By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press Writer

CANBERRA, Australia - A surfer fought off a seven-foot shark with his board at an Australian beach Saturday, and then continued surfing, a life guard said.



The surfer, Simon Letch, returned to Sydney's Bronte Beach 30 minutes after surviving the attack with a replacement board, despite the beach being closed because of the danger, life guard Aaron Graham said.


"He was pretty calm about it, very laid back," said Graham, who was on the beach when the surfer, aged in his 30s, rode his damaged board in.


Nine Network television news reported that Letch is English. He declined to comment to the network.


Letch was among a small group of surfers sitting on their boards about 100 feet offshore at dawn when the shark attacked, Graham said.


"He jumped off the back and pushed the board toward the shark, keeping it between them," Graham said.


The shark took two bites of the fiberglass board before ceasing the attack, Graham told The Associated Press by telephone. "There were two big puncture mark bites on the board, but it didn't actually bite a hunk out of it so he was able to ride it in."


The species of the shark wasn't known.


Last month, a 20-foot great white shark tore a man in half, killing him instantly as he snorkeled off Australia's west coast.


That was the first shark fatality in Australian waters since last December, when an 18-year-old surfer was bitten in half by a 16-foot great white off a beach in the southern city of Adelaide. A week earlier, a shark killed a 38-year-old diver spear fishing on the Great Barrier Reef off northeast Australia.

The report I read in the Sunday Mail, said that the alleged shark attack in Sydney, was probably a bronze whaler shark.
You know that more people die from bee stings than from shark attacks, and definitely more from crazy drivers, but for some reasons, a shark attack invokes more fear than being run over by mad taxi driver.

Yes, trop, same with crocs, snakes, spiders, box jelly fish, etc - the total annual deaths wouldn't come anywhere near the Easter road toll alone. But the media doesn't help - once saw a headline in Sydney's Manly Daily - "Man Almost Bitten by Funnelweb Spider", and yesterday's Cairns Post's huge headline "WARNING - Eyeball Sucking Leeches Discovered".

Then there was the famous Freudian slip (or was it?) by an ABC newsreader back in the days of steam-driven radio. He announced that a Sydney woman had been bitten on the funnel by a fingerweb spider.

Damn being bitten on the funnel would bring a tear to your eye, you would also find out who your friends were.

I hear that they had no trouble catching that spider for identification.... it was the one walking around with a smile on its face!

Alan, Neil & Pat....... you guys crack me up!

Melodie