Man Surfs Shark

A man surfing off the coast of Oregon found his surf board replaced with a three-meter-long great white shark.

According to Doug Niblack, a surfer of six years, he was trying to catch one last wave before going to work when his longboard hit something as “hard as a rock.” The “something” in this case, turned out to be a great white shark. Niblack stumbled, then found himself on the back of the shark as it thrashed back and forth, presumably quite upset because someone had just hit it with a surfboard. Niblack remained atop the shark for three or four glorious seconds – presumably with this track playing in the background – before submitting to gravity and absolute terror and falling off.

“It was pretty terrifying just seeing the shape emerge out of nothing and just being under me,” he told the Associated Press. “And the fin coming out of the water. It was just like the movies.”

Now it all sounds a bit suspicious doesn’t it? Especially the part where he mentions that this took place before work. “I accidentally surfed a shark,” sounds like a hastily composed excuse for turning up late to work if I ever heard one. However, Niblack’s story was confirmed by off-duty US coastguard Jake Marks, who claimed that though he didn’t see the Shark, he did see Niblack “Suddenly stand up with water churning all around him.”

“I have no reason to doubt there was a shark out there,” said Marks. “With the damage to his board, the way he was yelling and trembling afterwards – there is no other explanation for that.”

Niblack claims to have taken the encounter in his stride, and he’s even added a jolly little “no sharks” sticker to the bottom of his longboard, but he hasn’t gone back out in the water quite yet. “I’ll definitely go back out,” he said. “It’s just the surf sucks right now. I’ll wait until that gets better, then go back out.”

Source: The Guardian