Few sportsmen survive to tell a fish story like Jonathan Kathrein's, in which a cool-headed 16-year-old kid paddles himself to shore after being bit by a shark - the first ever such attack on a human at Stinson Beach.

"I always thought a shark bite would feel like a snake bite, only sharper. But the shark actually tossed me - its impact was so strong and it was so much larger than I was," said Kathrein on Monday from his hospital bed at Kaiser Permanente in San Rafael. "I don't know if people will believe this story 10 years from now. It's seems so unreal."

Of last Wednesday's attack, Kathrein, a Lucas Valley resident, said he was paddling on his boogie board parallel to the shoreline about 50 yards out when he hit something underwater with his right hand. That "something" turned out to be a great white shark.

"They tell me that the shark was probably swimming in the same direction as I was because its skin felt smooth. If you rub a shark against the grain of its skin, it supposedly feels sharp," he said. Suddenly, he said, he felt the shark's powerful jaws clamp down on his right thigh, between his buttocks and his knee. "At that point I was on my stomach, but then it flipped me over and pulled me underwater for about five seconds."

Looking up from underwater, Kathrein said he saw the shark's body arching above his. "I was kind of scared before it bit me, but once it did, I wasn't. I was surprised that I didn't go into shock. I was able to think clearly."

The shark's teeth, meanwhile, stayed firmly in place as the fish began to thrash back and forth, Kathrein said. "I reached over and grabbed one of its gills, which measured about the size of my hand, and pulled on it. I guess I choked it, because it let go and swam out of there."

He said that the shark was more than 10 feet long and about 2.5 feet wide. (Some shark experts, however, believe the shark was somewhat smaller. Based on the tooth pattern found on the boy's wetsuit, Ed Ueber, manager of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, estimated that the shark measured between 6 and 8 feet in length.)

After getting back on his board, Kathrein began swimming toward shore, using only his left leg; his right one was too shredded to move, he said.

Yet because he was alone in seeing the shark, the other swimmers near him didn't rush to his aid when he called for help, he said. "I called for help rather than, "Help - Shark!" because I didn't want to scare people away from helping me."

No one assisted him until he was in ankle-deep water close to the shoreline, he said, adding that he was grateful for his swimming skills gleaned from St. Ignatius High School's water polo team. He also plays soccer for the San Francisco school, where he is a junior.

Yet his sports training apparently didn't prepare him for the pain. "The muscles at my knee are torn, they're sewn together but not completely attached," he said. "Even with it stitched up, it looks pretty nasty."

Kathrein estimated that more than 200 stitches were sewn in and around his thigh by surgeons at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, where he was flown by helicopter from Stinson. His surgery took six-and-a-half hours, during which doctors had to remove "handfuls of sand" from his wounds, he said.

He was transferred to Kaiser in San Rafael over the weekend. "He's in stable, good condition and is expected to recover," said patient-care manager Carol Paz, adding that the teenager may return home as early as Thursday.

For now, Paz said, the boy is receiving pain medication and antibiotics, and his wounded leg is given gentle therapy by a "continuous passive-motion machine," a splint-like device that exercises his knee joint.

Between media interviews and physical therapy sessions, Kathrein welcomes his many visitors - most of whom arrive with colorful balloons and stuffed animals. Notable among his gifts is a fuzzy gray shark.

Asked how his misadventure has affected him, Kathrein said, "I think I wouldn't say, 'Live each day as if it were your last,' because it probably won't be your last. But you gotta' enjoy life."

After being closed to swimmers and surfers for a week, Stinson Beach was reopened on Wednesday, said spokeswoman Chris Powell of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

However, she said, "we certainly want the public to be aware that sharks live in the area, and we will have signs up notifying the public that there has been a recent shark attack. Our lifeguards on staff will also try to make personal contact with as many beach visitors as possible."

In addition, she said, increased offshore patrols to spot sharks will continue.

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