“There Was a Bite in My Hand”: Despite Being Dragged Underwater, Surfer Once Escaped Horrifying Jaws of Two Sharks in 2000

The world of surfing is no stranger to ferocious shark attacks. While many end up falling prey to the ocean’s predators, others succeed in deceiving the inevitable. The story of a South African surfer also reflects a courageous rescue from a dangerous surfing mishap. However, he extricated himself from the sea when all odds were against him as not one but two sharks attacked him at once. 

Shannon Ainslie is a 38-year-old Arctic surfer from South Africa. The big wave surfer was just 15 when he was catching waves at Nahoon beach, near East London. Nevertheless, while Nahoon is famous for its big barrels, it is infamous for being a hotspot of sharks. On 17th July 2000, the surfer was chasing waves at the beach with his friends. However, while he was paddling toward the barrel, he was taken by surprise when two great white sharks ambushed him at the same time. The next thing that happened was the sight of bloody waters and a plea for help.

A surfer who fell prey to a brutal double shark attack

As per the report of Lad Bible, while the surfer was paddling in the Nahoon reef, he sped toward the direction of a big wave and “got hit really hard”. Adding details to the accident, Ainslie stated, “There were two sharks. One came from my left and hit from underneath and bumped me really hard into the air”. The South African added, “then, it grabbed me and my surfboard and dragged me underwater with it”. Unfortunately, the other shark attacked the surfer from his right. But was he able to survive the inevitable?

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To everyone’s relief, the second shark missed its prey, and the surfer emancipated himself from the scene. “Fortunately, whilst that was happening the shark on my right missed me because the other shark got me first”, shared Ainslie. However, the South African got severely injured in the process. “As I pulled my right arm over to start paddling, I see my fingers hanging off my hand”. Detailing the havoc that the beast caused, the surfer added, “There was a bite in my hand and my wrist bone that had broken the bone”.

Moreover, he found his surfboard floating in the middle of nowhere and caught the next big wave in order to reach the safety of the bank. “I was panicking, looking to my left and right waiting for the shark to come back to me….I paddled really hard and prayed really hard, and eventually, I managed to catch a wave and get back to the beach in one piece”, shared Ainslie. As luck would have it, he made a full recovery in no time and got back to his beloved arena in merely six months after the tragic accident. Later the surfer moved to Norway and became an arctic surfer. “I moved to Norway to escape the sharks because there’s no sharks up here”,  said the South African. 

Although it was one life-threatening incident, Ainslie holds an optimistic perspective about the tragedy. The surfer asserted, “After that, I’ve never had any fearful or uncomfortable experiences. I haven’t got this fear of sharks in my hardware, I feel super comfortable when I surf the water”. It indeed was one heart-wrenching episode, but Shannon Ainslie’s moxie saved him from the predator, don’t you agree?

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