Veteran Australian surfer Matthew Devine experienced everyone’s worst nightmare when a massive shark violently rammed him off his surfboard recently.
It happened at Cabarita Beach in northern New South Wales, an encounter highlighted in footage captured by Surfline. The 53-year-old father of two was sitting in the lineup waiting for a wave around 4:00 PM when the apex predator struck from below.
Watch the footage, linked here, and below:
“Sitting on my board and then bang, just a shark come up from underneath and flip me off, knock me off my board into the water,” Devine recalled. Floating face-to-face with the predator, he frantically retrieved his board and began paddling toward the shore.
Terrified, Devine braced for a fatal strike, stating, “I just thought, this thing’s big and then, yeah, I was just waiting for it the third time to hit. I thought this third time is going to get me.”
Miraculously, Devine made it to the beach completely unharmed. While he admits he is no marine expert, Devine noted the shark’s round nose, suspecting it was a large bull shark.
Unfortunately, Cabarita Beach is no stranger to terrifying and tragic shark encounters. This close call marks the third incident in the area over the past 15 months.
In June of last year, the community was devastated when a 16-year-old boy sustained life-threatening injuries after he was mauled at the same beach. Just two months after that horrific tragedy, another local surfer had a massive chunk bitten out of their board.
As Australia experiences a recent surge in coastal shark activity, experts emphasize the realities of sharing the ocean.
Evaluating the current situation, they note that “sharks are opportunistic predators and know they have an advantage when the water is dirty and murky. I don’t think they seek to bite people. In unfortunate conditions, people can be in the wrong spot.”
Despite the harrowing encounter and the area’s tragic history, the ocean’s draw remains too strong for Devine.
When asked if the shark would keep him out of the waves, he casually replied, “Tomorrow, the next day? Depends when I’ve got time.”
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