Living

New Zealand surfer fends off great white shark with punch to eye

They’re gonna need a bigger swear jar.

A New Zealand surfer fended off a great white shark by punching it in the eye and yelling at it to “F–k off,” according to a report.

Nick Minogue, 60, was catching some waves off of Pauanui Beach on the North Island around 11:30 a.m. Saturday when he was broadsided by the beast, according to The New Zealand Herald.

“I was just paddling along and got hit on the side of my elbow and forearm,” Minogue told the outlet. “By the time I realized what was going on, its teeth were definitely latched on to the front section of the board.”

The quick-thinking Minogue recalled that sharks are vulnerable if hit in the nose or eyes — but decided to add insult to injury.





“I actually shouted at it ‘F–k off!” and went to punch it in the eye and missed,” he told the Herald. “Then I pulled my fist back and shouted ‘F–k off!’ again and got it right smack bang in the eye.”

“In between the two punches, it crunched down a bit more on the board and then disengaged its teeth, got its jaws off,” he told the Herald. “Then I got brushed by the dorsal fin and the tail fin and swam off.”

Before it went packing, though, Minogue got a good enough look at the shark to believe he’d had a brush with a great white.

“It was a gray shark with a white bottom, probably a great white. It was a big head and jaw,” he said. “I kind of sat up in shock and decided to hit it. That was the only thing to do.”





When he got back to shore, Minogue realized that the shark had taken a few small chunks out of his board — as well as his arm.

“There was blood dripping out the sleeve of my wet suit. Thankfully it wasn’t too deep,” he told the Herald. “Two teeth put holes in my wet suit but only one punctured the skin.

“I’ve still got an arm and fingers, it could have been a lot worse.”

Hoping that his lucky run isn’t over just yet, he told Radio New Zealand that he was considering buying a lotto ticket.

“I was very, very lucky,” he said. “If it had opened its jaws sooner, it would’ve taken a bite out of the middle of the board, it would’ve got probably my arm and half my torso. … It would’ve most likely been fatal.”





Share this: