During last weekend’s late-season swell at Maverick’s, a potentially disastrous situation was averted by one quick-thinking jet-ski driver.

Drake Stanley, a big-wave surfer and trained PWC rescuer, was sitting on his ski near Mushroom Rock when a great white shark he later estimated to be between 18 and 20-feet swam under his ski and made a move towards a surfer. The incident occurred at approximately 1:30pm on Sunday.

“This was by far the biggest and scariest creature I’ve ever seen in the ocean,” Stanley told local media, explaining that he’d surfed in the morning before working water safety in the afternoon.

“It saw the surfer and just made a beeline for him,” he continued. “I thought, ‘I’m going to watch a shark attack.’”

Cam Rewind featuring Stanley rescuing the first surfer and grabbing the others. (Watch for the boils.)

Stanley hit the ignition and revved the engine to try and scare the animal away. He was then able to maneuver the ski between the shark and the surfer, according to reports. The shark then turned towards another pack of surfers out the back. Stanley was able to alert the remaining surfers in the lineup about the situation and assist in getting them out of the water.

Watch: Live Maverick’s Cam

“I had like eight people (on),” Stanley said. “I basically evacuated Maverick’s! The shark was definitely inspecting us… I’m not sure if it was going to attack that guy… but this was definitely the scariest encounter I’ve ever had in the ocean.”

Potentially the last big swell of the season, it’s safe to say Maverick’s went out with a roar.