A quick after-work surf in Northern California turned into a fight for survival for 39-year-old James Eastman, who says he managed to break free from a shark and paddle himself back to shore. Eastman was surfing at Big River Beach in Mendocino Headlands State Park around 5pm Wednesday when he spotted a shark's head near the surface and felt it clamp down on him, he told ABC News from his hospital bed. Thinking of his wife and 9-month-old child, he said he went into "survival mode" and struck the animal's nose until it let go.
He stayed on his board and paddled in, where three off-duty lifeguards who had been surfing nearby rushed to help. Eastman suffered severe injuries to both legs and was taken by ambulance to Adventist Hospital in Fort Bragg, where his wife, Chloe, works as an ER nurse. "I'm in the middle of work in the ER and I just like dropped to the ground," she said of learning her husband was the patient coming in. Despite the injuries, Eastman said he already can't imagine giving up the sport. "I love surfing so much and I would be very sad if I didn't surf again," he said. "As far as everything else is concerned, I was extremely lucky."
California Department of Wildlife officials say they have collected DNA samples and "will work to gather additional information to better understand the circumstances of the incident." The department says only seven shark encounters have been reported in Mendocino County since 1950, though this is the second one this year, SFGate reports. In January, a shark injured a surfer and broke his surfboard in half around 50 miles south of Big River Beach.
.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
