It’s not good to be a surfer these days on the beaches of San Clemente, California. Over Memorial Day weekend, a surfer was attacked by a shark that knocked him off his board. City authorities quickly responded by closing access to all San Clemente beaches due to “aggressive shark behavior.” This decision affected a little more than three kilometers of beach.
Still according to authorities, the ocean remained closed until 8 p.m. Monday evening. Reopening is only carried out if no other sharks are observed for 24 hours. This announcement came at a bad time for the many vacationers and tourists who took advantage of this long weekend to enjoy the beaches of California, and San Clemente in particular.
An unusual phenomenon
In the Los Angeles TimesSan Clemente Marine Safety Lt. Sean Staudenbaur said a San Clemente lifeguard first received a report of a shark encounter at T-Street Beach, a popular destination for surfers. “The surfer and another rider were sitting on their boards waiting for a wave when they saw a dark gray object approach and knock one of the surfers off his board,” Sean Staudenbaur said.
According to him, it is “unusual” for a shark to come so close to a surfer, specifying that “the majority of shark sightings are simple sightings without signs of aggressive behavior”. In the meantime, the surfer had a big scare, especially as his board was damaged by the impact, with two indentations near the tip of the board.