A FORMER Aberystwyth man has survived a close encounter with a great white shark while canoeing in Australia.

Rhydian Prys Phillips was canoeing in a cove near Port Lincoln in South Australia when he came face-to-face with the shark, which is a ferocious man eater made famous in the Peter Benchley novel Jaws and the subsequent Steven Spielberg film of the same name.

Since eyeballing the shark and living to tell the tale, Rhydian’s experience has been covered by a range of Australian newspapers, TV shows and radio shows, including ABC News.

Reliving his drama, father-of-two Rhydian said: “As it swam it rolled its body sideways and had a good look at me and I looked at it. I’m sure then I saw it grin at me.

“It just slowly moved forward toward the front the canoe, so its nose was right next to the front of the canoe and then it started to move its nose toward the front and I thought if it was going to have a little nibble I might fall off.

“That’s when I really panicked. I dropped my rod and grabbed my oar, but I couldn’t get the oar in the water as its body was still next to me.”

See this week’s Aberystwyth paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now