It's often said that you're more likely to be killed by a vending machine than a shark, but that doesn't make these predators any less terrifying to the average person. 23-year-old competitive surfer Frank O'Rourke proved on Saturday, however, that he is not the average person. 

O'Rourke was out near the pier at Jacksonville Beach, Florida, on Saturday at around 3:30pm when he was attacked by a shark. 

The surf cameras along the beach caught the moment, showing O'Rourke wrestling with the animal, which had managed to knock him off the board and latch onto his right elbow. 

Joining O'Rourke on the beach, his friend RJ Berger was able to watch the entire thing as it unfolded. Berger estimated that the shark was a three to four foot spinner or blacktip shark, causing great panic amongst the onlookers. 

O'Rourke was clearly not as alarmed as his friend, though. After managing to get free of the shark, he returned to shore to look at the damage and then decided to head for a local bar to show off his wounds instead of taking a visit to hospital. 

In an interview with WJXT, Berger said: "It was kind of panic, like, 'Did that just happen?'

"It kind of took him a couple seconds to gather himself and realise, 'Wow, I just got bit by a shark'.'

"He immediately went a bar 'cause he was like, 'I got bit by a shark,' and people were like, 'I'll buy you drinks.' So he went and hung out at the pier," Berger said. 

Berger went on to admit that he thought his mate could probably have afforded a stitch or two. Though, you can appreciate that he probably didn't want to get between O'Rourke and his drinks after such an ordeal.

Shark attacks in the US are very rare, though, in recent weeks there has been a spike in cases, with two off the coast of Florida just this past weekend, including O'Rourke's. There are few examples of fatal attacks, but O'Rourke was lucky to have not been more heavily injured. 

I'm sure it won't put him off surfing, though, especially since free drinks were on the cards after it.