{"id":79529,"date":"2025-08-18T20:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T20:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/79529\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T20:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T20:28:08","slug":"shark-tears-bite-sized-chunk-out-of-surfers-board-in-terrifying-close-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/79529\/","title":{"rendered":"Shark tears bite-sized chunk out of surfer\u2019s board in terrifying close encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 cKWiEj\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 cKWiEj\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 cKWiEj\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/maine-great-white-shark-scarborough-portland-lancaster-b2806496.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">shark<\/a> took a huge bite out of a surfboard and snapped it in half during a close encounter with a surfer in Australia. <\/p>\n<p>Brad Ross had a narrow escape on Monday morning as he went for a surf at Cabarita Beach, which lies between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/byron-bay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Byron Bay<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/gold-coast\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gold Coast<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The shark attacked close to Mr Ross\u2019 rear while he was sat on his board, eyewitness Kym Falvey told the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC). Mr Ross was then launched from his board in the attack, emerging from the water with his board in two pieces. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/534967287_1190346519803004_6107357622062212545_n.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Brad Ross and the remains of his surf board after the attack\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>Brad Ross and the remains of his surf board after the attack (Tweed Shire Council)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The man was sitting on his board and the shark literally bit the board behind his butt,\u201d the local yoga teacher told the broadcaster. &#8220;The board just popped, like it exploded, and it flew up in the air. By this time there was a man up on the rocks going, &#8216;Oi, come in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The last time the shark came right into the shallows, so the surfers in the water were saying: &#8216;We didn&#8217;t want to stop paddling until we got onto the dry sand.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Local authorities said no one was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/shark-attack-survivor-tips-b2793830.html\" title=\"A shark attack survivor says to do this if you come face to fin with a great white\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">injured in the attack<\/a> but they closed the beach temporarily after Surf Life Saving New South Wales responded to the incident at around 7.30am local time and drone monitoring of the shark was launched. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1000034918.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A huge chunk was taken from the board\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>A huge chunk was taken from the board (Instagram\/jamesonsurfboards)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we know that the surfer is &#8216;rattled&#8217;, we&#8217;re very pleased that he got out of the water safely today,\u201d Tweed Shire Council added. <\/p>\n<p>The local surfer was described as \u201cvery, very lucky\u201d by Surf Lifesaving Far North Coast\u2019s Dave Rope, who urged caution from fellow surfers. <\/p>\n<p>A five-metre long shark was caught and released from the SMART Drumline at Norries Headland, Cabarita Beach, at 9.52am, although the shark was later spotted by Dorsal Shark reports just after noon.<\/p>\n<p>Photos posted online showed the surfer on the beach with a large hole in his board. <\/p>\n<p>Professional surfer Kelly Slater, who has won the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/world-surf-league\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Surf League<\/a> 11 times, said of the incident: \u201cIncredible he\u2019s ok. Great example of why I fear open ocean swimming so much. Surfboards have saved quite a few surfers with that tiny barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just two months before, a 16-year-old boy was bitten by a shark at the same location.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-79529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}