A California diver escapes a shark attack that rips off his board and wet suit

About 10 minutes after diver Tommy Civik entered the water in Mendocino County, he was hit by a force from below that was “like being hit by a car.”

The suspect, 26, came out of the water around 08:30 on Tuesday morning. It was a clear and cool day in Gualala, and he was paddling out to the deep to reach the clean, unbroken waves when he was struck by a shark. The attack happened less than a month after an open water swimmer was killed by a shark in Monterey Bay.

Civik hails from Point Arena, about 20 minutes north, a small town where beach and sea animals are a regular part of the area. Surfing has been part of his routine for years, and like any diver, he said, he had fleeting thoughts of sharks as he swam.

“I didn’t think this would be the day it happened,” Civik said.

But the sudden attack sent him flying.

“My board broke in half because of the impact. My friend who was watching said I flew through the air,” said Civik. “I’m still piecing together what happened. …The whole thing was so shocking, I was just trying to get away.”

Although Civik has never seen a shark, he said he immediately knew what it was because of the power of this slam.

His friend Marco Guerrero, who witnessed the incident from a nearby sandbar, described the incident to the Civic as “violent,” with the shark’s tail “slapping” high above the water.

“I just remember Tommy saying, ‘I’ll meet you there,’ and he was right. I was watching the waves when I saw the blow,” Guerrero said. “I said, ‘Oh, that’s a shark attack,’ I think it’s a seal attack.

With the tail of his board still and far from shore, Civik said he “just put [his] head down and swim, fast.”

“I didn’t know where the shark was, I just focused on running away, after a minute I realized that it was a shark [had] I wanted to bite me again, it was going to happen,” Civik said. “Everything happened so fast.”

Guerrero described the shark as “big, about 6 feet long,” with a white underbelly.

At 8:45 a.m., the South Coast Fire Protection District received a “distress call,” said Chief Jason Warner. A bystander on a nearby cliff saw the attack and called 911.

The Coast Life Support District and the fire department, one of the few local departments with a water rescue team, according to Warner, responded to the scene with Jet Skis, prepared to remove the Civic from the water.

But when they arrived, Civik was out, standing on the ground in a torn wet suit and a broken board.

“We had a big hug when he came out of the water,” Guerrero said. He said: ‘Do not enter.’ The slam was actually the worst part. “

Civik did not notice the wounds until his friend pointed them out.

“I was incredibly lucky. My board took all the impact, and the teeth just ate me,” Civik said. “I had very little adrenaline, and since I could walk, I drove myself to the hospital.”

According to Warner, first responders discovered that Civik had scars on his legs, but decided to take himself to a nearby hospital.

“In my 20 years working in coastal fire departments, I have yet to respond to a shark attack. “Luckily, he had only minor injuries.”

“One of the first responders, who was diving in the water, couldn’t believe that a shark had attacked him. We have three generations of divers among us, and not once have we been attacked by sharks.”

Civik gave his wet suit and board to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, where officials will conduct a DNA test to confirm the species of shark.

The agency’s spokesperson, Mr. Peter Tira, said officials suspect that a great white shark is known to be living in the area.

Research shows that great white sharks have a hunting tactic called breaching, which involves them moving up quickly to strike high-dwelling prey, such as seals, to stun them before they bite.

On December 21, Erica Fox, a well-known figure in the open water swimming community, was killed while swimming in Monterey Bay. His body was found six days later. It was the second shark encounter in that area in three years.

But Tira emphasized that shark attacks on humans are still very common in Northern California. Officials recommend that surfers “exercise caution” and avoid surfing alone.

As for Civik, the experience hasn’t hurt him in surfing.

“To be honest, I would surf again,” he said. “If it is unlikely that a shark will be attacked once, how can it happen twice?”