DOWNWIND QUEEN

SHARON ARMSTRONG

IMAGE Lynne Hauptfleisch

TPM Sharon, the first question I have always wanted to ask you is how did you get in to paddling?

and some casual river paddling and

key paddler and just overwhelmed by the awesome paddlers out there that appreciate down winding and

SA I grew up on a farm and found TPM Please won’t you tell my passion with water sports early us what happened on that on with water skiing, wake boarding morning? the ocean. canoe polo. So when I moved to SA It was shortly after lockdown Durban for work, It was a natural and I decided to take half a day progression to attempt to surf ski leave just to spend some time on as I always had a passion for the Sea. the ocean and destress from all the I was truly terrified of the thought work and craziness we had been of such a massive vessel in waves dealing with due to the pandemic. and would jump off my boat every It was hardly a downwind which is time I saw a big wave approach. My very rare for me. first race was a huge easterly in The water was crystal clear, with Durban and I probably got wiped sunny skies and no sign of any out 20 times before I finally made it fish activity, dolphins or whales. out to backline, then got attacked There was a 10 knot SW wind by blue bottles which forced me to blowing so I paddled from Durban paddle in half way, but the bug had to Umhlanga.The attack happened bitten and I was hooked. at 2pm in the afternoon. I was TPM You have become a bit of really just having a chilled paddle, a downwind celebrity – how do stopping, putting my legs into the you feel about that? water and paddling very casually. As I approached Umhlanga the sun SA Difficult to answer as I suppose was in my eyes and blinded me and hard to believe as I am a very low for a moment I was completely disorientated as to where the end was. So I turned a bit to paddle into Umhlanga, I was about 1.5 km out to sea at that point. 2 Minutes later I heard a massive crash and got flung into the air. I knew immediately I had been hit by what seemed like a huge shark.The force was very surprising and felt like I had been hit by a car.When I came up, I knew I had to get into my boat as fast as possible as the shark could be coming back to attack me this time and in a panic I tried to remount twice and failed. I realised that I was now thrashing around and it wasn’t achieving anything so I calmed down and attempted a third remount which was successful. It was challenging to balance as my leash was wrapped around the boat and was pulling at my leg so I had to balance more with my hands and get my legs out as quickly as possible. I felt if the shark was coming back it was probably targeting my legs that had been thrashing around. Once I had stabilised, I then turned back quickly to asses what the damage was and expected to see the back

of my boat bitten off, so was very relieved to see that it was intact. I then started to paddle and only then realised that my rudder was completely jammed at an angle and would not move and whenever I tried to paddle, the boat would go in circles. So I had to stop and physically manoeuvre my boat to face the right direction, paddle a few strokes until it started heading out to sea again and keep doing this all the way in. I then realised the boat was filling up with water.About 300 metres out it had completely filled up, but I was fortunate that it had enough buoyancy to keep me clear of the water. I was lucky enough to get through the surf and got to shore near Glenashley.Which was 2km from where my car was.The tough part was trying to drag the ski that was completely fill with water out the shore-break. I had to get it on an incline and let it drain a bit before getting it out. I phoned the friend that had dropped me off at the start and often tracks my paddles and she came and gave me a lift back to my car. TPM Was there anyone around the incident as I truly thought it was you who was able to help? the end that day, but those have also SA No, there were no other boats for the ocean and down winding still out at all. So I knew I had to selfexceeds my fear of sharks. rescue and ensure that I stayed calm

TPM How did you get back in paddlers that have hugely to the water? frightening encounters at sea?

SA I did paddle the next day on SA The best advice I can give the same course with about 15 to anyone that has had a scary other paddlers and have continued encounter at sea, is to first put my downwind paddling ever since. everything into perspective. I felt that if I didn’t get “back on There are actually so many more the horse” immediately, it would dangerous threats on land which we become more and more difficult deal with daily, so as scary as it may and fear may get the better of me. seem, I still feel the sea is one of the It was one of the hardest things I safest places to be if you respect have had to do. Initially it was very it.The easiest way to get your tough, every sound, shadow and confidence back is to start small fish would give me a fright. Slowly it again, and don’t put pressure on became easier and easier. I do think yourself. Just have fun, do what you it helped that we had been banned comfortable with and slowly build from paddling for 2 months prior up to where you want to be again. to the incident due to lockdown I strongly believe in carrying all the so not even a shark was going to safety equipment in the event such stop me from pursuing my passion. unforeseen circumstances happen. It It will always be at the back of helps to know you have some back my mind though. I did have awful up plans in these situations. nightmares for a few weeks after eased up now as-well. My passion

TPM What is your advice to