NEED TO KNOW
- An Australian windsurfer’s close encounter with a great white shark in was captured on video in dramatic footage filmed on Monday, Nov. 10
- Andy McDonald, 61, escaped from the shark uninjured but with a huge chunk of his board missing
- “I was just so lucky that it didn’t come back for another bite of something tastier,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald
A windsurfer is feeling grateful after a lucky escape from a great white shark.
On Monday, Nov. 10, Andy McDonald, 61, came across the shark near Margaret River, south of Perth, in Western Australia at around 5:45 p.m., according to local media outlets news.com.au, The Sydney Morning Herald and U.K. newspaper The Guardian.
In footage shared by news.com.au, McDonald could be seen splashing under the water before eventually coming up to the surface.
McDonald was riding his hydrofoil board with a group before he suddenly crashed into the water after the shark bit his board, per the outlet. A photo shared by the outlet showed the board with a bite mark and huge chunk missing from it.
The 61-year-old told The Sydney Morning Herald that the shark lunged for him from under his board.
“At that point I thought, ‘This is it. This is my time up’, ” he told the outlet. “I realized I was tangled up with it, with a big shark, and, you know, he was definitely going to be the boss in that situation. I was just so lucky that it didn’t come back for another bite of something tastier.”
“It obviously didn’t like the taste of the styrene and carbon fibre of the board,” he added.
The shark then got stuck in the surfer’s leg strap, prompting McDonald to punch it.
“It dragged me under and there was just so much going on at that point,” he continued to the outlet.
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“I was punching it and kicking it, and I think it was trying to do the same back to me because it was tangled up in my leg rope,” he said. “And then it broke free, and I just jumped up onto my sail, which is inflatable, parts of it, just to get out of the water, get my limbs out of the water, and pray that it didn’t come back.”
He thankfully escaped the ordeal uninjured, per news.com.au and The Guardian. He told local media out 10 News he thought he was “dead” when the encounter began. “I’m just like, ‘I’m in big trouble here,’ so I just kept punching it, kicking it,” he said.
Fellow surfers rushed to help him before he was greeted on the shore by shocked swimmers, per the outlet.
It took McDonald around 15 minutes to paddle back to the shore on his damaged board with a friend, per The Sydney Morning Herald.
The experienced surfer said he had rarely seen sharks since moving to the area in 2003, per the outlet.
“You know, for years I’ve always felt very safe in that area,” he said, adding that incident will “play on my mind for a little while.” “It won’t stop me. I’ll probably go tomorrow – not today. With another board,” he added.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development issued a shark warning for Prevelly after the incident, per news.com.au.
“At approximately 5.45pm, a reported white shark bit a foil board, causing the rider to fall into the water. The rider was not injured,” a DPIRD spokesman told The Sydney Morning Herald. “The rider was located between Boat Ramp Surfing Spot and Bombie Surfing Spot at the time of the interaction.”
“Officers from the DPIRD, along with staff from other agencies are monitoring the situation,” the department added, per news.com.au.
PEOPLE has contacted the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development for further comment.
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