Surfer slammed by shark likened it to getting hit by bus
An Australian surfer waiting to catch one last wave was slammed by a great white shark that tossed him into the air and separated him from his surfboard in a surprise attack from below.
Mike Bruton, 29, was surfing with his brother at Lighthouse Beach near Seal Rocks at Sydney’s Northern Beaches on Saturday afternoon when the incident occurred, according to 9 News and Daily Mail Australia. He was paddling toward shore while awaiting a wave when the shark struck.
“The sheer power of the thing, it felt like I was getting hit by a bus,” Bruton told the Nick Hansen of the The Daily Telegraph. “I saw it going back down into the water and scrambled over to get my board, lucky it didn’t get washed in.”
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As he scrambled to get onto his surfboard, Bruton caught a glimpse of the shark, estimated to be 11-feet long.
“You couldn’t wrap your arms around it, it was that big,” Bruton told 9 News. “It was huge.
“I just jumped on my board, pretty freaked out by it all. sitting there for a little while trying to get a wave in and thinking that next bite was about to come and luckily it didn’t.”
Shaken, Bruton eventually made it to the beach, as did other surfers who were out in the lineup at the time.
It was not until Bruton hit the beach and looked at this surfboard that the realization of just how lucky he had been hit home. A big chunk was missing from the board.
“It’s just very lucky it got my board and not me,” Bruton told 9 News.