A surfer from Auckland, New Zealand, managed to survive a terrifying attack of a great white shark after punching it in the eye and telling it to “Fuck off”.
Nick Minogue, 60, of Auckland, was bitten on the arm by a huge shark on Saturday, February 22, 2020, when he was surfing at the Pauanui Beach.
The great white shark later latched on the board of Nick after the attack.
Thanks to the quick thinking of Nick, he punched the animal on its nose and eyes, which eventually helped him save his life.
During an interview with the New Zealand Herald, Nick explained how he managed to escape death after he faced a great white shark.
He explained, “So I actually shouted at it ‘F*ck off!’ and went to punch it in the eye and missed. 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.”
He added, “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 managed to paddle back to shore with a German Surfer, who was around 50 meters away from him when the shark attack happened.
Nick also talked about the type of shark that he got to face.
He said, “It was a grey shark with a white bottom, probably a great white. It was a big head and jaw. I kind of sat up in shock and decided to hit it. That was the only thing to do.”
Riley Elliott, a Shark Expert, said the teeth mark on the board of Nick and his description of the animal suggests that the shark as a 3 meter long great white.
Following the ordeal, Nick was left with a cut on his arm as well as a number of teeth-holes in his wetsuit.
Nick added, “There was blood dripping out the sleeve of my wetsuit. Thankfully it wasn’t too deep. 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.”
Nick, you’re a lucky person.