Man says 15-foot-long shark took bite out of his boat in Santa Cruz Co.

SANTA CRUZ CO., Calif. (KGO) -- People are reporting great white encounters along the Santa Cruz coastline, including a man whose boat was smaller than the shark.

Mark Davis has a fish story to tell. "This thing was that wide, I mean it was huge. I've never seen anything that large in the water before and I've seen a lot of fish," he said.

A great white took a bite out of his boat Friday morning.

Estimated to be 15-feet-long, it chomped through the fiberglass into the wooden frame and left behind a chunk of tooth.

"Slam attack from down below. He came and hit the boat full speed and knocked it into the air. He wasn't fooling around," Davis said.

Great white shark encounters are rare in California. There have been around 100 since the 1920s -- 13 of those fatal, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"In the big picture, sharks are typically the last thing an oceangoer, a mariner, or surfer has to worry about," Pelagic Shark Research Foundation Sean Van Sommeran said.

The attack happened a quarter mile off shore.

"I'm glad the boat was between me and the shark and I'm glad it didn't knock me out because I wouldn't have wanted to be in the water. He was aggressive and fired up," Davis said.

Santa Cruz County is part of the shark's hunting grounds. Warning signs have been posted at several beaches.