Jack Frost: Ballina surfer revealed as shark attack victim after being bitten at Gnarabup Beach

The identity of the NSW surfer who escaped the jaws of a great white shark before swimming injured and bleeding to safety at a Margaret River surf break can be revealed. Jack Frost, who is in his 20s and from Ballina in northern NSW, was surfing at Boatramps surf break at Gnarabup Beach, 15km west of the famous surfing town, when he was bitten on the leg on Monday morning. Witnesses say after the attack, Mr Frost, who had been bitten on the leg, managed to swim 600m to the beach before an off-duty nurse helped administer first-aid. He was taken to Margaret River Hospital before being transferred to Bunbury Regional Hospital for surgery. The news has spread to locals in Ballina, a town which itself is famous for its swimming, fishing and surfing, who claim he made a makeshift tourniquet before swimming 600m to shore. Astonishingly, the attack was captured on a swell camera at the big-wave break. The footage shows the moment the shark lunged at the surfer and the pair thrashing about hundreds of metres from the shore. He was later pictured being taken into hospital on a stretcher and appeared to be awake with a medical apparatus on his right leg. A witness to the attack, who asked not to be named, said Mr Frost was “bloody lucky it wasn’t worse”, although the injured man seemed calm when he made it to help near the White Elephant Cafe. In the wake of the attack, Margaret River Boardriders’ Kalani Ord told the Margaret River Times that local surfers were “really shaken”. “It’s frightening because we’ve grown somewhat accustomed to hearing about shark encounters up the coast, but this time it hit too close to home,” he said. “We all surf there and have loved ones who do too. “The mood among us now is a mixture of trepidation and unease. “It is a harsh reminder of the risks we take doing what we love.” Those sentiments were echoed by veteran surfer Tony Breen, who owns The Common Bistro near the attack site. “This one hits way harder than any of the others,” he said. “The false security blanket has been ripped off. “I’m not going to be able to calm my nerves when I’m out the back anymore by telling myself ‘at least I’m not at Gracetown’.” Other surfers lauded the bravery of the survivor and keeping calm under intense pressure. White Elephant Cafe owner Alex Brooks, a keen surfer who was on-site after the incident, said it was more important than ever that surfers watched out for each other. “This one is very close to home and challenges the self-propagated belief or the false sense of security that they don’t exist, let alone attack, in Prevelly,” Mr Brooks said. “At the end of the day, we share the water with these creatures and you tell yourself what you need to so as to feel safe, albeit more often than not that’s false.” Margaret River Recreational Surfers committee member Bec Sheedy-Ryan said first-aid and ocean safety training was more crucial than ever and reiterated calls for State Government funding. The attack was the second at a South West beach in 36 hours and one of a series of incidents this year. In the hours after the Gnarabup attack, DPRID revealed it had received a report a snorkeller was bitten by a wobbegong shark at The Lagoon in Yallingup on Saturday morning. Dunsborough man Richard Stubbs, 77, was bitten on the foot about 8am. “I was very frightened … really didn’t know what to do, it was instantaneous,” Mr Stubbs told 7NEWS. “All of a sudden something hit me, hit my leg hard … and I was like ‘what’s that’.” A week earlier, Albany man Keiron Benson was forced to fight for his life after a shark as “big as his boat” lunged at him while spearfishing near Coral Bay.