A surfer has recalled the moment he punched a great white shark in the eye after it attacked him and clamped its jaws onto his surfboard.
Nick Minogue and a friend had driven two hours from Auckland to Pauanui Beach in New Zealand to surf on February 26, Nine.com.au reported.
Minogue, 60, said he was just about to paddle back to shore when he felt a bang on the left side of his body. From a swell in the water, a shark's head surfaced.
"I was just paddling along hoping to come in soon and got hit on the side of the arm and didn't really know what it was," Minogue told 1 News. "The next thing I know there was a shark chomped over the front section of my board with its big head and eye looking back at me."
"I pulled my fist back and I yelled... for it to go away," Minogue added to nine.com.au.
His first punch hit the shark a few inches behind the eye, but on the second try, he managed to get a direct hit. "I was just fixated on the eye looking back. I didn't want to punch anywhere near its teeth," he added.
After the second punch landed, the shark let go of his surfboard.
"It slowly started swimming off... I turned around and paddled for about 20 to 30 meters before it came back for another look. That made me paddle even more quickly," he added.
While Minogue and his friend were out on the water, they had been joined by a German tourist who the first to shout out to warn him about the shark, nine.com.au reported.
But Minogue said he didn't hear the man's yells and only found out about it after the tourist contacted him on social media later.
When he got back to the beach, he found he had sustained a deep scratch on his arm from his encounter with the shark. The shark's teeth had cut through his wetsuit as well.
Surf lifesavers cleaned and dressed his wound, reported the shark attack and closed the beach, according to nine.com.au.
Minogue said there was a report of a great white shark measuring up to 12 feet a few days after his ordeal, but he's not sure if it's the same one that attacked him.
But it won't stop him surfing—and he's already been back at the beach for a swim since. "I won't stop but I'll be more wary," he said.
And he had some advice for anyone who finds themselves facing off against a massive shark.
"If it happens (to you), just hit it as hard as you can, the nose, eye and gills," he said.
Minogue has been contacted for comment.
