Watch humpback whale breach — and slam into a wind surfer. ‘What it feels like to die’
Jason Breen is a self-described “ocean lover.”
The avid wind surfer’s Instagram account is filled with videos of him, tethered to a raised board with a sail in his hand.
But on a recent surfing trip off the coast of Sydney, Australia, the 55-year-old had a frightening encounter when a humpback whale breached — and landed right on top of him, news outlets reported.
“I saw the head come out, then I saw the rest of the body come out, and then I saw the whole thing above me and about that stage I’ve got to be honest, I thought I was in trouble,” Breen told 7 News.
The massive creature landed straight on Breen and dragged him under the water, The Daily Telegraph reported.
“I just thought ‘this is what it feels like to die’,” Breen told the news outlet. “He pulled me down about 20 to 30 feet … I was under for probably 30 seconds.”
Breen was filming himself before the whale breached, and his GoPro kept filming, capturing the entire collision on camera.
Paul Nettelbeck just so happened to be filming from shore when Breen was taken down by the whale, according to his Facebook.
“I thought, ‘This is not going to be good,’” Nettelback told 7 News. “He was very lucky, and I was very happy.”
Not only did Breen survive the encounter, but he told The Daily Telegraph he escaped with just a small cut.
Breen told 9News that he thinks the whale was a calf, and its size is what helped him survive.
“It was a big calf, if it had barnacles I would have been ripped apart because the whale’s body was beside me the whole time,” he told the news outlet.
This story was originally published October 25, 2023 at 8:46 AM with the headline "Watch humpback whale breach — and slam into a wind surfer. ‘What it feels like to die’."
