Photo: Kye Wilkinson // 9 News Australia
Australian surfer Kye Wilkinson recently got the kind of vision most boardriders hope to never see: a 15-foot-long great white shark circling him. Luckily, with some quick work and team effort, Wilkinson and others managed to evacuate the lineup before the curious predator decided it was hungry.
The incident took place at Emerald Beach, Coffs Harbor, on the north coast of New South Wales. It all started when Wilkinson felt a mysterious bump from below. “It came up and hit the bottom of my board,” said Wilkinson to 9 News Australia. “I half fell backwards. I didn’t know what it was, to start with. I looked under me and saw pretty clearly what it was.”
As documented in footage from Kye’s GoPro, he went on to inform the surrounding lineup with an impressive amount of calm. “A great white just went past,” he says in the video, just before the fish was spotted again. The second sighting kicked off a frantic effort to make it back to the beach, with surfers alerting stragglers to the danger below, while also trying to stay together in order to hopefully dissuade an attack.
“Usually you see them once and they take off, but to have it circling three or four times was really scary,” Wilkinson elaborated to 9 News. Luckily, the entire group of surfers reached land without incident. However, Wilkinson said it would probably be a few weeks until he returns to the surf.
