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AUCKLAND, NZ — Around the world, Hollis is known for its premium quality and attention to detail. From backplates, wings, harnesses and lighting systems, to sidemounts and instrumentation, we concept, engineer, test and test again to ensure we offer the best. Period.
That’s why it wasn’t entirely a surprise when our friends at Dive Supplies in Auckland, New Zealand, recently shared a story with us about a Great White Hollis run-in!
Recently one of Dive Supplies’ customers, a commercial abalone diver working in the Chatham Islands, reported that he’d been grabbed/dragged by a shark while on the job earlier this month.
“[The victim came in] to the shop with the attached photos of his Hollis HTS system that he had previously purchased from us,” Grant Searancke, director of Dive Supplies told Hollis in an email. “He was grabbed by a Great White Shark while diving and towed around underwater.”
Searancke says that although the man was jostled and frightened during the encounter, the victim managed to escape without so much as a scratch.
“Luckily it only had hold of the cylinder and BCD and he was unscathed,” he explains.
After a short amount of time being dragged through the water, the diver took matters into his own hands and decided to fight back. Somehow he was able to grab ahold of a metal bar, which he used to repeatedly jam into the Great White shark’s gills. Kiwis strike again!
“[He] was set free by … jamming a metal bar in the shark’s gills!”
“The man was finally was set free by twisting around and repeatedly jamming a metal bar in the shark’s gills!” Searancke writes. “They actually pulled a sharks tooth out of the small hole in [the plastic buckle cam].”
According to the impressed dive shop owner, far from swearing off diving and his profession after the intense ordeal, the abalone diver simply bought a new wing and went for the Elite harness on a stainless plate. “I guess he figured it would give him more protection next time.” he muses.
Although we can’t guarantee all of our products will stand up to shark attack, our harnesses and gear are known for their durability, and our customers keep coming back.
Here’s what another stoked commercial diver had to say about the HTS2: “I made the switch to HTS2 from a ‘standard’ BC and I’m never going back. Added the SS Backplate and now I don’t need to add any weight for warm water diving. Comfortable, modular, and easy to personalize. It’s made of quality materials and well put together.”
