By Aeysha Kassiem
Seeing is believing. Or, at least, that's the word from Gavin Hau of Constantia, who had a close encounter with a geat white shark last week when it swam up to his boat, only about 100m offshore.
Hau, 49, a frequent spear-fisherman and scuba-diver, told the Cape Times on Monday that he and four friends were returning from a fishing trip to Simon's Town when they spotted the shark, which came up to the boat and circled it for about 20 minutes.
"It came very close to our boat and bit at the propeller."
'Our boat, which is 8,5m long, shook with the force' "It did not savage it, but our boat, which is 8,5m long, shook with the force," said Hau.
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He said that, because the shark had come so close to the boat, he could estimate its length which, according to him, was about three-quarters the length of the boat.
"It was about five metres in length and was the biggest shark I have ever seen."
"I have encountered sharks before, but never one this big or this close to the shore," he said.
Capetonians have been on high alert for sharks recently, following an attack last month at Muizenberg beach that left teenage surfer John Paul "JP" Andrew without his right leg.
He was discharged from hospital at the weekend.
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This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Times on May 04, 2004
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