Shark just 'wanted to play'

A close encounter with a shark has left Karitane man Tane Tokona fending off a whale of a tale.

Police warned yesterday of "a very large shark" cruising with intent along the Otago coast and asked surfers to stay out of the water.

But Mr Tokona, who came face to face with the shark while surfing, played down claims that a monster shark had chased him from the water.

"All these stories were flying around like, 'a surfer got attacked by a shark'." He thinks the shark just wanted to play.

He spotted it soon after hitting the water yesterday morning, but at first thought it was a piece of bull kelp. "Half an hour later I saw it again. I looked down and saw its nose and it gave the rear end of my board a bit of a nudge."

He and two friends left the water, but only as a precaution, Mr Tokona said. "I actually think it wanted to play. It never told us to go but we thought it would be a good idea to get out."

Local fisherman Allan Anderson, who followed the shark out to sea, said rumours it was a great white or mako shark were exaggerated. "It was either a small blue or a grey shark about the length of a surfboard."

Mr Tokona said it was the first time in 25 years of surfing that he had been that close to a shark. It had not put him off surfing at all he headed out again yesterday afternoon.

Karitane teenager Chris Blair needed eight stitches after he was bitten by a seven-gill shark in the same location in 2004.