Great white 'exploded out of the hole to try to nail the boy'
Thursday, 3 March 2022
A surfer has described the “terrifying” moment a teenage boy surfing in the Bay of Plenty narrowly avoided the maw of a great white shark.
“It was ferocious, jaws wide open, definitely in hunting mode,” said Vaughan Wilson, 52, who is known on the Mount Maunganui surf scene as Willow.
“It was a 3.5m monster, out for a kill. It launched itself out of the water until its whole body was fully airborne, about half a metre above the ocean, like it was flying.
“I screamed, ‘shark, shark’, at the top of my lungs but the waves were so high and there was so much white water around, no-one could hear me even though I’m known for being pretty bloody loud.
**READ MORE:
* Australian diving instructor and ocean lover killed in Sydney shark attack
* Great white shark attacks camera, drags boat in Auckland's Kaipara Harbour
**
“It was both frightening and stunning - flying through the air bathed in sunlight. I knew it was a great white straight away from its white belly and the huge size and shape of its pectoral fins and tail. I know sharks well.”
Willow was out surfing off Matakana Island on Monday morning with his best friend and his friend’s 14-year-old son – one of the Bay of Plenty’s top junior surfers. All three are experienced surfers.
“We surf two or three times a week,” he explains. “We’ve surfed together in this spot a thousand times and never worried about great whites before.”
They had been surfing for about 45 minutes when the attack happened. Willow was the only one of the three who saw the shark - his friend and his son were completely unaware that it was behind them.
“The young fella took off on a wave going left towards the beach. He was riding towards the Mount harbour channel. I was watching him as I like to give him a thumbs up at the end.”
The shark followed the boy’s journey along the wave and tried to cut him off from the beach, Willow said.
“It was like it was stalking its prey, following him. It sped ahead of him and did a u-turn in the hole - the deeper part of the channel which makes for good waves - and it was then it exploded out of the hole to try to nail the boy. But it had miscalculated, because just before the boy came off his board he had done a sharp turn. That decision to turn saved his life because it meant the shark’s jaws missed him.”
After launching its attack, Willow said the shark landed back in the water, just missing the boy who was off his board.
“It splashed back in the water near his right shoulder, missing him. He was off his board, waist deep in water and completely unaware. The shark disappeared back under the water and I couldn’t see where it was - I was scared.”
Willow and the boy’s dad were about 80m from the boy. His dad started frantically shouting to his son, too, screaming ‘shark, get out of the water’, until his son heard him.
“He was amazing - so calm. He pulled himself back onto his board, caught a wave and paddled back to shore.
“When I told them how close he came to the shark taking his arm, or his life, my friend, like me, was shocked. It was scary. I had the shakes. But the boy was cool - all he kept saying was ‘oh wow’.”
When the three were back on the beach at Matakana Island, they still had to face the fact that they had to swim out to their boat to get home. The boat was anchored in the water about 150 metres off the beach, in the same area as the shark.
“We waited 40 minutes, looking for its fin or any signs, but couldn’t see anything. We had to paddle back to the boat, so we put the boy in the middle between us. It wasn’t a long distance, but it seemed like the longest paddle of my life - totally nerve wracking.
“We found out later from a shark expert that after a shark leaps like that it can be exhausted, so it stops hunting for a while. I guess we got lucky, and it got tired.”
Willow said the gravity of the situation still hasn’t really sunk in for the boy, but the trio wanted to tell their story to warn the community. After speaking to the Department of Conservation, they understand that the shark planned its attack, targeting the boy as the smallest of the three.
“I would feel so guilty if we didn’t say anything and it attacked someone else. I have three kids myself. I saw it was looking for blood, so what’s to stop it from doing it again?”
The boy, still shocked, has not been out in the water since, but Willow said he is not giving up his passion for surfing.