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A large great white shark triggered a beach closure in Santa Barbara on Thursday after it sunk its teeth into a kayaker’s vessel.

“The only thing I saw was its face in my face, clamping down and then shoving me sideways,” said Bret Z. Jackson, 40, of Los Angeles. His expletive-laced, mile-a-minute retelling of the encounter suggested his adrenaline was still pumping a couple of hours later.

A bite mark from a great white shark can be seen on this kayak, which Los Angeles man Bret Z. Jackson was inside of when the incident happened at a Santa Barbara beach. (Credit: KTLA)
A bite mark from a great white shark can be seen on this kayak, which 40-year-old Bret Z. Jackson was inside of when the encounter happened at a Santa Barbara beach. (Credit: KTLA)

“Yeah, it was … big, it was right in my face. It was a great white — gray on top, white on bottom, black eyes.”

Jackson said he had been paddling in his kayak for about 45 minutes when the shark made its move. It approached from beneath, then came up from the side, its teeth only inches away from digging into Jackson’s torso.