Young Australian Surfer Rides a Wave With a Shark Next to Him

Talk about a close encounter!!

Chris Hasson captured the photo of a lifetime while his 10-year-old son, Eden, was out surfing in Samurai Beach, Australia. Hasson saw something odd about the wave his son was riding, but didn’t notice it was a shark until he was reviewing his photos.

“He (Eden) saw a shape in the wave and thought it was seaweed and felt something as he went over the top — he got his leg rope caught on something — but he thought nothing of it until he saw the photo,” Hasson said to the Associated Press.

“Eden rode the wave to the beach. I quickly zoomed in on the second photo and was shocked when I saw the image,” Hasson told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Eden was halfway out and I called everyone in. I showed them the photo and everyone was in awe, laughing.”

According to Andrew Chin, a shark researcher from James Cook University, the shark was possibly a great white shark.

“From the angle, it looks like the shark was spooked and is rolling away from the board to escape it,” Chin told the AP. “There is no way that this is a hunting approach.”

Luckily for Eden, he didn’t realize anything was wrong while he was out in the ocean.

“When [Dad] called me in I thought it must be a shark because there was a big school of fish we saw,” Eden told News.Com.Au. “If I had known it was the shark in the wave I would have freaked out and fallen off … I saw the photo and I was shocked.”

The little scare hasn’t stopped Eden from getting back in the water. He jumped back on his board the very next day.

“Everyone’s back to business. It’s too good a lifestyle sport not to,” Chris Hasson said to AP.