 o'clock.

The attack took place 36 hours after a navy clearance diver was mauled off Woolloomooloo, in Sydney Harbour.

Able Seaman Paul de Gelder, 31, was attacked on Wednesday during a counter-terrorism exercise. He underwent a second operation yesterday and was in a serious but stable condition in intensive care last night, a spokesman from St Vincent's Hospital said.

The Sydney Harbour Swim Classic will go ahead next month despite the attacks.

There had not been a recorded shark attack at Bondi since 1929, when Colin Stewart, 14, was killed and four weeks later John Gibson, 39, the son of a Melbourne department store owner, lost his life.

The first decent waves in weeks drew many surfers to Bondi last night. After the attack lifeguards sounded the shark alarm and ordered everyone from the water.

James McIntosh, 29, who works for the surfing magazine Stab, was paddling back out to the break when he realised there had been a shark attack and headed to shore.

He tied a leg rope around the victim's arm as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. "I just kept pulling that leg rope as hard as I could. As soon as we put the tourniquet on there wasn't any bleeding."

Mr McIntosh said the man "didn't think he was going to make it".

"He was in a fair bit of a mess. He said: 'Tell my wife or girlfriend, Lisa, that I love her.' Then he said, 'She's pregnant'. He thought his number was up, I guess."

Mr McIntosh's friend, Will Onus, 25, was paddling on his board next to the victim, who was sitting on his board, waiting to catch a wave, when the shark dragged him through the water.

"Will felt a knock and then saw the shark just throw [the victim] a big distance," Mr McIntosh said.

The victim got back on his board and caught a wave to shore.

A French tourist, Mikael Thomas, 21, said of the man's injuries: "We could see all of his bones cut like with a big knife. It was very clear. We could see all into his hand."

Nobody was able to identify the size or type of shark involved.

Rowan Smith, 28, was surfing about 80 metres away when the attack happened. He said that back on the beach the victim was "just shell-shocked and not saying much. Just bone was sticking out of the end of his arm."

Mr Smith said he had never seen a shark at Bondi before, but the last few evenings had "felt sharky" because the water had been murky.

Another surfer, Kane Skennar, 35, said surfers and fishermen had noticed a big increase in shark sightings around Sydney this summer. "There's going to be more attacks," he said.

Inspector Christine George, of Waverley police, said an off-duty nurse and doctor were on the beach and helped the man. She praised the efforts of the surfers who helped. "I understand that he felt something hit him in the surf. He had just caught a wave and was going to paddle back out [when he saw he was injured]."Other attacks in past 200 years

* The last recorded attack at Bondi Beach was in 1929, when John Gibson was killed. Four weeks earlier Colin Stewart, 14, lost his life to a shark at the beach.

* The last fatal attack in Sydney Harbour happened in 1963, when the actress Marcia Hathaway was killed at Sugarloaf Bay in Middle Harbour.

* There have been at least 267 recorded shark attacks in NSW in the past 200 years, about 28 per cent of which were fatal. There have been 719 documented attacks around Australia since white settlement, and 193 fatalities.

* Before last night the most recent attack was on Wednesday, when Able Seaman Paul De Gelder pictured, a navy clearance diver, was bitten on the right hand and leg.

Sources: Fairfax Digital Collections/Taronga Zoo's Shark Attack File