A 13-year-old girl had a miraculous escape after a large Great White shark seized her surfboard in its jaws and violently shook her off into the water at one of South Africa’s most popular surfing spots.
Zoe Steyn was sitting astride her fibreglass surfboard, waiting for a wave approximately 75 metres offshore at Nahoon Reef, when the predator suddenly rose from below and attacked. The incident occurred in the Indian Ocean waters off East London, a renowned but shark-prone stretch of coastline.
“I just saw this huge black eye looking straight at me and a huge bang as it took my board and began shaking it,” Zoe recalled. “It latched on with its jaws just missing my leg and it tipped me backwards and I fell in.”
The shark, estimated at least 10 feet (around 3 metres) long, left deep bite marks in the board. In the terrifying moments that followed, Zoe saw the dark shape of the predator in the water as she panicked.
Another surfer shouted for her to get back on her board. She managed to pull herself onto it, though she remained gripped by fear, unsure of the shark’s location. Help arrived quickly in the form of photographer and fellow surfer JP Veaudry, who paddled directly out to her.
“He told me not to think about the shark but just paddle for all I was worth,” Zoe said. “I have never been so relieved to get on a beach in my life.”
JP Veaudry, aged 40, who lost a leg in a hit-and-run accident several years ago and is ranked No. 2 in the world in adaptive surfing, described the rapid sequence of events.
“I heard a death-defying scream and saw loads of thrashing about in the water,” he said. “Zoe was screaming and flailing in the sea as the shark had pulled the board out from under her. My first thought was to get out of there and onto the beach. But I couldn’t just leave her out there with the shark.”
The pair paddled back to shore together. On the beach, it became clear how fortunate Zoe had been. The shark had bitten the board precisely where her arm would have been had she been paddling in a prone position.
“You can see the teeth marks on the board so you can imagine what it would have done if it got Zoe,” JP noted. “She was lucky that she was sitting on her surfboard when it attacked… who knows what would have happened if there was blood in the water.”
Eyewitness Tristan Wantenaar, 33, who was bodyboarding just metres ahead of Zoe, turned at her scream and saw the large dorsal fin of the shark thrashing the board from side to side.
“It grabbed her board and thrashed it from side to side,” he said. “She was trying to get back on her board to get out of the water and I just panicked. I shouted at her to try to get back on and then a wave came and I caught it back into shore.” Wantenaar confirmed he believed it was a Great White due to the distinctive “nodule” on its dorsal fin.
Zoe, who had been surfing for three years without previously seeing a shark, admitted the encounter left a lasting impression.
“My memory of it is this big black eye looking straight at me – I was so, so scared,” she said.
Remarkably, the teenager overcame her immediate fears and returned to the water the very next day. However, she has expressed doubt about returning to Nahoon Reef.
“I can’t thank JP enough for risking his life to paddle out and save me and get back to shore,” Zoe added. “It has taught me never to surf alone ever again.”
The incident highlights the ever-present, though statistically rare, risk of shark encounters in South African waters. Worldwide, there are on average fewer than 80 shark attacks each year, with 6 to 8 fatal, many involving bull sharks. The odds of being bitten by a shark are approximately 1 in 3.7 million. South Africa sees an average of about 5 attacks annually, with roughly 1.4 fatalities.
Nahoon Reef remains one of the country’s premier surfing destinations, yet this close call serves as a stark reminder of the power and unpredictability of the ocean’s apex predators — and the quick thinking and bravery that can turn potential tragedy into a story of survival.