Albert Westpfal has spoken out about surviving a tiger shark attack off Oahu’s South Shore.
Westpfal, 24, was paddling out Tuesday afternoon at China Walls, a popular surf break, when an estimated 12-foot tiger shark clamped down on his board and sent him flying into the open ocean. The encounter came as Hurricane Lowell fueled towering waves across the Hawaiian Islands, drawing surfers to the water despite the dangerous conditions.
“I heard the crunch of the fiberglass behind me. At that moment, I knew what was happening before I even saw it,” Westpfal wrote in his account, which Honolulu Ocean Safety shared on social media.
What Westpfal initially mistook for hitting the reef turned out to be far worse. When he turned around, he faced one of the ocean’s most feared predators bearing down on him. The shark had already bitten clean through the tail of his surfboard, fiberglass and rear fin offering little resistance to the animal’s jaws.
The force of the attack launched Westpfal into the water unprotected, and the shark came at him again. He fought back with everything he had.
“I was able to anticipate it swimming up on me and started kicking it in the head and punching its nose. It thrashed around and finally backed off,” Westpfal said.
The abrasions on his leg came not from the shark’s teeth but from the roughness of its skin as he kicked at its head to drive it away.
He wasn’t surfing alone that day. His college friend Zach Sheerer had joined him to chase the hurricane swell. When the attack happened, Sheerer didn’t hesitate.
“I want to give thanks to my friend Zach who, without even a second of hesitation, paddled right towards me to help. In the moment of life or death, you find out who your real friends are and I want him to recognize Zach for having my back. He thought I had been bitten and without a second thought came to the rescue,” Westpfal said.
The two men made it back to shore safely. Westpfal emerged with the damaged board, leg abrasions, and a story of surviving a direct encounter with one of the ocean’s apex predators.
The board itself carried a message that Westpfal found newly meaningful. He was riding a Tokoro surfboard with “Jesus Loves You” inscribed on the back bottom stringer — precisely where the shark’s bite tore through the fiberglass.
“I thank God I only have a broken board and some abrasions on my leg from kicking its skin. The first board I ever stood up on was an old Tokoro, and I’ve been riding them ever since. All of the stringers on those boards have ‘Jesus Loves You’ written on them. I definitely felt that to be true,” Westpfal said.
Photos of the damaged surfboard show the severity of the bite: the tail section shredded, the rear fin overwhelmed, the fiberglass crushed and torn where the shark’s jaws closed around it.
The incident underscores the risks that come with hurricane swells in Hawaiian waters, where increased wave activity can stir up marine life and bring sharks closer to popular surf spots. China Walls, located on Oahu’s South Shore, is known for its powerful waves breaking over shallow reef, conditions that already demand respect from experienced surfers.