A Jersey lifeguard has described how a colleague paddled directly over what appeared to be a shark moments before St Ouen’s Bay was closed over the weekend.
RNLI lifeguard Tom Rolls said the animal, estimated to be between 10ft and 12ft long, swam directly beneath a rescue board after being spotted close to shore on Saturday morning.
His colleague Nick had one of the closest encounters with the animal as he paddled “right over it” whilst out on the rescue board.
“It must have been really close to the surface”
“He said it looked definitely more like a shark than anything else,” explained Tom.
“He even said he kind of punched it as he was paddling, so it must have been really close to the surface.
“It was darkish grey, about 10 to 12 feet long, and then it swam away really quickly from under his board.”
The reported sighting happened at around 10.40am, with the animal entering the bay from the west before heading south around 40 metres from the shoreline.
Tom admitted the report initially seemed too extraordinary to believe.
“We got the call through from one of the guards at Watersplash, and he basically said that a shark had been spotted in the lineup,” he said.
“You’re having us on here”
“Initially, we were like, ‘that’s a joke, you’re having us on here’. But then he was persistent. He said multiple sightings had been seen by members of the public.”
Because the species could not immediately be identified, supervisors decided to raise the red flag across the whole bay and ask swimmers and surfers to leave the water while searches were carried out.
Tom used the public-address system at La Braye to ask people to leave the sea calmly.
“Everyone was super calm about it,” he said. “There were lots of surprised looks, obviously – us included – as it’s never happened before.
“It’s the first time in history that Jersey has closed the beach for a shark sighting.”
A rescue jet ski then patrolled the length of the bay for around half an hour, searching both close to shore and in deeper water.
Lifeguards also towed one swimmer back to the beach after spotting him still in the water following the announcement.
When no further sign of the animal was found, the red flags were lowered and the bay reopened around an hour after the initial sighting.
No injuries or incidents were reported.
Tom said the animal appeared similar to the smalltooth sand tiger shark that washed ashore at Greve d’Azette earlier this year, although it was not formally identified.
