Surfer, 60, escapes terrifying shark attack by repeatedly telling it to 'f**k off' and punching it in the eye
A New Zealand surfer somehow managed to survive a horrifying attack by a great white shark after swearing at it and punching it in the eye. Sixty-year-old Nick Minogue was out surfing at Pauanui Beach on Saturday, February 22, when he was bitten on the arm by a huge shark. The animal then dug its razor-sharp teeth into Nick's board and refused to let go.
With sheer presence of mind, Nick recalled that sharks hate being punched in the nose or eyes. Using this critical bit of information, he proceeded to fight for his life. Nick told the New Zealand Herald how he managed to hit the predator in the eye on the second attempt.
"So I actually shouted at it ‘F*ck off!’ and went to punch it in the eye and missed," he began. "Then I pulled my fist back and shouted ‘F*ck off!’ again and got it right smack bang in the eye. It’s quite a big eye, about three knuckles across, and its eye kind of looked up and rolled up."
"In between the two punches, it crunched down a bit more on the board and then disengaged its teeth, got its jaws off and then I got brushed by the dorsal fin and the tail fin and swam off," Nick added.
The daring surfer somehow managed to quickly paddle back to shore alongside a fellow surfer, who was about 50 meters away from him at the time of the attack. Nick recalled how he was certain he was "bumped by something" on his way back to the mainland.
"It was a grey shark with a white bottom, probably a great white. It was a big head and jaw," he remembered. "I kind of sat up in shock and decided to hit it. That was the only thing to do."
Speaking to the outlet, shark expert Riley Elliot explained that the teeth marks on Nick's board coupled with his description of the beast appeared to be consistent with that of a three-meter long great white shark. Nick was left with a cut on his arm as well as a few holes in his wetsuit following the terrifying ordeal. He escaped unscathed otherwise.
According to the veteran surfer, his wetsuit had offered some much-needed protection. But things could have been far worse, he told The Herald. "There was blood dripping out the sleeve of my wetsuit. Thankfully it wasn’t too deep," Nick explained. "Two teeth put holes in my wetsuit but only one punctured the skin. I’ve still got an arm and fingers, it could have been a lot worse."