Surfers are very often the victims of shark attacks because from underwater, their hands and feet sticking out from their boards resemble one of the shark's favorite meals - seals. Luckily, one surfer at Morro Strand State Beach managed to swim away, shaken but unscathed, when a great white shark bit off a whole chunk from her board.
Elinor Dempsey was surfing at around 10:15 a.m. on Saturday morning when the shark came in a bit too close for comfort. The missing piece from her board in the shape of a bite - evidence of how close she came to the shark - measures at 13 and a half inches wide and eight inches deep.
According to Dempsey, she saw the shark swimming about two feet beneath the water and thought it was a dolphin at first. But as it swam closer, she began to realize that it was not acting like a regular dolphin, and that is when it "landed" on her board and bit out the chunk.
Another surfer, Jamie Bettencourt, who saw the whole encounter, said that Dempsey stumbled off her board and was screaming. Fortunately, the shark got spooked and swam away without causing any serious injury.
Both surfers described the shark to be at least seven to eight feet long and "as big around as a stout man." They also said that the shark had a dark gray fin and tail.
In mere seconds, surfers along the beach were able to inform a California State Parks pickup that happened to be passing by on its regular patrol about the shark incident. The Rangers immediately announced the shark's presence on the beach P.A. system and radioed Morro Bay Harbor Patrol to clear the waters down along the stretch of the entire beach for safety.
Dempsey considers herself extremely lucky to have escaped without a scratch even though her board certainly now has an interesting tale to it. She says her only regret was that day she was unable to catch any good waves.
By afternoon, Dempsey was reportedly already back in the water.
"I love surfing. I don't want this to stop me from that," she said.
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