Surfer Jay Scrivner Survives Shark Attack In California

College of the Redwoods professor Jay Scrivner survived a shark attack while he surfed last Sunday, October 6 close to Humboldt Bay in the northern coasts of California, according to El Nuevo Herald.

45-year-old Scrivner was surfing as he regularly does close to his home in Eureka, and after two hours he spotted the nose and huge teeth of a shark. The website explains that the shark bit his leg and his surfboard while Scrivner hit the shark and shouted until he was heard by his friends.

In an interview shared by El Nuevo Herald, the professor points out that before suffering the shark attack, he and his friends were enjoying a calm, sunny morning, "sometimes you feel like the sea is a strange thing. Everyone was happy. I was laying down on my board, waiting for a nice wave".

Jay is the father of two children and knew that in 2012 surfer Scott Stephens had survived a shark attack in the same area known as the Samoa Peninsula near Humboldt Bay. After being bit, the professor used his arms to reach land where his friends and other surfers put pressure on his injury and covered it with a shirt to try and control the bleeding.

The article points out that Dale Unea, the chief of the Samoa Peninsula Fire District said that help reached the surfer at about 8:45 a.m., after which they detected a bite on his left leg. The injury was closed up with 30 stitches at the St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka.

Scrivner said "I couldn't believe what was happening. When I got away from the shark I asked myself if it had bit me. Your mind doesn't believe it" and showed his surprise at the attack saying "the strange thing is that it was a spectacular morning, everyone was having fun, and all of a sudden this dichotomy". He also explained that one of the possible reasons the bite wasn't worse was due to the thickness of his board, since it's older and thus thicker than newer boards, he said "if a shark was going to bite me, it was under the best conditions".

El Nuevo Herald shares that the professor plans to keep surfing, although with more care from now on, because "When you see a shark or get bit by a shark, then you understand that power".