Northern California Surfer Gets Attacked By Immense Shark, Kicks Immense Shark In Face, Survives

Sharktober has arrived in California, and with it, reports of a recent shark attack in Humboldt County.

On October 2nd, 31-year-old Jared Trainor was attacked while surfing on the North Coast, Times Standard reports:

“I don’t remember the initial contact,” he said. “It kind of happened so quickly.”

In the instinctive moment, Trainor was still not clear what exactly was happening. He felt an initial pain in his knee which led him to believe it was a seal. Underwater and face-to-face with the unknown creature, Trainor grabbed the body with his right hand and repeatedly kicked the predator’s head with his left leg. It released him and swam away. Trainor surfaced and paddled to the beach where another surfer was waiting after observing the incident.

“He met me at the shoreline,” Trainor recalled. “He was like, ‘did that thing get you?’ ”

Trainor asked the observer if it was a shark or seal, still unsure of what exactly had happened and the extent of his own injuries. Whether because of adrenaline or what would later be diagnosed as nerve damage, Trainor walked back to his truck.

After paramedics secured a tourniquet, the extent of Trainor’s own injuries became clear to him. He brushed with cardiac arrest before arriving at the hospital in Fortuna where he was brought into surgery. His wounds spanned nearly 19 inches, the length of the massive shark’s mouth. They stapled his open wounds back together and had to perform surgery on his MCL, which seemed to have been partially severed by the shark.

Considering the fact that 19 inches is just about the width of an average stock surfboard, we’d imagine this shark was a fucking school bus.

The picture of Jared’s wound is extremely gruesome, so we won’t share it on the site. If you’d like to have a look anyway (good luck removing it from your brain), it’s on the local surf shops’ instagram here.

He also has a GoFundMe set up for his medical bills, which at press time has raised about $12,000 of its $50,000 target.

Humboldt County continues to be a hotspot for shark attacks, with over 17 recorded attacks in the last 50 years. Unless you’re ready for a kung-fu deathmatch with a big man in a big suit, a second thought about paddling alone into gray, murky, NorCal waters might be warranted. 

We’re glad you’re ok, Jared.

Heal up soon.