That's not a shark...

I was out beyond the breakers at North Curl Curl Beach today, teaching Larisa and Liam how to surf, when the shark alarm was sounded. At the time I was holding onto Liam's board as Larisa was drifting a little further out in a gentle rip.

For those that have not been in the water when a shark alarm sounds, it an amazing sight to see, as swimmers and surfers surge onto the safety of the shoreline. I pushed Liam onto the second last wave in the set and watched him head for shore. Larisa had drifted even further out to sea and couldn't get onto the same wave, so I started to swim out towards her.....this would have looked interesting from the beach, as everyone else was headed in the opposite direction.

However, before I could reach her, she managed to turn her board around by herself and catch the last big wave in the set. I was now stranded out the back, between sets and caught in a rip which was steadily dragging me further out to sea.

After a few nervous moments of treading water I was finally able to catch a wave in the next set and body surf most of the way back to the beach. As I waded through waiste deep water I could see the kids frantically waving me ashore. I looked back over my shoulder and could see a few other people struggling in - I could relax a little. I wasn't on dry land, but there was a meal between me and the shark.

The kids were standing next to a Lifesaver.

'How big is the shark', I asked her.

'Aw, about this', she motioned with her arms apart.

'That's not a real shark', came an incredulous voice from behind her.

I lifted my chin to look over shoulder. There was a bronzed surfer leaning nonchalantly against his board.

'My c*ck's bigger than that', he said. As he strode towards the surf.