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A spinner shark jumped out of the water at New Smyrna Beach in Florida, smacking a swimmer in the face. Darren Kaye was surfing the inlet when the shark headbutted him, knocking him off his board.
He posted the video on Instagram, writing 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! 🦈🦈🦈🦈”
“I was just really happy its mouth wasn’t open, because that’s how they fish,” said Kaye. “I got right back on that board and my pulse went to like 195 beats a minute in a second and I paddled as fast as I could like out of the way.”
Kaye, who has spotted sharks while surfing before in New Smyrna, kept surfing for another 45 minutes, and returned for more swells the rest of the weekend. But he was shocked by the force.
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“It felt like getting hit by a car. It was really strong and powerful. They’re all muscle you know,” said Kaye.
Spinner sharks are known for their acrobats, weighing more than 120 pounds. Similar to blacktip sharks, the predators leap and spin to catch prey. As they move closer to the shore to feed and reproduce, sightings are common in Florida.
Florida leads the nation in shark attacks, with 942 incidents reported since 1882. In comparison, Hawaii follows in second with 199 shark attacks reported in the same time period. New Smyrna Beach is commonly called the “shark bite capital of the world.”
Surfer Headbutted by Shark in Wild Video first appeared on Men’s Journal on Jul 1, 2025