Windsurfer Filmed Escaping from Great White Shark in Dramatic Video: ‘I Was Punching and Kicking It’

A windsurfer is expressing deep gratitude after narrowly escaping a great white shark during a late-afternoon session in Western Australia.

On Monday, Nov. 10, 61-year-old Andy McDonald came face-to-face with the shark near Margaret River, south of Perth, at around 5:45 p.m., according to local reports from news.com.au, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian.

Footage published by news.com.au showed McDonald splashing beneath the surface before resurfacing moments later. He had been riding his hydrofoil board with a group when, without warning, he was thrown into the water after the shark clamped down on his board. Photos shared by the outlet displayed a large bite mark and a significant chunk missing from the damaged equipment.

McDonald told The Sydney Morning Herald that the shark attacked from beneath.

“At that point I thought, ‘This is it. This is my time up,’ ” he recalled. “I realized I was tangled up with it, with a big shark, and 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.”

He added that the shark likely disliked “the taste of the styrene and carbon fibre” from the board.

The situation escalated when the shark became tangled in his leg strap, pulling him underwater. McDonald said he fought back instinctively.

“It dragged me under and there was just so much going on at that point,” he said. “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. And then it broke free, and I just jumped up onto my sail… just to get out of the water and pray that it didn’t come back.”

He ultimately escaped without injuries, according to news.com.au and The Guardian. Speaking to 10 News, he admitted he initially believed he was “dead.” “I’m just like, ‘I’m in big trouble here,’ so I just kept punching it, kicking it,” he said.

Other surfers rushed to assist him, and he was later met by stunned swimmers onshore. Despite his damaged board, McDonald spent roughly 15 minutes paddling back to land with the help of a friend, per The Sydney Morning Herald.

The longtime local resident said shark encounters in the area have been rare since he moved there in 2003. “For years I’ve always felt very safe in that area,” he noted, though he admitted the incident will linger in his mind temporarily. Still, he said it won’t keep him out of the ocean for long: “I’ll probably go tomorrow – not today. With another board.”

Following the incident, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) issued a shark warning for Prevelly, according to 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 spokesperson told The Sydney Morning Herald, adding that the surfer was between Boat Ramp Surfing Spot and Bombie Surfing Spot at the time.

DPIRD confirmed that its officers and other agencies are monitoring the situation.