A kite-surfer has broken a world record by kiting the Great Barrier Reef.

Former Shelley man Phil Barton and a team of seven others surfed large waves - and one even survived a shark attack.

They flew 768miles (1,237km), the longest ever distance kite-surfed, in a bid which was raising awareness of Motor Neurone Disease.

Phil, 39, endured nine hours of boarding each day on the attempt in the Coral Sea from Green Island near Cairns to Cape New York to beat the previous record of 515 miles .

Venturing out up to 70 miles from land, they crossed many reefs, some of which had not been surfed before, and slept on a launch boat.

It was the adventure of a lifetime for Phil, who grew up on Parkwood Close and attended Shelley First School, Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS), Batley Grammar and Greenhead College and set off on the record attempt on August 13.

He said: “It was amazing.

“Some of the reefs are in the middle of nowhere.

Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef

“It was very hard work but we had a lot of fun.

“The days were quite long too because we set off at first light and it took ages to get ready because we were carrying all sorts of equipment such as flares and radio devices.”

Phil, who moved to Sydney in 2012 for work, began surfing in 2009.

“I picked it up in Mexico, learnt properly in South Africa and kept going when I moved to Sydney.

“I did a charity event across the in 2013 when me and 15 others crossed the Torres Strait and on the plane back we noticed the beautiful reefs and the guys decided to plan this event.

“It took two years and we got the support of Richard Branson, who helped us a lot with acquiring the boat and the team, as well as our sponsors Sky Scanner.

“Kite surfing requires a lot of leg and core strength so I did a lot of endurance cycling as training and we had a lot of squat competitions on the launch to help us.”

Former Shelley man and kite surfer Phil Barton

Phil talked about some of the sights he saw.

“It was incredible– that far out we saw lots of jumping fish and turtles and at one point I was even riding alongside a humpback whale.

“But in between the reefs it was quite dangerous because waves up to 10 metres high are created and there a lot of big fish.

“One of our team, Jess Digs, even had what could’ve been a shark bite her when she was taking a rest in the water.

“She thought something had punched her in the back but it wasn’t until a few hours later when she took her bag off that she realised her bag had been ripped.

“There were big teeth marks and it destroyed her iPhone; it also could’ve been a barracuda and it could’ve gone for her because the reflective strips on her bag looked like a fish.”

So far they have raised over $107,140 Australian Dollars (£70,103.54)to help fund research currently being undertaken by the Australian Macquarie University to cure the terminal illness.

“One of the trip founders, Nick Cole, leads the research team and it’s all going to a really important cause.

“We’re already thinking about our next trip – we’d love to cross to New Zealand and the guys are just trying to work out how to do it.”

To donate to Phil’s effort, go to kitethereef.everydayhero.com/au/phil .