Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

25 September 2025

3-minute read

At the age of 15, Shannon Ainslee survived a rare double great white shark attack while surfing, an incident that could have ended his story, but instead became the beginning of an extraordinary one. The attack completely changed his life and opened doors for him to share his story of faith, resilience, and overcoming fear. Now a professional surf coach and speaker, he coaches surfers around the world from South Africa to Norway, Sri Lanka and beyond, helping them grow both in the water and in life.

Recounting his story, Shannon says that while surfing at a famous reef in East London, he was paddling through the waves when two sharks attacked him at the same time. “It happened so quickly,” he recalls, but for him in that moment, everything slowed down, and he felt like he was dreaming. The first shark dragged him underwater and pulled him out of the way of the second shark, a blessing in disguise as this caused the second shark to miss him; otherwise, he would have been “torn to pieces,” Shannon says. A moment later, he had a face-to-face underwater encounter with the first shark, and he describes seeing the shark’s teeth and one eye as “super scary.”

Seconds thereafter, the shark swam away, and Shannon resurfaced to see the other surfers swimming back to the beach while he was left alone in the water. It was only when he jumped back onto his surfboard and saw his fingers hanging off that he started panicking. Suddenly the ocean went flat, and he was about 100m’s away from the shore with images of the sharks coming back to finish him up flashing through his mind. “Knowing that I was going to die,” that the sharks were bound to return, was the scariest thing ever, says Shannon.

Although he was never religious back then, the incident propelled him to start praying and immediately a wave came and pushed him safely back to the shore. Coming from a poor family background, Shannon was very emotional when he woke up in hospital the next morning, saying that he had “internal shark attacks” like depression and anger that he was dealing with. But when he started praying again, he immediately felt at peace and realised that he was being given a second chance.

As South Africans, we have “a lot of opportunity to make a difference,” says Shannon, and with a renewed sense of purpose after the double shark attack, he started giving free surf lessons to kids and parents in East London and then in Jeffrey’s Bay when he moved there a few years later. The lessons turned into a surfing business when some of the kids he taught represented South Africa in local, national and international surf competitions.

Shannon’s resilience that was born from the shark attack that made him face his fears has helped him coach people from different cultures through the difficult sport of surfing. Getting out into the ocean is unpredictable and not for the feint-hearted, with surfers often getting wiped out, smashed by waves, or tumbled underwater and then making the choice not to give up but to go back in to ride the next wave. “Don’t give up, just push through,” is what he coaches in his surf lessons, urging his learner to get back out there and try again.

Life itself will always be a type of shark attack, whether it be financial, emotional, or relational ones, Shannon laughs, and he teaches his kids to overcome obstacles by staying persistent and resilient, facing challenges head on, and surrounding themselves with good people who can support them and cheer them on. His life story has also been written up in a biography titled: Child of the Wild Coast. Through his coaching and life experiences, Shannon Ainslee helps others find strength both in the waves and in life itself.

Listen to the full interview with Ml Sulaimaan Ravat and Shannon Ainslee.