A WA junior surfing champion was lucky to escape serious injury after a dolphin launched out of the water and landed on him during a surf at Kalbarri.
Incredible footage shot by 13-year-old Jed Gradisen’s father Andrew shows the moment the surfer slid off his board a split second before the creature’s nose punctured a hole in the fibreglass surfboard.
Mr Gradisen was filming Jed and his older brother Ben three weeks ago when the close encounter happened.
“I was paddling back out. I saw them (a group of dolphins) coming. Oh my god, they were coming straight for me, so I tried to get out of the way and it jumped straight into me,†Jed, the WA under-14 state surfing champion, said.
“It dived out of the water and I just jumped off my board and tried to get out of the way.
“It jumped a long way so I guess I had a couple seconds to react.
“The dolphin landed on my shoulder and the back half of my body. The dolphin reacted, I think, really shocked — almost as shocked as I was.
“It’s nose went straight through my board, it must have hurt a bit. It was rustling around trying to get free (from the board).
“In my dreams I wouldn’t dream of anything like that. It was an accident, it (the dolphin) was just as amazed as I was.â€
https://youtu.be/vgFEEub6nIY
