THIS is the moment a surfer is headbutted by a flying shark in a jaw-dropping encounter in Florida.
Wild footage shows Darren Kaye calmly sitting on his board when a spinner shark explodes from the water in a twisting leap.
The animal smashed straight into his head, knocking him clean off his board at New Smyrna Beach.
The clip captured the fast-moving predator launching into the air like a missile – a signature move for spinner sharks during feeding frenzies.
After the terrifying hit, Kaye told local outlet WFTV 9: “I was just really happy its mouth wasn’t open.”
New Smyrna Beach, northeast of Orlando, is infamous for shark sightings – and Kaye said he had seen plenty of fins slicing through the surf before.
What he didn’t expect was an aerial ambush.
“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 out of the way,” he said.
The effect, he mentioned, was not a trivial matter: “I have a scar on my elbow from the incident of being struck by a car, and the experience was very much akin to that. It was like being hit by a vehicle.”
“It was really strong and powerful. They’re all muscle, you know.”
Although spinner sharks are usually not aggressive, this beach also hosts black tip sharks and the infamous bull sharks, which are among the most dangerous species to humans.
Still, the brush with Jaws didn’t scare Kaye off the waves.
“We surfed there the rest of the weekend, we surfed there this morning, we surfed there yesterday afternoon,” the surfer said.
“We always have waves. We are lucky.”
The video, which was also posted on Instagram, quickly lit up the comments.
One user wrote: “That’s wild!”
Another chimed in: “I got hit by one at inlet while up riding a wave. Thought it broke my arm when I put it up to block the impact.”
A third added: “Had this happen to me at Navarre Pier.
“It hit my foot hard on its way out of the water and still landed next to my board. Fun moment, kept surfing.”
And another person commented: “Some of them get pretty big. Saw a 4-5 footer hop out today.”
With summer heating up, so is shark season on the East Coast.
Earlier this month, a 9-year-old girl was nearly deprived of her hand due to a typical shark attack in Florida. Shortly after, an individual at a South Carolina beach had to be airlifted to a hospital following an attack near Hilton Head Island.
But Kaye’s mid-air run-in proves you don’t even need to be in the water to have a close encounter with one of the ocean’s most fearsome predators.
