During the Thanksgiving weekend I visited Newport Oregon, and spoke with a woman about a shark attack off the Oregon coast at Lincoln Beach. This woman talked of a response by a Lincoln City police officer, to a surfer being attacked in the week prior to Thanksgiving, 2006. The police officer was the woman's son who is also a frequent surfer at that beach, and the story was recalling an incident that involved a surfer buddy of his.
The surfer was attacked at the front of his surf board, and luckily he sustained no injuries. It was determined from tooth marks and from the bite radius of the chunk taken from the surf board, the shark which was concluded to be a Great White was in the neighborhood of 16 feet in length. Other surfers saw the shark during the attack.
The woman, with whom I spoke was the manager of a store in Nye Beach. She responded with a positive statement when asked about her son's thoughts on the attack. "My son has always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie - police force, BMX bike racing, skateboarding. This will not dissuade him from surfing."
Great White shark attacks are not uncommon in the waters off the coast of Northern California and Oregon. Surfer attacks are presumed to be a case of mistaken identity, falling prey to the shark's inability to differentiate them from surface swimming seals and seal lions, in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean's turbid conditions and less than perfect water clarity.
be well... Craig - diver_gent@msn.com
The surfer was attacked at the front of his surf board, and luckily he sustained no injuries. It was determined from tooth marks and from the bite radius of the chunk taken from the surf board, the shark which was concluded to be a Great White was in the neighborhood of 16 feet in length. Other surfers saw the shark during the attack.
The woman, with whom I spoke was the manager of a store in Nye Beach. She responded with a positive statement when asked about her son's thoughts on the attack. "My son has always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie - police force, BMX bike racing, skateboarding. This will not dissuade him from surfing."
Great White shark attacks are not uncommon in the waters off the coast of Northern California and Oregon. Surfer attacks are presumed to be a case of mistaken identity, falling prey to the shark's inability to differentiate them from surface swimming seals and seal lions, in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean's turbid conditions and less than perfect water clarity.
be well... Craig - diver_gent@msn.com
