Anyone who spends much time swimming or surfing in the ocean has heard the urban legend. If you’re getting attacked by a shark, punch it in the face. Well that’s exactly what a University of Central Florida student did recently to a shark that was attacking him in Cocoa Beach.
Josh Green told KnightNews.com that he was swimming by himself, bodysurfing some waves, when out of nowhere something grabbed his leg and yanked. Out of instinct he punched it in the face only to realize a second later that it was a shark.
“I didn’t realize it was a shark until I punched it, thinking it was someone messing with me and then felt the face,” he told the paper.
After taking a hay-maker to the snout, the shark let go and Green managed to swim to shore. He emerged a little bloody, however, which was quite a shock to his friends sunbathing on the sand. Green later received 18 stitches in his leg at a nearby clinic.
“The doctors that helped me were kind of shocked because they said they had not seen a shark attack in person,” he said.
Even though he did not see the shark that bit him, lifeguards estimated the shark at between four and five feet based on the bite marks. But the best part of the story, which he revealed in an interview: Green was drunk so he hardly felt a thing.
Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons
