‘I just kept charging at it’: WA spearfisher Roy Dufall, 21, tells how he faced down a great white shark

“I just kept charging at it and screaming until I could no longer see its tail.” Those are the words of Roy Dufall, speaking after a jaw-dropping encounter with a great white shark off Chatham Island near Walpole on April 14. The 21-year-old from Ocean Reef was on an annual Easter holiday in Walpole with his family and friends, where they have been spearfishing off the south coast for the past 20 years. He was swimming towards a dhufish spot near Chatham Island when he came face-to-face with a 3.5m great white. “I saw the great white shark charging at me,” he said. “I did what I was taught to do while I was growing up because I’ve been spearfishing since the age of eight. “My dad always told me that a shark is a bit like a dog — if you run at a dog it will run away, but if you run away from a dog, it will chase you.” One of the first thoughts that pierced Mr Dufall’s mind when he saw the shark coming towards him was that he could be experiencing his final moments. “I went, ‘Oh my God — this is a great white, this is a great white, I could possibly die’,” he said. “I don’t really feel like being held up and chomped away at. “I didn’t want to do it (charge back at the shark), my legs were a bit numb, but I knew I had to do it.” The young spearfisher works as a commercial diver and comes from three generations of free divers, spearfishers and abalone divers. His father, Derek — who has had two great white shark encounters — taught him from a young age how to react during shark encounters. “The moment I saw the shark in mid-water, I made sure to swim down to mid-water with it so it wouldn’t be tempted to come up to the surface and I pretty much just charged it as hard as I could,” Mr Dufall said. “I swam directly at it with my spear gun, I was screaming and doing all the things you should do.” But one charge with a pointed spear gun was not enough to scare off the great white, which started to circle him. “From there it came to the spear end of my spear gun and I was about to give it a big whack on the nose, like you should, but it turned off at the last second,” Mr Dufall said. “And then from there it pretty much did about three or four circles around me. “Below me there was a seal ... but the shark was only focused on me and doing circles around me.” Mr Dufall said the shark was not backing off easily. “It was just on the very tip of my spear, while doing the circles, my spear would have only been a few centimetres in front of its eye,” he said. “This whole time I’m swimming hard at it while it’s doing circles around me and then after about four circles it turned off. “I just kept charging at it and screaming until I could no longer see its tail.” Even then, the coast was not clear. With two other people in the water, he needed to get himself and the others to safety. “I stuck my head out of the water, saw which direction the boat was in and I don’t think I’ve ever swam that fast in my life towards the boat,” he said. “The two other people I was diving with, Kevin and his daughter, were off in the distance so I started flooring it over to them to let them know there was a great white in the water and to get the hell on the boat.” It was not the first time the 21-year-old has had a close encounter with a shark. “I’ve seen plenty of sharks, I’ve seen tiger sharks, bronze whalers, there are quite a few grey nurses but they don’t really bother or hurt you,” he said. “This was my first great white and I was very surprised to see one because I never really thought I’d see one in my lifetime. “It was my first great white and I hope it’s my last.” Even after that unnerving experience, Mr Dufall got back in the water that same day and caught himself dinner. His father, Derek, who was on another boat in Walpole at the time of the encounter, said his son had done everything right. “Roy has been around a lot of sharks in the past but he has never seen a white shark,” he said. “He knows that what you need to do with a shark is be positive, decisive, aggressive and don’t show fear. “Sharks can read you, they might not read your thoughts but they can read your body language.” At the time, the divers had not fired at any fish and there was no blood or berley in the water. Derek said his son and the other divers had taken all of their usual safety precautions. “I’ve taken Roy diving, we do a lot of diving up north where we see a lot of bronze whalers and tiger sharks and all those sharks are very interested in your fish,” he said. “Where they were diving they hadn’t even shot a fish, it wasn’t like there was blood or berley in the water. “They had only just jumped in and were in the water for five minutes, they hadn’t even pulled the trigger on the spear gun ... and the great white just came straight in.” Esperance man Marc Payne has been researching great white shark behaviour for 20 years. He has survived 13 interactions with great white sharks during his more than 30 years experience as an abalone diver. He also co-ordinates marine operations and research projects on the apex predator, and has run the WA Government’s SMART drum line trial. Mr Payne said he thought Mr Dufall made the right decision to charge back at the shark. “I think what he did was perfect, I think he made the right decisions,” he said. “You need to convince the animal that you’re not food, I think he did everything to achieve that. “But that does not necessarily mean you’re going to survive an incident. “My suggestion to people is don’t provoke any sort of incident with great white sharks because they are predators and they are dangerous.” A Fisheries spokesman advised people to report any shark sightings to Water Police on 9442 8600 as quickly as possible. “Surfers, divers, and spearfishers can also protect themselves with a personal shark deterrent and if spearfishing, be sure to remove all speared fish from the water quickly and do not carry dead or bleeding fish attached to you,” he said.