On Thursday afternoon, around 4:30pm local time, Bowie Daly was surfing Tathra Beach in the southern region of New South Wales, Australia.
That’s when, a shark latched onto his surfboard.
Miraculously, 9-year-old Bowie walked away from the incident with only a scratch. His board, however, looked like it had been run over by a semitruck with teeth.
Simon Daly/ABC
“I was holding onto it [my board] and I felt a tug at the back of my board,” Bowie told the ABC. “I suddenly started drowning but I got back up … it only happened for a second. When I came back up, I saw a giant back and I realized it was a shark and then I started screaming for help.”
Luckily, the shark released its jaw, and Bowie was helped to shore from fellow surfers – including his father. And the result, despite the wrecked board? Just a scratch.
“I have a hole in my wetsuit … I have a scratch mark,” he said.
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As for his board, though:
“It made a giant bite mark … it fully took out my fin. My board was fully into pieces … fully wrecked. It was not good.”
Tathra Surf Life Saving Club president Andrew Johnson, who rushed to the beach upon news of the attack, said: “All surfers think that there’s sharks out there and they just accept that.”
But when it came to Bowie’s board, Johnson added: “He’s probably really, really cheesed off that his board’s broken.”
Luckily, young Bowie may have some help in that department. Former pro surfer Kai Otton, who also hails from Tathra, has offered the 9-year-old a new stick.
And Bowie, he’s not deterred from the whole situation. He’ll be back in the water in no time.
“[It’ll be] “two to four weeks till I get back in,” he said. But upon hearing about the new board from Otton, he added: “I’m going to go sooner.”
Related: Shark Chases Surfers to Beach After Attacking Teen (Video)