Pescadero, California - A man says he survived an uncomfortably close encounter with a Great White shark off the Northern California coast that left 45cm bite marks on his kayak.
Adam Coca says he was fishing in his four-metre kayak near Pigeon Point, about 70km south of San Francisco, on Saturday when something bumped his boat and flipped him over, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
The 45-year-old says he was halfway in the water when he saw a Great White shark chewing on the kayak. He climbed atop the overturned boat and held on as the shark continued biting the nose.
Coca says the shark then got tangled in the paddle leash and bit through it before swimming away.
Nearby kayakers helped Coca, who was unhurt, paddle to shore. Photographs of the kayak show it covered in bite marks, with some tooth holes in the bow. - Sapa-AP