Australian Surfer Walks Away Unscathed After Great White Bites Board In Half

If you're having a rough Monday, just remember: at least you didn’t get body-checked by a great white shark on your way to work.

Brad Ross, a surfer in Australia’s New South Wales, somehow walked away unscathed after a massive shark bit his surfboard in half during an early morning session at Cabarita Beach. The attack occurred around 7:30 a.m. on Monday and was so violent, eyewitnesses said it looked like the board "exploded."

"It all happened real quick," surfer Kane Douglas told ABC News. "We were just doing the normal early morning session… and as I was paddling back out, it was just an explosion. At first, my brain didn't understand what I was looking at… Brad sort of started saying, ‘shark, shark, shark.’"

Dave Rope, who works for Surf Lifesaving Far North Coast, said Ross was "very, very lucky. I’d be going out and buying a lottery ticket today, I think, if I was them."

The shark took a clean chunk out of the board and left Ross floating in the water with nothing but foam and adrenaline. 

According to Douglas, "The board exploded, one half went that way, the other half went that way… there was just whitewash and debris everywhere."

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Even more shocking? Ross seemed unfazed.

"He was chill, I think just grateful that he had no mark on him," Douglas said. "He kind of was just like, ‘I gotta go to work now,’ and then that was it."

Personally, I think nearly being swallowed by a great white shark is a good reason to call off work and head home for the day. But maybe Australians are just built differently.

Local yoga teacher Kym Falvey also witnessed the encounter. 

"The man was sitting on his board and the shark literally bit the board behind his butt," she told ABC. "The board just popped, like it exploded… there was a man up on the rocks going, ‘Oi, come in!’"

After the attack, the beach was closed, drone surveillance was deployed, and officials confirmed a 16-foot great white was caught and released.

This is the second shark incident at Cabarita Beach in less than two months. In June, a 16-year-old boy suffered serious injuries to his right arm, wrist and leg after being bitten in the same area.

But Ross? Not even a scratch. And he took home the gnarliest souvenir of all time.

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