Piha lifeguard sounds shark alarm

A Piha lifeguard raised the shark alarm at Auckland's popular west coast beach yesterday after spotting a large fin less than two metres from where he was swimming.

Campbell Leslie, 22, was on a training exercise with another guard and a few minutes before had leaped into the water from an inflatable rescue boat when he saw the shark.

"I told my mate to hurry up and pick me up," he said yesterday.

"It wasn't huge but it was big enough to cause damage."

Once he was safely back in the boat, he raised two arms in the air to signal to lifeguards on shore to sound the shark siren.

Surfers competing in a national under-16 event were sent racing for the safety of the sand and swimmers rushed from the water.

"It was right in the surf at south Piha - it wasn't a small shark," said Surfing New Zealand's Ben Kennings.

Three inflatable boats were launched to locate the shark and it was seen once more fairly close to shore but then disappeared.

Piha-based surfer Ryan Hawker was competing in the semifinals of the Billabong Grom Series event when the siren sounded but did not see the shark.

His mother, Liz, watching from her Piha home, said it was a "serious" shark sighting and she felt some anxiety when the event, which 14-year-old Ryan won, resumed about half an hour later. Ryan, one of New Zealand's up-and-coming young surfers, was unconcerned about the shark.

"I didn't actually see it," he said.

Conditions at Piha were fairly rough with surf up 1.5m.

Mr Leslie said he had seen sharks before at Piha and yesterday's sighting wouldn't be stopping him from getting back in the water.

"I'd always go back out again."