A surf lifesaver who was attacked on his surf ski by a suspected great white shark off Perth believes he's still alive because it became entangled in parts of the craft.
Martin Kane was shaken but uninjured after the 3m shark cut through a group of four surf lifesaving club paddlers and bit his surf ski in half 150m off Mullaloo Beach yesterday. The 62-year-old said it felt like being "rammed by a jet ski'.
"When the shark bit it, it went off like an explosion. It didn't strike me until I saw the fin that it was a shark."
Kane was rescued by a fellow paddler after a petrifying few moments when he was forced to use his paddle to fend off the circling shark as he trod water. Stringers that run down the length of the ski and control the rudders saved his life. "I suspect that its teeth were caught up in that and it was too bothered trying to get rid of the ski to chase me."
It was the second shark incident off Perth yesterday. A fisherman reported a 5m great white had attacked a crab pot off Saxon Reef in Warnbro Sound, 50km south of Mullaloo.
