Luck in for surfer as shark bites

A SURFER has been described as “the luckiest man on Earth” after a shark snapped his board in half before biting his hip on the NSW north coast yesterday.

Byron Bay local Abe McGrath, 35, was lying on his board off Main Beach in Iluka about 6am when what is believed to have been a 3.5m-long great white shark hit him from underneath.

“It bit all around his board, it’s hit in the middle and you can see the bite mark where the break is,” said mate Bryce Cameron, who was on the beach. “The board has snapped in half straight away and that is when the shark’s teeth hit his leg.

“He is pretty much the luckiest man on Earth.

“He got a good look at it. He said it was a 3.5m white pointer. That is a juvenile but it is still big enough to kill. If he had been sitting on it he would have lost a leg.”

Mr Cameron said the shark then had “a second go” before Mr McGrath was able to “scramble” back to shore.

“He was stoked, he wasn’t in shock yet, he was really happy to be alive and in front of his mates. We were all giving him big hugs and felt pretty lucky to have him there,” Mr Cameron said

Elijah “Hobbit” Colbey was the only other surfer out in the ocean.

“A good wave rolled past, we were both watching it, and then I looked back and saw Abe skimming across the water splashing. I started paddling towards him for help and then my mind clicked to it being the worst possible outcome,” Mr Colbey said.

A wave brought Mr McGrath to where he could stand. They went to Ballina Hospital, where he was treated for the bite, before being transferred to Lismore Hospital.

NSWDPI confirmed it was investigating “a reported shark bite at Iluka”.