Gavin Klein is counting his blessings after a 12- to 14-foot shark bit his board and sent him sailing up and over the shark.
The avid Hawaiian surfer was hitting 2- to 3-foot waves Feb. 6 off Waiokapua Bay in Kauai. He was sitting on his board in 6- to 10-feet of water watching waves break.
Around 4:30 p.m. his uncle caught a wave behind him and he tried and catch the same wave.
“I was in transition from sitting to prone, looking back at a wave my uncle just caught. As I moved forward I felt like I ran into a rock,” Klein told Tracking Sharks.
That rock was a 12- to 14-foot tiger shark and Klein was about to be face-to-face with it.
“When I looked forward I saw a big gray head was latched onto the nose of the board,” he said.
The force of the impact and the shark pushing the board down slung Klein up and over the shark, which he brushed against as he fell into the water.
“Once I was in the water, I yanked the leash and pulled my board toward me and got on it upside down,” he said.
Not knowing where the shark was, Klein pulled his hands and feet out of the water.
“I didn’t panic. It all happened so fast, there was no time for it, though it was scary not knowing if it would come back.”
That is when he saw the massive bite mark on his board and realized how serious the situation was. Klein, who has been surfing the west side since he was a baby, quickly warned his uncle and another surfing buddy.
He did a quick look around, flipped his board over and began paddling back to the beach.
“Unfortunately, the ocean went flat, and I think I only caught a wave when I was almost in.”
Back on the beach, he snapped a few pics of the board, but decided not to be deterred from surfing.
Following shark attack protocol, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources closed the beach. However, Klein, who had a small injury on his left hand, was still able to catch a few waves.
“I surfed half a mile down south from there the morning after,” he said.
Earlier this month a father and son were hit by a suspected great white shark.
Daniel and Tristan Sullivan were photographing a birthing whale off Ukumehame in West Maui Feb. 2.
Just before 2 p.m. the father and son were thrown from their kayak by a large shark with a pointed nose.
Daniel hit the shark with his paddle while his son treaded water. The shark continued biting the kayak, which began filling with water.
The duo then made the decision to swim the roughly mile back to shore. As they were swimming, they tried to use their iPhone to call for help but were unable to unlock the phone.
Nearly 35 minutes later, they made it to the beach and called authorities.
Bull shark bites dog in Florida
On Feb. 8 Ana Maña was playing Frisbee in the water with her rescue dog Boobie off Darwin Beach on Virginia Key.
Boobie was in the water next to Maña, swimming back to the beach, when a bull shark grabbed the dog. Thankfully, the shark released the dog and she was pulled from the water.
Initially, the veterinarian considered amputating the dog’s leg, but was able to save it during surgery. Boobie is expected to make a full recovery but Maña said next time, they will be going to the park instead of the beach.
All three locations have been marked on the 2021 Shark Attack map.
