A windsurfer has miraculously survived a great white shark attack after the beast suddenly pulled his board under the waves and took a massive bite out of it.

Andy McDonald was windsurfing at Prevelly Beach, near the Margaret River in southwest WA, with several other people on Monday evening.

At about 5.45pm, Mr McDonald felt the shark ram into his board and he was sucked into the water. There had been no sign of the shark moments before – not even a fin.

‘At that point I thought, ‘This is it. This is my time up’. I realised I was tangled up with a big shark and he was definitely going to be the boss in that situation,’ he told WA Today.

Other beachgoers saw frantic splashing in the water as the shark became tangled in the board’s leg rope.

‘I was punching it and kicking it, and I think it was trying to do the same back to me because it was tangled up in my leg rope,’ Mr McDonald said. 

‘Then it broke free. I just jumped up onto my sail, which is inflatable, just to get out of the water, get my limbs out of the water and pray that it didn’t come back.’

Once Mr McDonald was on his sail and regained control of his board, he spent a terrifying 15 minutes paddling with his arms back to shore. 

Andy McDonald (left) had been windsurfing at WA’s Prevally Beach when he was pulled under the waves by the great white (right)

The beast took a chunk out of his board about 5.45pm on Monday (pictured)

Only his board was bitten in the attack, but the size of the bite is imposing. 

The windsurfer joked he was ‘lucky’ the shark didn’t get rip into something ‘tastier’ and come back for more. 

Mr McDonald moved to southwest WA from Melbourne in 2003 and has ‘always felt very safe’ in the water, having only seen the occasional shark over the years.

While the attack rattled him, he didn’t believe the encounter would keep him out of the water for long.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development shared an alert shortly after the shark attacked Mr McDonald.

It claimed it had tracked a great white shark around 50 metres offshore.

‘At approximately 5.45pm, a reported white shark bit a foil board, causing the rider to fall into the water. The rider was not injured,’ the alert read.

‘The rider was located between Boat Ramp Surfing Spot and Bombie Surfing Spot at the time of the interaction.’

Water users have been advised to take additional caution in the Prevelly area.