Great white shark takes a bite out of fishing-ski near Durban

A close encounter of the large and toothy kind has left one man thinking of taking a little break from the big blue sea, reports the North Coast Courier.

Bryan Machado from Durban took a trip up to Tinley Manor, about 60km north of Durban, on Sunday morning for a spot of fishing on his fishing-ski when he came eye-to-eye with a three-metre great white shark.

“We arrived at the beach before 5am and paddled out past the backline,” Machado told the Courier.

“I had my feet hanging over the sides as I normally do and I put one line in with a live bait. We then headed out deeper for about 30 minutes at a slow paddle.”

It was at around 5.30am with the sun up that a calm morning’s fishing came to a terrifying end.

“All I remember is seeing a flash on my left side – then the impact came and knocked me and my boat right into the air.”

Machado said he was not sure how, but he was lucky to come falling back down right into the seat of his his fishing-ski.

He recounted how the shark latched onto the side of his fishing-ski, its head shaking, tail thrashing and dorsal fin right at his elbow.

A great white shark of around three meters took a chomp at Bryon Machado’s fishing-ski.

“It was terrifying. All I remember seeing was its head and nose sticking out of the water and a huge black eye, eye-balling me.”

Fortunately, after a quick ‘taste’ of his fishing-ski, the great white decided he was not worth the indigestion, and swam away.

Unfortunately, due to the bow wave and the shark’s shaking, his boat was rapidly filling with water and he understandably was not keen on going for a dip.

Machado managed to paddle to a nearby ski boat, which followed him back to shore just to be certain he was all right.

“It felt like it was thrashing for hours, but it was probably only for a few seconds,” he recalled.

Since his encounter, the KZN Sharks Board paid him a visit to inspect the bite mark on his fishing-ski and confirmed that it was a great white shark of about three metres or more.

Machado laughingly said he would be taking a little sabbatical from the deep sea.

“Well, the boat needs some repairs – but even then I think I’m going to be taking a little break.”

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