Would the Tiger have Attacked the Swimmer?! -- Archive

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Subject: Would the Tiger have Attacked the Swimmer?!

Author:
Jim Morris

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Date Posted: 939483475PDT

http://www.igorilla.com/gorilla/animal/1999/shark_disrupts_swimming_race.html

from The LA Times

Shark Brings an Early End to This Novaquatic's Swim
By MARTIN BECK, Times Staff Writer

September 16, 1999
The Tiger shark was closing fast but the swimmer had no idea. Rick
Reeder was in the water between Lanai and Maui in Hawaii, finishing
a relay leg in the nine-mile Maui Channel Swim this month. Reeder
was 25 yards from the escort boat when the boat's captain saw the
shark moving toward Reeder, about 75 yards behind. The captain
ordered the boat put in reverse and Reeder's teammates from the
Irvine Novaquatics Masters Team started waving at the swimmer.
Reeder was still unaware. "I saw them waving their arms and my
first thought was that they're waving to encourage me," Reeder said
this week. "When I got close, I lifted my head up and I heard
someone yell, 'Get in the boat now, shark.' I put my face back down
in the water and started to swim to the boat as fast as I could."
Reeder, a captain with the Orange County Fire Authority, didn't have
much time to think. "It did cross my mind," he said, "that I hope he
investigates me before he eats me." The shark--at an estimated 15
feet, more than twice as long as the 6-foot-5, 240-pound
Reeder--caught up fast; Reeder reached the boat with little time to
spare. "We all grabbed for Rick, his legs and arms and everything,"
said Novaquatics team captain Scott Zornig, "and just as we pulled
his feet out of the water, the shark made a beeline for him and
probably came within five feet of him." The shark continued to circle
the boat for about 15 minutes. The Novaquatics tried by radio to warn
the other 57 boats in the race about the aggressive shark, but many
boats had their radios turned off, Zornig said, so the warnings went
unheeded. They decided to pull out of the race and warn other teams
in person. Fifteen boats pulled their swimmers out of the water,
including one woman who saw the shark pass under her, Zornig
said. The Novaquatics--Zornig of Rancho Santa Margarita, Reeder of
Orange, Craig Taylor of Laguna Niguel, Dan Sullivan of Irvine, Tom
Landis of Camp Sherman, Ore., and Jim Fitzpatrick of Laguna
Niguel--stuck with their decision and motored to the finish line at
Kaanapali Beach.

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Re: Would the Tiger have Attacked the Swimmer?!	neil	939513044PDT
Re: Would the Tiger have Attacked the Swimmer?! -- Jim Morris, 939745545PDT
I'd get out of the water!!!!	Jim Day	939685798PDT

WOULD? WOULD!?!	KT	939783113PDT
Seen em -- hd, 939931121PDT Stalked? -- BeachBum, 939934683PDT Tiger tales one of mine -- Jim Day, 939948251PDT At The Surface -- BeachBum, 939956745PDT No whats the story? -- Jim Day, 939977876PDT The Summer Before last...2nd attempt -- BeachBum, 940010314PDT
Tangling With A Tiger	BeachBum	939863278PDT