A California man had a narrow escape after a startling encounter with a shark while surfing at Montara State Beach. Jens Heller, a 42-year-old from Albany, was enjoying the waves when the incident occurred.
While Heller was surfing, his wife and their six-month-old daughter were playing on the sand. He had just begun his surfing session and was about 100 yards from shore waiting for a wave when suddenly, he collided with what he initially thought was a rock, causing him to fall off his board, he recounted to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Upon looking back, Heller was horrified to see the shark’s eyes, teeth, and gums. He described to SFGATE how the shark’s head was biting down on his board, with its eye glaring directly at him.
Other surfers later told him that the shark appeared to be around 10 feet long, and Heller suspected it might have been a great white, according to his interview with the same publication.
Heller felt the shark bite into the side of his surfboard, right where his thigh had just been. “I kind of panicked, obviously,” he admitted to The Chronicle. “I thought, ‘That’s it; I’m not going to make it out of this.’
He detailed to SFGATE how he pushed the board toward the shark and attempted to kick away. Fortunately, the shark released the board quickly and swam off. Heller then hurriedly grabbed his board, turned towards the shore, and paddled as fast as he could to safety.
Initially, Heller didn’t think he was unharmed, suspecting that adrenaline was masking any pain. However, he soon realized he had miraculously escaped without a scratch, he told The Chronicle.
“It was my lucky day, I guess,” he reflected.
Beach Shut Down After Shark Sighting
After this alarming incident, the beach was closed for two days, as reported by the news outlet. Heller reported the encounter to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, who collected DNA from his surfboard to analyze the bite mark.
“You can see on the top of the board, the bite marks of the upper jaw, definitely larger than my hand,” Heller explained to SFGATE. “And on the bottom, a small piece of the board was missing. There’s also a hole on the rail now, essentially where the upper and lower jaws bit.”
Despite the terrifying experience, Heller told reporters that he hasn’t been put off from surfing. He expressed his intentions to return to the water soon, though he plans to steer clear of Montara State Beach for a while.
“I will go out in the water again,” he assured. “I probably will not go to this beach in the near future.”
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