A couple was surfing together at an Australian beach over the weekend when a great white shark ruined their fun.
Mark Rapley and his wife Chantelle Doyle were catching waves at Shelly Beach in New South Wales until a great white, described as being between six and 10 feet long, attacked her, throwing her off her surfboard.
New South Wales police report that as she tried to climb back up on her board, Rapley grabbed on to her surfboard and then started punching the shark until it let go of her.
Once she was free from the shark, the couple got back to shore and paramedics were there to take care of her. Doyle had severe lacerations to her right leg and was airlifted to a hospital and had surgery, according to police.
"When you see the mother of your child, and your support, everything that's who you are, so you just react," Rapley explains. "Your body reacts to saying get off, get off. So you start punching it, you start thinking amazingly where to punch it and so you're like, 'I'll just attack the eye,' or whatever. You just start thinking differently."
Source: ABC News Image (c) 2020 Getty Images