Terrifying footage shows Niccolo Porcella surfing a wave in Tahiti, when suddenly he slips off his surfboard, smashes into the sea - and gets caught underwater for minutes.
The 27-year-old was repeatedly pummelled onto a coral reef after becoming trapped by the wave, unable to come up for air.
Speaking to Surfing Life magazine, the sportsman said he was ‘bounced, pin-balled on the reef…over and over. It held me under.’
The force of the wave also knocked his life vest off, and he was hit by a second wave which forced him to the bottom once more.
‘I came up, spitted blood a couple of times’ admitted the Italian, before adding that within 20 minutes he was back in the water to catch another wave.
Now that's extreme!