Shark attack victim 'lived to the fullest'

Adam Strange funeral

LAWRENCE SMITH/ Fairfax NZ Zoom

The Muriwai community gathered to farewell shark attack victim Adam Strange with a surfboard circle.

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Adam Strange lived life to the fullest and it was fitting that his end would be so extreme, say friends of the man killed in a shark attack last week.

A funeral for Strange, who was killed while swimming at Muriwai beach on Auckland's west coast, was held this afternoon at the beach's surf life saving club.

A guard of honour was created with surfboards acknowledging Strange's love of the ocean. His body arrived in a VW combi van and a karanga and conch shell called family into the club. 

Mourners spilled out of the main hall and watched the funeral by video link.

Family, including Strange's brother, who had flown in from Cambodia, spoke of Strange's love for life.

Many tributes spoke of the surfer, snowboarder and filmmaker's love for living everyday to the fullest.

It was fitting that Strange had to go out in such dramatic fashion, friends said.

However, they said his biggest role was husband to Meg and father to daughter Indigo.

Cam Sanders, who spoke at the funeral, said outside the funeral that it had been six days of an incredibly "amazing" and "emotional" ride.

He had been blown away by the support of the Muriwai community and how they had helped create a wonderful send off for Strange.

Muriwai Volunteer Lifeguard Service chairman Tim Jago explained the chronology of Strange's death and confirmed two sharks were involved in the attack.

Strange was swimming in an area where sharks were feeding in the shallows. One was a bronze whaler, the other a white pointer which took Strange's body 300 to 400 metres towards the main beach.

Jago said Strange's death from the white pointer's attack would have been ''almost instant''.

Two lifeguards in an inflatable boat tried to rescue Strange by driving into the white pointer and hitting it with a paddle but they realised Strange was dead.

Police fired 12 shots at the shark, as it was still "harassing the body'', Jago said.

He said emergency services video footage gave him confidence the shark had been killed by the gunfire.

- © Fairfax NZ News