A teenage surfer has revealed his terrifyingly close call with a shark which almost knocked him from his board - before the lad then ignored his mum's warning by getting back on the waves two hours later.
Bryce Hickman was 40 metres from the shore after he spotted the 2m shark which had knocked his board at Cosies Surf Break at Mandurah, near Perth, in West Australia on Thursday.
But even coupled with his mum's strict reaction not to go surfing again, the close encounter still wasn't enough to prevent the 15-year-old from riding the waves again.
The beach, which is metres from where 29-year-old Ben Gerring was fatally attacked by a shark in 2016 whilst surfing, was promptly shut down for two hours about Bryce's encounter.
Bryce told how he had been paddling with his twin brother when he spotted the beast, screaming for him to get himself to safety.
"I was waiting for another wave, then something kind of nudged my surfboard," the teen told Australia's 9News.
"I looked again and there's this big shark, then it darted off."
The toothy predator nearly knocked Bryce off his board as it swam away.
"It was pretty scary," he added.
Bryce's brother heard his screams, saying, "I just saw Bryce yelling 'shark!' so I came in too."
The two then furiously paddled for their lives to get back to shore.
"We just paddled straight over the reef. I didn't want to hang around that long."
But teeanger Bryce said he was hell-bent on carrying on with his love of surfing, adding the near-miss wouldn't deter him from hitting the water again.
“I only got one wave, so just waited a few hours and came back, and got the last couple of sets for the day.
"My mum was pretty terrified. [She said] 'you're not going surfing again'."
The shark, later identified as a Bronze Whaler, was not an aggressive a breed as its cousin the Great White, but has been known to attack humans in the past.
Ben Gerring, a surfer from West Australia, died in June 2016 after his leg was mauled by what was thought to have been a Great White off the same part of the coast.
The 29-year-old was hauled from the water and rushed to hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Between 2011 and 2020, Australia recorded 161 unprovoked shark attacks on humans, 22 of which were fatal.
The country still has far fewer attacks than the USA, which saw 455 attacks in this time, although only seven cost the person their life.
