Shark attacks on mate haunt me

Torn between the surf he has loved since childhood and the sharks he now fears, Jordan Gianfrancesco is unsure whether he feels lucky or unlucky as he gazes out into the waters off Bunbury's back beach.

Mr Gianfrancesco knows he is fortunate to be alive having watched a "shadow" surge under his board at Bunker Bay in 2011, immediately after fellow surfer Kyle Burden was killed just metres away by a great white shark.

He says he also feels lucky to be able to share a beer with his close friend Sean Pollard, who lost both arms in a shark attack off Esperance in October.

But there are few days when he is not haunted by the brutal realities of "lightning striking twice". Mr Gianfrancesco said he had tried to forget vivid and horrific memories of the attacks but he wanted to help Mr Pollard raise the $150,000 he needs for electronic prosthetic hands.

The 24-year-old opened his Bunbury business Maker + Co to remain a part of the surfing community after Mr Burden's death and has played a key role in organising a concert for Mr Pollard, to be held at Hands Oval in Bunbury on Saturday.

"For the last four years I've been kind of doing my best to suppress the memories, then having this happen to one of your mates, it brings it back really, really quickly," Mr Gianfrancesco said.

"But at the same time, I feel that if there is anything at all I can help Polly with, you've got to do it. There's not much you can do and it's a pretty grim situation sometimes, but as friends we're all just stoked that he's still here."

Mr Gianfrancesco said he and Mr Pollard had formed a tight friendship as teenagers and travelled together to northern Sumatra in 2008 for a memorable surfing trip.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the attack on his friend, he said Mr Burden's death had kept him out of the water and away from the surfing sport he loved for several weeks because of an understandably "uneasy feeling". But he soon returned to the surf.

"I knew I just needed to get back in the water otherwise I knew I never would," he said.

"Half the thing of getting back in the water was the whole 'Lightning doesn't strike twice does it?'. But now having it happen again so close to a good mate, you really don't know what you should do. Do you give up something you love?

"My family don't want me surfing. My friends, we all surf and know we might be kind of doing the wrong thing, but it's something only a surfer could really understand."

Mr Gianfrancesco had been surfing with three other friends at Bunker Bay when Mr Burden was pulled underneath him by the shark as he frantically started to paddle to shore before turning back to see what he could do to help.

"We were all a part of it and we were really lucky that we could talk about it together and understand the situation," he said. "Not a day goes by when me and the boys who were involved with Kyle's attack are together that we don't think or talk about it. Some days you go surfing for five hours, other days I'll get a wave and go in - it's a real battle."

He said having seen the brutality of the attack on Mr Burden, he was convinced Mr Pollard would not survive and could not even bring himself to visit his friend in hospital because of the emotional pain.

He is angered by the debate over shark culling and drum-lines, claiming it is disrespectful to those left to suffer after a fatal or serious attack.

"People miss the point, it's the people who are left behind," he said. "We can talk about culling sharks all day and there are always going to be things for and against. But it's more seeing your mate struggle with everyday life and I think more about what's left."

Memorabilia worth more than $50,000 has come from donors, including AFL greats Kevin Sheedy and Leon Baker, Channel 7 news reader Rick Ardon and Surfing WA for an auction to be held on Friday night at the South Bunbury Football Club, where Mr Pollard played. Surfing star Taj Burrow has signed a board and Leanne Rice, whose husband Steve died suddenly last year while surfing in the South West, also donated his rare Alf Jeffries-shaped board and surfing magazine collection.

Mr Pollard said he had received "unbelievable" support as he strives to rebuild a meaningful life. He said friends had helped him refit his house with things such as new taps and door-handles as he adjusts.

"I'm overwhelmed by the whole thing, it's great to have all my mates just stick by me," Mr Pollard told _The West Australian _, flanked by his mother Kylie and brother Jake. "It keeps me going and gives me something to do, hanging out with my mates. I didn't realise how many good mates I actually had until now."

Mr Gianfrancesco said Saturday's concert would be a celebration of a mate he could easily have lost.

"Seeing Polly stride back into town and on the road to recovery, it's pretty cool, hey," he said. "We're just stoked that he's still here and we get to hang out and have a beer. What's happened has happened, but life goes on and this is a really big celebration to get the community around Polly."

Not a day goes by when the boys who were involved

with Kyle's attack don't think or talk about it. "