As Told to Ryan Krogh
I WAS 17, AND IT WAS the first day of spring break. I was lying on my bodyboard at Kauai's Brennecke Beach, feet dangling in the water, waiting for another set of waves, when something bit my leg and pulled me under, ten feet to the bottom. When I realized it was a shark—people watching from the beach later told me it was a 13-foot-long tiger shark—I started punching it in the nose. But it didn't care and began thrashing me around like a mad dog with a stuffed animal. It let go for a second but grabbed a hold of me again and took me down feetfirst, while I kept punching it as hard as I could.

When I saw its gills, I reached in and started ripping everything out. But it didn't faze the shark. It just got stronger and angrier. Every time I'd do something, it just thrashed me more. Then I saw its eye. I reached in and just ripped it out. I saw blood coming out of the socket. It was surprisingly easy, and the shark kind of tweaked out for a second. Then it let me go. I dropped the eyeball and swam to the surface. I was under the water for more than a minute. I should have been struggling for air, but it felt like I was breathing underwater.

Luckily my board was still attached to my wrist. I climbed on top and started yelling for help, paddling to shore. I managed to catch a wave and get close enough so that people could pull me onto the sand. There was blood all over the beach and in the water. I knew it was mine, but I only felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me. A nurse named Nancy saved my life by wrapping my leg in towels and stanching the flow of blood until the ambulance arrived. By the time it showed up, my brother was there. I asked him if I was OK and he told me my foot was gone. The shark bit me right below the knee, and the only thing left was the bone. The doctors told me later that I'd lost 70 percent of my blood.

I have a prosthesis now. But two surgeries and a month and a half later, I was bodyboarding again.

Expert Analysis: Hoku did everything correctly. Tiger sharks are difficult to fight off once an attack is under way. Hitting a shark on the tip of the snout is a good idea, but this is effective only prior to an actual bite. Afterwards, clawing at the gills and eyes is the best possible strategy. By this time, the shark is fully into its attack behavioral sequence, and only the weakest, most sensitive areas are vulnerable. Always demonstrate strength—there's no such thing as playing dead around a shark! —George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research and curator of the International Shark Attack File