WA windsurfer escapes with bitten board after great white shark encounter at popular surf spot

A windsurfer has come face to face with a suspected great white shark at a popular surf spot in Western Australia, and walked away with a bitten board but otherwise unscathed. Andy McDonald was riding his hydrofoil board – a type of board with a wing attached, allowing surfers to hover above the water – at Bombie surf break near Margaret River at about 5.45pm on Monday evening with a group before he suddenly came crashing into the water. Footage uploaded to Swellnet showed the board being sucked beneath the surface followed by dramatic splashes of foamy water as a bird circled overhead. For McDonald, a seasoned 61-year-old surfer, adrenaline quickly kicked in. “I fell on to it … and I was like, punching it,” he said in a video shortly after the attack, uploaded by local news outlet the Augusta Margaret River Mail, in which he appeared shirtless and wrapped in a beach towel. “And then I had my sail, and I jumped up on the sail just to get out of the water. And then I started screaming for help.” Sign up: AU Breaking News email As luck would have it, his friend Matto was nearby and came over straight away. The pair spent about 15 minutes paddling back to shore, with Matto helping to push him. McDonald had no injuries, but a huge bite had been taken out of his board. “I’m good, I lived to tell the story,” he laughed in the footage, hopping into his ute with his chomped board tied to the back. “I don’t think I’ll sleep for a week.” McDonald, who is originally from Melbourne, didn’t get a look at the shark but estimated it was about three metres in length. Locals were quick to praise his courage, with one resident commenting on the Augusta Margaret River Mail Facebook page: “Our handy Andy, a cat busy using up his nine lives.” “You’re a legend mate,” another wrote. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development issued a shark warning for Prevelly near Margaret River after the interaction was reported at around 6pm. “A reported white shark bit a foil board causing the rider to fall into the water. The rider was not injured,” the alert read. “The rider was located between Boat Ramp Surfing Spot and Bombie Surfing Spot at the time of the interaction.” It urged residents to follow beach closures and take additional precaution in the area as officers monitored the situation. There have been four fatalities from unprovoked shark bites in Australia this year, an increase on 2024 and 2023 but down from seven unprovoked fatal attacks in 2020. According to the Australian Shark Incident Database, maintained by Taronga Conservation Society Australia, there were 1,285 shark “incidents” between 1791 and June 2025. The long-term increase in the number of shark bites has been attributed to more people using the water, climate change, habitat depletion and uptake of watersports.