Here is the Channel 7 News Report of the incident involving a group of fisherman in Kayaks and a Boat who had a very close encounter with a HUGE Great White Shark on Long Reef off the East Coast, near Sydney Australia.

29-year-old Steve Kulcsar, who was knocked off his kayak by the 16foot (5m) Great White Shark.

"A fisherman yelled out, 'There's a 5m shark coming your way.' We all thought he was just trying to stir us up for a laugh, but a few moments later, a big fin appeared," Mr Kulcsar said.

The next thing he knew, the white pointer bumped into his kayak, hurling him into the water.

Against all instincts, Mr Kulcsar managed to remain calm despite the shark lurking just metres away.

"I wasn't really worried about the shark, actually," he said.

"I knew it was there, but my first thought was to just get back in the kayak as quick as possible."

Mr Kulcsar said that after struggling in the water for a minute, he was able to climb back in his kayak. The fishermen then pulled him into their boat.

The self-employed painter said he believed a quick change in steering direction had prompted the shark to focus on him.

"When it cruised past me, I thought I was safe, so I went as quickly as I could in the opposite direction," he said.

"I think that was my mistake, because then it turned around and chased me.

"If I had stayed still, I think I would have been OK."

The other kayakers sought refuge by "rafting" their kayaks next to the boats as the shark menaced them.

After a harrowing 10 minutes, it lost interest and swam away.

Mr Morgan, who was road-testing his new video camera, said he thought it was a whale until it came closer. "You don't realise how big they are until they're beside you," he said.

Mr Morgan said he would return to Long Reef today in the hope of capturing more footage of the shark.

"They usually stay there for a few days once they've come in, because there's a lot of food around," he said.

Mr Kulcsar, from Penrith, celebrated his escape by having a few beers on the beach with his rescuers.

"I'm not really shaken up at all. At the time I was, but now I'm just having a few beers," he said with a laugh.

"I was so lucky. It had a chance to get me, but it didn't want to."

The incident occurred a few hours before Sydney-to-Hobart race favourite Wild Oats XI collided with a 2m shark off Tasmania's east coast.

Mr Kulcsar's experience recalls an incident last year when a white pointer shark knocked a woman from her surf ski near Byron Bay.

Linda Whitehurst fought off the predator with her paddle.