A 27-year-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of a German tourist who was windsurfing off the coast of Western Australia has been solved.
In 1997, experienced windsurfer Werner Schoenhofer travelled to Western Australia from Germany with a group of sailors for a five-week holiday.
The group visited Geraldton, about 420 kilometres north of Perth, considered one of the best places in the world for windsurfing due to its strong winds and uncrowded conditions.
Mr Schoenhofer went windsurfing with his friend Klaus Maier at Point More, Geraldton, on the afternoon of 20 January 1997, but never returned to shore.
The friends became separated in the water and when Mr Maier returned to shore at about 5.30pm conditions had turned dangerous, with strong winds and rough seas.
Mr Maier became concerned for his friend and reported him missing half an hour later at Geraldton Police Station.
An air and sea search of the area failed to locate Mr Schoenhofer that night, but his board turned up at Coronation Beach, approximately nine nautical miles north of Point Moore, the following day.
A fishing boat captain found his shredded blue and yellow wetsuit and damaged windsurfing harness in the ocean near where his board was found later that day.
A coroner has found that windsurfer Werner Schoenhofer (pictured) was likely killed by a 13ft tiger shark 27 years ago off the coast of Western Australia.
Mr. Schoenhofer’s body was never found.
Deputy coroner Sarah Linton said the wetsuit was covered in bite marks and it was obvious to local residents that the tears had been caused by a shark.
A report from a senior scientist in the Department of Forensic Services Biology confirmed that damage to the wetsuit and harness was consistent with bites from a large tiger shark, around 12 to 13 feet long.
He said the report also confirmed through DNA testing that the wetsuit and harness had belonged to Mr Schoenhofer.
“Unfortunately, this is a rare but not unknown phenomenon in Western Australian waters, which are known to be frequented by sharks,” the deputy coroner said in her report.
‘Fatal tiger shark attacks are known to have occurred, in particular, in Geraldton waters and at the relevant time local fishermen had reported seeing more sharks in the area than normal due to unusually warm water conditions.’
Mr Schoenhofer’s body was never found after he disappeared from Geraldton, Western Australia (pictured) in January 1997.
Witnesses reported seeing Mr Schoenhofer fall about 2 kilometres from the shore, according to local newspaper Geraldton Guardian.
Another windsurfer, Rik Engstrom, who examined Schoenhofer’s board, said there was a dent in the sail at head level, suggesting he had been hit in the head.
Mr Engstrom told the West Australian newspaper this could have left him unconscious or incapacitated before he fell into the water and was grabbed by a shark.
“It is clear from the information provided by Mr Schoenhofer’s family that his disappearance came as a great shock to them as his family were very close and he was much loved,” Deputy Coroner Linton said.
‘They suffered a huge loss when he never returned home from Australia, but they accepted that he died on 20 January 1997 while doing something he loved and understood the risks involved.’
