Surfer escapes great white

SACRAMENTO: For Nick Wapner, Tuesday morning at Montana de Oro State Park was a typical day of surfing with friends — an activity that has been his lifelong passion — as he paddled in for one of the last waves of the day off Sandspit Beach.

Wapner, a secondyear communications major, had met some fellow surfers and Cal Poly students to ride the waves.

About 10am, after about an hour in the ocean, Wapner said, a great white shark came up from beneath him as he paddled into position for incoming waves. He didn’t even see a splash. ‘‘It all happened quickly, but I turned and saw that it had one of my legs in its mouth,’’ Wapner said.

The shark thrashed and bit down on the lower part of his legs around his ankles in a skirmish that he estimates lasted a ‘‘full second,’’ before Wapner kicked hard and wrangled himself free.

The experienced surfer said he didn’t feel any pain initially, as adrenaline shot through his body.

‘‘The thing was huge,’’ Wapner said.

He estimated the predator to be 4.6m in length, with a 45cm dorsal fin.

Wapner was conscious but bleeding from multiple deep cuts on both legs as one of his friends drove him to Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo.

He received 50 stitches before being discharged in the afternoon.