A surfer who survived a shocking shark attack that was caught on camera has revealed how he mounted the animal and punched it during a stunning fight for his life.
Jack Frost, 24, was sitting on his board in the swell at Boat Ramp, a popular Margaret River break in WA’s South West, on the morning of July 24 when he was “smacked” by what is suspected to have been a 3.5 great white which had charged at him from below.
The force of the hit sent him flying into the water.
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He resurfaced by a pectoral fin on the huge shark’s side and watched as it tore into his beloved board.
What happened next was akin to the quick thinking displayed by champion Australian surfer Mick Fanning, who famously fought off a shark during a competition in South Africa.
“So I moved onto its back and started punching its head a few times,” Frost told Swellnet.
“That doesn’t really do much. It didn’t even flinch.
“But then I started punching it in the side towards the gills and I must have got one punch in where it’s touch sensitive and it just shot down into the depths.”
The wild shark encounter was recorded by a fixed beach camera usually used to look at conditions.
Frost, from Ballina in New South Wales, quickly gathered himself and began the 100m paddle towards the shore, not yet willing to look at his leg, which had a “good gash” and a “couple puncture wounds”.
When he felt it was safe the experienced diver and fisherman used his own leg rope as a tourniquet and continued back to the safety of land.
Back on shore, Frost was driven by a stranger to a hospital while an off-duty nurse tended to the wound and called ahead so doctors were up to speed when he arrived.
“They drove me to the hospital. They were both legends,” Frost said.
Frost was stitched up and, nine days later, is now back on his feet — but not fully recovered.
He has delayed travel plans but expects to return to the water to dive, fish and surf relatively quickly.
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