A surfer has recounted the “scary” moment he spotted a five-metre great white shark while hitting the waves on the NSW North Coast.
Kye Wilkinson, 23, was surfing at Shelly Beach in Coffs Harbour on Wednesday when he felt something nudge his surfboard.
“I felt something hit the bottom of my board and then saw a massive black shadow cruising under me,” he told 9News.
“I think adrenaline just took over.”
Wilkinson said the first hit nearly knocked him off his board.
He shouted out to other surfers who were in the ocean to warn them and when they didn’t hear him, he decided to take the risk and paddle over to them.
“It circled around and [went] back under me as I was paddling over,” he said.
“I’m sitting there discussing it [when] again a third time it came back.
“To have it circling three or four times, it was scary.”
He didn’t know the boys he had paddled over to, but he said they quickly banded together to make sure everyone was safe.
”I appreciate the boys a lot, they tried to keep everyone calm, everyone got back to shore safely,” he said.
“We all huddled on the beach, made sure everyone was okay.”
That was when they watched his GoPro footage, which he started recording after he felt the initial nudge.
“We didn’t realise how big it was until we actually saw it on the footage,” Kye said.
The shark appeared to be around four to five metres long.
”I think it’s going to take a while for the nerves to leave fully,” he said.
Kye said he’s probably going to stay out of the water for a bit following the close call.
