This is the heartbreaking moment when a great white shark crashes into a kayaker, nearly capsizing the ship as the animal sails through the water to hunt a seal off the coast of New Zealand.
Greg Potter sat back in his pedal kayak and admired the wildlife from a distance as he watched a young great white shark dart through the ocean’s surface to try and catch a seal off New Zealand’s Eastern Cape.
But when the young shark tried to land the prey in its jaws, the spectacle came a little too close to be comforting, nearly plunging the kayaker himself into the action.
The shark shot twice into the bottom of Greg’s kayak, nearly toppling the ship on the second attempt.
The impact nearly knocked Greg into the water, potentially leaving him with a fate similar to that of the ill-fated seal.
When Greg saw the great white shark chasing the seal, he stopped kicking and filmed the incredible scenes to upload to his own GP fishing adventures social media channels
A seal is seen up close approaching Greg’s kayak off the coast of New Zealand’s Eastern Cape, with a great white shark following closely behind
A seal and a shark plunge through the water off New Zealand’s coast, just meters away from Greg’s kayak
Greg has previously assumed the disturbance was a school of tuna fish fluttering around and ventured out with his kayak to take a closer look.
However, he soon realized it was a young shark chasing a seal. He stopped pedaling about 200 yards away and filmed the incredible scenes to upload to his own GP fishing adventures social media channels.
You can see the seal repeatedly darting into the water in an attempt to scramble away from the shark, which follows close behind.
In awe of what he sees – even closer at this point, about 100 yards away – Greg says on the footage, “I’ve got a young great white shark here chasing a seal.
“It’s surreal,” he adds, despite the pursuit of what many would seem more than close enough.
After the experience, Greg told the New Zealand herald: ‘They were moving fast man… like they were flying through the water.’
Greg then quickly made the decision to step on the pedals as the seal and shark started circling around him – but it was too late.
He said he thought the seal was using his kayak as a hideout from the predator, causing the shark to jump at him and hit the boat twice.
A seal and a shark are seen emerging from the ocean as the hunter tries to catch his prey
The shark shot twice into the bottom of Greg’s kayak, nearly toppling the ship on the second attempt
You can see the seal darting repeatedly into the water in an attempt to scramble away from the shark, which follows close behind
On the second blow, Greg almost knocked out of the kayak and straight into the water, even closer to the shark’s jaws.
But the experienced fisherman managed to regain his balance and continued his swift exodus from the danger zone.
He said he was still impressed and compared the real life action to something you would normally only see in a David Attenborough documentary.
He told the New Zealand Herald that the experience was “breathtaking” and that he was able to remain fairly calm despite the shark being an arm’s length away at one point.
However, the adventurer said the possible consequences of what could have happened if he hadn’t kept his balance still gave him “shivers.”
“If it had managed to get me out of the kayak, it could have been quite a disastrous end,” he told the New Zealand publication.
The young great white shark is seen jumping out of the water while trying to catch a seal
As the young shark attempted to land the prey in its jaws, the spectacle came a little too close to be of comfort, almost plunging the kayaker himself into the action.
A young great white shark blasts through the ocean surface in an attempt to catch a seal off New Zealand’s Eastern Cape
The experienced fisherman managed to regain his balance and continued his swift exit from the danger zone
He noted that at the time it was almost covered from head to toe, making it almost indistinguishable from a seal from the shark’s perspective.
But this wasn’t the first time Greg had been thrown into the deep end with his New Zealand escapades.
He said he had previously caught a 100kg marlin from his kayak and even seen killer whales and giant angelfish up close.