BEING bitten by a shark would be enough to get most surfers to hang up their boards for good — but not Jabez Reitman.

The Byron Bay chef has been stalked, circled, mauled and dragged under water in three close encounters with fearsome predators so far this year but the soon-to-be father of two said he still loves the ocean even though there a more sharks and less surfers than ever before.

“I love surfing immensely, one would have to maim me, I would have to lose a leg and not be able to get back in there because that is where my heart lies.”

Mr Reitman, 36, was grabbed by a three and a half metre bull shark and dragged off his board and under water a day before Japanese tourist Tadashi Nakahari, 41, was fatally mauled by a shark 25km further south at Ballina in February this year.

The attack was so fast Mr Reitman did not realise he had been bitten until he surfaced, felt his stinging back and realised he was touching his rib cage.

“It was the weirdest feeling you could imagine, it is a hollow pain when you touch your own ribs. That when I thought, ‘f**k, I have just been bitten by a shark’.”

Bleeding profusely, Reitman managed to get himself and an inexperienced work colleague he was surfing with to shore and then drove himself to hospital speeding down dirt tracks to arrive before he, “bled out.”

media_camera Jabez Reitman and his wife Katherine Reitman after he was attacked by a bull shark near Byron Bay. Picture: Jerad Williams

media_camera Ballina shark attack victim Jabez Reitman returns to the water after his attack. Picture: Luke Marsden.

The scars from the attack are more than skin deep — he now sees a psychiatrist to help him come to terms with the near death experience.

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But it is not enough to keep him out of the surf, although he now wears an anti-shark band religiously and has even become an ambassador for Shark Banz, which produces one of the magnetic devices.

media_camera Jabez Reitman still loves the ocean even though there a more sharks and less surfers than ever before. Picture: Luke Marsden.

This week while surfing at a secret break in the Byron Bay area, Mr Reitman had another close encounter when he was chased by a tiger shark.

“This big black thing just came out of the dark water and circled around me. I had my Shark banz on my left foot so I thrust my leg at it.”

Shark Banz says its bands send out magnetic waves which disrupt the creature’s electro-receptors repelling it.

“It is really freaky how it affects them,” Mr Reitman said.

A month ago at Broken Head, Mr Reitman saw a bull shark swim just two metres away from him. He described it as “f***ing huge,” with a fin measuring half a metre.

“It was so close I could see its eyes, it was looking at me and I started screaming ’shark shark’, I created a bit of a commotion and got about 100 people out of the water.”

media_camera Evans Head shark attack victim Craig Ison recovering in hospital. Mr Ison was attacked on July 31. Picture: David Clark media_camera Ballina shark attack survivor Mat Lee in hospital with girlfriend Suzy Gerada. Mr Lee was attacked on July 2.

He was also at Lennox Head on July 28 when the beach was closed after great whites were spotted close to shore.

Mr Reitman said there were undeniably more sharks on the NSW north coast and few surfers willing to brave the water but he opposes culling the creatures.

“I have been chased, I have been bitten but we are out in their environment. If we start culling sharks we might as well line up drink drivers that have killed someone and shoot them too,” he said.

Originally published as ‘I won’t quit surfing until I lose a leg’