Father-of-two sandwiched in shark’s jaws walked away with a scratch

Victorian surfer Marcel Brundler single-handedly fought off a 4m white pointer after it chomped into him and his board and dragged him under. But you won’t believe his injuries.

Marcel Brundler single-handedly fought off a 4m white pointer.

But it took even more bravery for the 40-year-old surfer to return to the water just a week later.

Mr Brundler — attacked while surfing at Cathedral Rock near Lorne three years ago — desperately fought off the huge shark as it chomped into his surfboard and fortuitously thick wetsuit.

The struggle lasted about a minute before the father-of-two managed to elbow the shark in the face.

“He actually dragged me under water,’’ Mr Brundler said.

“He just sandwiched me with my board in his jaw.

Marcel still has the board and the wetsuit with the bite marks in it. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“Then a wave came which probably saved my life. It must have let go right at that moment and I lay on my board and caught the wave right up on to the rocks.”

The shark left multiple bite marks in the surfboard and wetsuit.

Mr Brundler somehow escaped with a graze to his hip and shark-mouth bruises around the waist and back.

“I don’t know how it possibly didn’t penetrate,’’ he said.

“Usually with the guys who die it’s instant attack — they never see the shark. For me it was different. It just swum past me. It eyeballed me and swam away. But then unfortunately he turned around and tried to get me. Somehow I just knew it was coming back and knew it was pointless trying to paddle to shore.

Victoria and Tasmania shark attack map: Every significant incident plotted

“So I lay on my board and readied myself. It just came straight up from underneath. The teeth went the whole way through the board and ripped my wetsuit. It pulled me down.

“I still have the surfboard and the wetsuit. I’ve showed it to a few fishermen and people who know a bit about sharks. We think it was probably a 4m white pointer.

“It was so big. It still amazes me that there was barely a scratch on my skin.

“I doubt I’ll ever truly forget about it — something like that is life changing.

“I went back for a surf one week after — but I didn’t last long. I was in the water for maybe 10 minutes. Then I let it go for the whole summer. I only went back six months later.

“I’m always looking for the signs — birds and what’s going on in the water. I always watch my back when I never used to.”

Mr Brundler has surfed five times in the past week while his sons, aged eight and four, also get on a board.

Marcel Brundler is now surfing again in Lorne with his boys Bob, 4 and Frankie, 8, but it took some time to get back in the water. Picture: Alex Coppel

Thoughts of the attack always lingered.

But the Swiss-born nature lover, who started a handyman business this year, was thankful it occurred to remind him not only about the danger of sharks but their beauty.

“I feel lucky. Even lucky for this to happen in many ways,’’ Mr Brundler said.

“Not very many people get to see a big pointer swimming past them in the water.

“It’s an impressive animal. It teaches you a bit as well I think. A lot of people just jump in the water and go surfing. They don’t look at the signs.

“I grew up watching Jaws and Ben Cropp nature documentaries and stuff like that. I always loved sharks. I haven’t changed at all on that. I think it’s still an amazing animal. It just had a bit of a mistake when it was grabbing on me.”

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Shark attacks have increased in Australian waters in the past 20 years.

SHARK ATTACKS ON THE RISE IN AUSTRALIA

Shark attacks, while still rare, have increased in Australian waters over the past 20 years.

Nationwide there have been eight fatalities so far this year — the highest level of deaths since 1929.

Only on Friday a 5m white shark spotted just 300m from shore shut popular Perth tourist beach North Cottesloe while a shark was this week spotted off Lorne.

Victoria’s most recent attack occurred in May when French surfer Dylan Nacass, 23, frantically fended off a shark which grabbed hold of his leg near Bells Beach.

But the state hasn’t had a confirmed fatality since 1956.

Historically there’s been more than a dozen deaths recorded.

The attacks — documented as far back as 1849 — include 12 deaths in Port Phillip Bay alone.

Two 17-year-old boys — Monte Robinson and Andrew McNeill — were killed in the single deadliest attack which occurred off Carrum in April 1916.

An inquiry into the boys’ disappearance concluded they were seized by sharks while clinging to their rowing boat which had overturned.

At Portsea Beach in 1956 John Patrick Wishard, 26, died when he was attacked at a surf carnival by a 3.7m shark — his young wife watching on.

Thousands of swimmers had spent the day in the waves, competing in the Sorrento-Portsea Lifesaving Club championships.

Wishard, a surf lifesaver, collected the buoys left from the carnival before getting in the water with five lifesaving mates.

Then came a “terrible crunch” as the shark clamped its jaws around Wishard’s chest.

A string of fatal attacks stretching back to 1855 occurred in Port Philiip Bay close to the city.

In 1855 a seaman from the whaling brig Curlew was killed.

Three years later sailor Adolphe Bollander, 22, was attacked while swimming off Swedish ship Constance in Hobson Bay and in 1876 Patrick Rooney, 18, died in waters off Albert Park after he was bitten on the leg.

Deaths at city beaches also include Norman Clark, 18, who took a dive off Middle Brighton Pier and was taken by a 4.9m shark in 1930.

Returned soldier Charles Swan was fishing off Mordialloc in 1936 when killed.

His dinghy was found with a 2 inch by 3 inch hole and tooth fragments in the planking.

Victoria’s Surf Coast has been a hot spot for non-fatal attacks along with surf beaches off the Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island.

Northern NSW may boost some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, but the far north coast takes first place nationwide for the most shark attack prone beaches.

One in six shark attacks in Australian waters have occurred on the far north NSW coast, including a spate of 11 between 2014 and 2016 — two of them fatal.

In Western Australia, you are more likely to be attacked around Esperance in the state’s south where there have been three fatalities in three years. In Queensland, Cid Harbour on Whitsunday Island has been the scene of a spate of attacks since the November 5, 2018 fatality of Victorian medical researcher Dr Daniel Christidis. Tiger sharks are more likely to attack in warmer waters.

Tasmania’s last fatal was in 2015, but in July 2020, a 10 year-old-boy was snatched from his father’s fishing boat in Stanleyin the state’s north west. His father dived in and rescued his son who suffered lacerations to his arm.

The Northern Territory has not had a fatal attack since 1937 and South Australia has not had a fatality since 2014, but both the Yorke and Eyre Peninsula feature in historic attacks.

Macquarie University Professor Rob Harcourt, who works in the department of Marine Ecology, said great white sharks tended to favour cold water.