A Polish kite surfer attempting to reach the record books instead found himself fending off 18-foot sharks with a single knife when he became stranded for two days in the Red Sea.

Jan Lisewski, 42, was attempting to kite surf across the Red Sea when the wind stopped and his kite suddenly deflated, Reuters reported.

Stuck two-thirds of the way into his 124-mile journey from the Egyptian town of El Gouna to Duba in Saudi Arabia, Lisewski put out an SOS signal but got no response.

Facing nightfall and rough waters, Lisewski relied on energy drinks, water and the two energy bars he had with him to sustain him.

He said relied on a knife he also had on hand to keep him safe against the up to 18-foot-long sharks that surrounded him. "I was stabbing them in the eyes, the nose and gills," Lisewski told Polish state news agency PAP.

Nearly 40 hours after placing his first SOS signal, Lisewski was finally located and rescued by the Saudi Arabian coast guard.

Lisewski made the record books last year by becoming the first person to kite surf across the Baltic Sea.  No word on whether he plans to make a second attempt to conquer the Red Sea.