Surfer Bumped, Board Bitten By Shark At T-Street

Over the holiday weekend, a surfer was reportedly bumped by a shark at T-Street, a semi-famous surf spot in San Clemente, CA.

Known for its mostly sand-bottomed wedges, T-Street (the T is for Trafalgar) is basically Orange County’s softer, just as busy, all-around worse version of Dbah. And it’s littered with incredible surfers.

On the day in question, 25-year-old Dana Point local Evan Garcia saw a dark shape in the water around 8 pm (just after sunset). Garcia was trying to get a wave in anyway, so he didn’t think much of it, until he was bumped firmly from below and knocked off his board.

“There was no doubt in my mind [it was a shark],” Garcia told Fox 11. “The way it hit the board from below – it was coming for me, for sure.”

The shark wasn’t done yet, returning to take a “bite” from Garcia’s board, which was later confirmed by an “expert”. The water was subsequently closed to surfers and swimmers for all of Monday, before being reopened today.

“I feel like that’s about as lucky as you possibly can be, as someone who surfs a lot and spends a lot of time in the water,” said Garcia to Fox 11, “You always know that’s a possibility, but there’s people out there who have been seriously injured by sharks and I’m so lucky that it only got my board.”

While the shark hasn’t been officially identified, juvenile Great Whites are known to frequent Southern California waters in the northern hemi summer.