Surfer recounts terrifying run-in with massive, aggressive tiger shark at Hawaii surf spot

HONOLULU, Hawaii – An aggressive tiger shark left its mark on a surfboard but, thankfully, left the surfer unscathed in the Pacific Ocean off Oahu as Hurricane Lowell fueled towering waves across the Hawaiian Islands. Albert Westpfal, 24, paddled out Tuesday afternoon at China Walls, a popular surf spot on Oahu’s South Shore, where he encountered the ride of his life — and it wasn’t a wave.As Westpfal paddled over a reef, an estimated 12-foot tiger shark clamped down on the back of his surfboard.He initially thought he had hit the reef, but when he turned around, he was met with one of the most terrifying sights in the ocean: an aggressive shark.“I heard the crunch of the fiberglass behind me.

At that moment, I knew what was happening before I even saw it,” Westpfal wrote in his account of the incident, shared on social media by Honolulu Ocean Safety.Photos of the damaged surfboard underscore the danger: The tiger shark bit through the board’s tail, with the rear fin doing little to stop it from ripping through the fiberglass.The massive shark sent the surfer flying from his board into the open ocean, leaving him unprotected as the shark charged him once again.“I was able to anticipate it swimming up on me and started kicking it in the head and punching its nose.It thrashed around and finally backed off,” Westpfal said.He wasn’t alone in the water with the predator that day.

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Zach Sheerer, his college friend, had paddled out with him to enjoy the hurricane-fueled swell.“I want to give thanks to my friend Zach who, without even a second of hesitation, paddled right towards me to help.In the moment of life or death, you find out who your real friends are and I want him to recognize Zach for hav...