What would you do if you were out surfing with the love of your life in the great wide ocean when suddenly, your life flashes in front of your eyes? Mark Rapley is recounting the shocking events that occurred when his wife Chantelle was attacked by a shark—and he was able to react quickly and save her.

The two were surfing the waves at Shelly Beach in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, having a grand old time when Chantelle was suddenly pulled off her board by a shark. And Mark came to the rescue in an instant.

“When you see the mother of your child, and your support, everything that’s who you are, so you just react,” he said.

Without even thinking twice, he began to punch the shark that was attempting to take his wife’s life with his own bare hands.

“You’re not thinking punch it, punch it anytime soon, you’re just, your body reacts to saying get off, get off,” he explained. “So you start punching it, you start thinking amazingly where to punch it, and so you’re like, ‘I’ll just attack the eye or whatever.’ You just start thinking differently, I suppose.”

Mark was able to save his wife, though she did get bit on her calf and back thigh. However, the end result could’ve been much, much worse if it wasn’t for Mark’s quick reaction.

Experts guess that the shark was a juvenile great white measuring up to 10 feet long. One thing Mark took away from the experience: Punching a shark is hard for reasons that you wouldn’t expect! Like really *hard.*

“They feel like a ball of muscle,” Mark said. “It feels like you’re punching a brick wall. It’s hard.”

After the attack, authorities are making their goal to track the shark with the use of drones, boats and jet skis so that others can avoid injury. This incident occurred just a month after two fatal shark attacks occurred in Australia on July 4 and July 11. Additionally, last month a woman was killed in Maine by a great white shark, the first shark-related death in the state.

To hear Mark recount the entire story, as well as hear how Chantelle is doing post shark attack, check out the video below.

Wow! Have you ever experienced a shark attack or know someone who has? What would you have done if you found yourself in Mark’s situation?