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A 15-year-old boy has survived a terrifying brush with a shark that almost knocked him off his surfboard at a Mandurah beach in Western Australia.
Bryce Hickman signalled to his twin brother to paddle to safety as the two-metre predator darted away.
“I was waiting for another wave and something just came and nudged my surfboard and I was too far out to get the reef,” Bryce told 9News.
“I looked again and it was just this big shark and then it darted off.”
The fin of the predator almost knocked the teen off his board at Cosies Surf Break in Falcon about 7am today.
“It just came and nudged my surfboard … yeah, it’s pretty scary,” he added.
The 15-year-old’s twin brother, who was also in the water at the time, heard Bryce’s scream “shark” and came into shore as well.
The shark quickly swam away but Bryce was still 40 metres from the beach and paddled as fast as he could to get to safety.
Just 350 metres away from where the Year 8 student was surfing is Gearies Break.
That beach is where 29-year-old Ben Gerring was killed by a great white six years ago.
Thursday’s scare prompted authorities to shut down surrounding beaches for about two hours along a one kilometre stretch from Falcon Bay.
But the close encounter wasn’t enough to scare the boys out of the water and not even a mother’s warning could keep these brothers away.
“Mum was pretty terrified [telling me] you’re not going to go surfing anymore,” Bryce laughed.
“I only got one wave so just waited a few hours and came back then, and got the last couple of sets for the day.”
Source: 9News
