Clayton Sado, 22, had been surfing for about three hours on Thursday afternoon 13 October off Honokowai, Maui when an eight foot Tiger shark attacked and sunk its teeth into his board. He was about 100 metres offshore when the attack took place. He was uninjured, although his board showed the familiar semi-circular shark-bite mark.
Sado said he fought to stay on the board as the shark thrashed from side to side. He hit the shark’s nose and tried to push it away. He yelled to a surfer friend and two boys surfing nearby to get out of the water.
"I was just thinking, 'Don't tip me over. Don't tip me over,'" Sado told Honolulu’s Star Bulletin. "It was fighting very much."
Then the shark let go and dived underwater.
He said he waited motionless for a long 15 seconds before sticking his hands in the water to paddle.
"I waited for the courage to stick one hand in and paddle," he told the newspaper.
“When I got to shore, immediately I was just jumping around. I was jumping for joy just to be alive."
John Naughton, a US National Marine Fisheries Service biologist, said the animal was likely a tiger shark searching for turtles.
The Star Bulletin first reported the incident on Sunday 16 October.
- Sources: Honolulu Star Bulletin
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