Sailor witnesses amazing leaping shark in Australia

A New South Wales (NSW) sailor in Australia has witnessed a rarely seen phenomenon when a three- meter white pointer shark leapt from the water.

Jeff Adams was sailing his boat on a salt water lake north of Sydney when he noticed a buoy moving under the water, Fairfax Media reported on Thursday.

He realized it was being dragged by a shark which had become tangled in the buoy's rope.

Adams turned on his smart phone camera and seconds later the shark popped its head of the water at Lake Macquarie.

Then it went back under before launching itself out of the water, clearing the lake by almost a meter, successfully freeing itself of the six-meter long rope which had been tangled around one of its fins on Monday.

"I was really concerned about the welfare of it, it was obviously stressed when it jumped out of the water trying to get the rope untangled," Adams said.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, just so extraordinary to see."

Adams said he had been sailing on the lake for 35 years and never seen a shark, but the one on Monday was the second he had seen in three days.

There have been 13 shark attacks in NSW this year.