‘Hit by a car’: Flying shark headbutts surfer off his board

A surfer has opened up about the terrifying moment a shark jumped out of the water and wiped him off his board.

A surfer said it felt like getting “hit by a car” after he was knocked off his board by a shark leaping out of the water.

Darren Kaye was minding his own business while surfing at New Smyrna Beach in Orlando, Florida on a Friday evening when he was headbutted by a spinner shark in a bizarre scene which has since gone viral.

Sharing the video on his own Instagram recently, Mr Kaye wrote that the shark “came out of nowhere and hit me like a truck.

“His nose slammed me right in the face, his pectoral fin bruised my left bicep and got slammed right off my lost ‘96 RNF redux. Just another day at the inlet!” he wrote.

While it wasn’t surprising that Mr Kaye met a shark, with Florida beaches notorious for shark interactions, particularly New Smyrna Beach, which is known as the “shark bite capital of the world”, it was the way that they met that raised eyebrows.

The area is known for to have blacktip, spinner and bull sharks.

While bull sharks are the most dangerous, blacktip and spinners are usually more common in terms of sightings because of their tendency to jump out of the water.

Spinner sharks are not usually known as dangerous to humans with no recorded fatalities from an unprovoked attack.

In November 2024, How Stuff Works reported that there had only been 16 known attacks.

Kaye, who spoke to local TV station WFTV 9, said he had seen sharks around the area and was keeping an eye out when he was hit by the leaping shark.

“I was just really happy its mouth wasn’t open cause that’s how they fish,” Mr Kaye said.

Spinner sharks get their name from the way they move in the air when feeding and the Florida Museum of Natural History claims they can reach 20 feet (6m) above the water’s surface.

Now that's unexpected. Photo: Instagram

Darren Kaye said that the shark’s impact felt more like being hit by a car. Photo: WFTV

But Mr Kaye admitted he wasn’t too sure what had hit him and got out of the water as quickly as he could.

“I got right back on that board and my pulse went to like 195 beats per minute in a second and I paddled as fast as I could like out of the way,” he said.

“I have a scar (from getting hit by a car) and that’s like what it felt like. It felt like getting hit by a car. It was really strong and powerful. They’re all muscle, you know.”

Despite the incident, Mr Kaye wasn’t put off, saying he returned to surf later that weekend.

Mr Kaye was lucky, but it’s not always the case.

Australian surfers were praised last week after coming to the rescue of a 16-year-old who was attacked by a 2m shark in the water off Norris Headland at Cabarita Beach on the NSW North Coast last week.

The shark mauled the right side of the teen’s body, injuring his leg, hand and arm.

Bystanders rushed to the boy’s aid as he cried for help, pulling him from the water.

One heroic person even reportedly punched the shark to keep it away as the bystanders helped the teenager from the water.

The teen is still reportedly in a serious condition.

Originally published as ‘Hit by a car’: Flying shark headbutts surfer off his board