- GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING
A 26-year-old California surfer was thrown from his board when a 6ft shark rammed him from beneath and took a bite of his leg.
Tommy Civik was paddling off the coast of Gualala, a coastal resort 115 miles north of San Francisco, at 8.30am on January 13.
He told the LA Times that he’d only been in the water ten minutes when a force like ‘being hit by a car’ snapped his board, sending him flying.
‘The whole thing was so jarring, I was just trying to get away,’ he said to the outlet.
Civik didn’t even see the shark swimming toward him. His friend, Marco Guerrero, told the outlet he was watching from a sandbar nearby.
‘I was looking out at the waves when I saw the thrashing,’ Guerrero told the outlet. ‘I said, “Oh, that’s a shark attack,” thinking it was attacking a seal. I didn’t realize it was Tommy.’
After sinking its teeth into Civik, Guerrero said the shark whipped its tail above the water and disappeared with half the surfboard.
Civik was stranded in the water, still 150ft from land. His only option was to put his head down and swim for his life.
Surfer Tommy Civik was thrown from his surfboard when a shark bit onto it from underneath. Pictured are the bite marks on his severed board
Civik (pictured) sustained a distinct shark bite which required stitches
The shark disappeared with half of Civik’s surf board, leaving him with the bitten end
It wasn’t until he got to safety that Civik noticed distinct, bloody teeth marks in his leg.
‘I was unbelievably lucky. My board took all the impact, and the teeth just grazed me,’ Civik said.
A bystander saw the attack in Mendocino County that morning and called 911.
The South Coast Fire Protection District responded to the ‘call of distress’ at 8.45am and sent out the Coast Life Support District and the fire department.
By the time first responders arrived, Civik was already on land.
The puncture wounds on his upper left thigh required stitches, but he insisted on seeking treatment himself.
‘I had quite a bit of adrenaline, and since I could walk, I drove myself to the hospital,’ Civik told the Times.
Civik was surfing on the beaches of Gualala, California, pictured in a stock image
The punctured wetsuit was turned over to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which will test it to determine the type of shark responsible for the bite.
Civik has been surfing for years and occasionally worried about sharks, but had no idea he would become the victim of an attack.
Despite his injuries, he hasn’t been deterred from heading back out on the waves.
‘Honestly, I would surf again,’ he told the Times.
‘If it’s already unlikely to get attacked by a shark once, how could it happen twice? I don’t think this will stop me.’
Civik was reportedly the first shark bite victim in California this year.
The Daily Mail contacted the South Coast Fire Protection District and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for comment.
