Surfer Catapulted by Great White Shark, Board ‘Exploded’ (Video)

Chiming in on the comments, Kelly Slater wrote: “How does it bite that much and miss the guy? Insane!” On another account, the GOAT added: “Incredible he’s ok. Great example of why I fear open ocean swimming so much. Surfboards have saved quite a few surfers with that tiny barrier.”

After the incident, the NSW’s SharkSmart App was pinged when a 16-foot great white was caught on a drum line off Cabarita Beach. The shark was caught and released. Warning signs were put up on the beach.

Speaking to ABC, a friend of Ross who was in the water at the time of incident, Kane Douglas, described: "The board exploded, one half went that way, the other half went that way, there was just whitewash and debris everywhere. It all happened so fast, it still hasn't really processed … what happened and how quickly. You grow up surfing, you think about sharks and they are out there but to see one so big this close in is pretty rare.”

The shark-on-surfer incident happened at the same beach that, back in June, a 16-year-old surfer was attacked. In that instance, footage showed other surfers helping the young boy to the beach, as the shark followed the pack towards the shore.

As for Monday’s shark encounter at Cabarita, regarding Ross, another witness said:

"He was super chilled, [but] he was just super upset because he really loved his board and now it is broken.”

Very close call.