Eric Geiselman Attacked by Great White!
Jimmicane | November 6th, 2009 | Popular, Spectacular | 21 Comments »
This just in! Eric Geiselman was smashed off his board by a great white shark while surfing a beach called Lagunas, north of Santa Cruz. He’s ok. Just severely rattled. The shark broke his board in half and apparently there is some footage. I’m trying to get a hold of it.
This is very scary because at Waddell Creek yesterday for the Pro Junior, a shark was spotted chomping a seal just a couple hundred feet north of the contest area. Northern California is extremely sketchy and I’m surprised there aren’t more attacks.
Here’s the story in Eric’s own words…
Yeah Jimmy!! Well thank God Im still here intact! I don’t even know how to describe it. Everything happened so quick! I was surfing with my brother Evan and Taylor Brothers at this wave called Lagoonas. The waves were shitty and it was raining. I wasn’t even that motivated to go out. Evan and Taylor were in typical grom mode and wanted to have a paddle. Jay Thompson and a couple other guys were out surfing too. Right before it was getting dark everyone went in except us. I was sitting out the back just waiting for a wave. I had my back towards the ocean looking straight towards the beach to line up when it happened. Out of nowhere i got attacked from underneath. My board broke instantly right underneath me from the crazy force and i pretty much fell through my board but somehow managed to keep the front end under me. I knew right away i was being attacked and sort of just went into panic mode. I actually kicked it to when I was scrambling to get away. I was screaming like a little bitch to my brother who was about 30 yards away from me. My leash was still attached to the back end of my board when i was scratching to get away but, I was to scared to even reach back and undo it! What was so crazy is we weren’t even that far off the beach. Luckily I made it in to the shore. My buddy Mike Lopez and Taylor’s brother Cavin filmed me scratching once they heard me screaming. All that you can see on footage. Somehow my board didn’t get a bite in it?? Luckily it hit me by my fins so I think that might of spooked it… It was definitely the scariest thing that has ever happen to me. Its crazy because it felt like a really bad nightmare. So scary to know how helpless you are in the water when something like that goes down!!! Thank God thats all that happened!!! I will send the footy too!!!
-Eric
VIDEO COMING / CHECK BACK THIS AFTERNOON
After some technical setbacks Cavin Brothers of colorblindmedia.com posted the footage following EG’s encounter:
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Holy Crap!! Can’t wait to see that video! Not Cool!
Eric…You are the invincible man! No more “Erwin” stunts like that though!! alison and brax
this kid lives in the shark bite capital and doesnt even get bit. then he goes to norcal and gets hit by a white.
Eric,
Glad you’re OK bro.
That must have been scary!
Good luck in your heat today.
If you get a chance, please post your information on the Shark Research Committee website.
http://sharkresearchcommittee.com/pacific_coast_shark_news.htm
Thanks, Randy
Man and to think u prolly expected to get attacked back home in smyrna before there
Waddell.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Cynthia and stevenjohansson, Ryan Struck. Ryan Struck said: Eric Geiselman attacked by shark! @jimmycane has more here: http://bit.ly/4arovU [...]
Hey Randy, thanks for giving these words to Surfline. What, they couldn’t go out and get their own interview from Eric being the biggest surf website in the world? I guess not, but at least they linked to us. That was cool.
Can’t wait to see the video! hopefully its up tonight.
Glad he is okay!
hope as is well for him
I don’t mind that Surfline lifted those quotes, we poach shit all the time and I don’t see a problem with it unless your not giving credit or linking back to the source (which surfline did). For a site that moderates comments and doesn’t always play by the rules of web2.0 I’m not bummed at all on them right now. Hell, hopefully their nod gives us more traffic and we can start siphoning east coasters away from the big blue foolcasting site hahah
The hilarious thing that’s going to unravel from this is which of the two videoguys’ footage surfaces first – I’m hearing funny stories about some not so friendly competition for it…
If you surf the North Coast you will DIE!
If the sharks at Lagunas don’t get you the fags in the bushes will. They like watching young surfer boys changing in/out of their wetsuits will they “do their business”..
Yeah, I named it.. Lagunas.. It’s no secret. And if it’s actually on, all the boyz are their and you’ll be lucky to get a scrap.
Now let’s see this video already!
Holy Scaryness.. That’s crazy.
Is the video coming anytime soon? Said this afternoon and it’s night. Would love to see it.
Glad he’s OK!
Where’s the video its 7pm
First of all man, what a rush. Glad you’re ok, and I hope this doesn’t keep you out of the water for to long. I can’t wait to see the footage!
Second
Contrary to Surfine’s post, not ALL surfers hate sharks… Yeah they can be pretty scary, and I’ve been bumped by a white in Oregon, and bitten by a reef shark in Central America (I was filming a feeding frenzy, it was my fault) But what the article doesn’t say is why the shark left you alone after it bumped you… It could have had you… If it wanted. Sharks are super inteligent, it knew you weren’t food. That said, as much as I love working with them, I like them to keep at least SOME distance. A world without sharks is a lot scarier than a world with them.
Hey north coast local,
Locals are people who can’t get there shit together to travel, tough guy.
The video: http://www.surfline.com/video/featured-clips/eric-geiselmans-shark-encounter_32974
Northcoast local im more norcal then you so pis off just like mendo,and humbo would say to me as well.Its all about respect and and not being a wavehog,snaker, or kook.
obsf
bull crap…. I’ve actually been attacked by a white shark and this kid wasn’t attacked. Waves break in water half as deep as their height. This is a fact. Looking at the waves in the vid + knowing exactly how small the surf was that day (i live 30 minutes south of this “attack”), there werent any waves bigger than head high. seeing how he was up and riding that means that he was surfing in water that was literally 2 to 3 feet deep. You think there was a big white shark swimming unnoticed over a 3 foot deep sandbar? No. The kid was already scared. Maybe he ran over a sea lion or harbor seal or somethin. Don’t listen to this nonsense.
Todd,
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t? Who can really tell. All I can say is something busted upwards hard enough to break the tail clean off Eric’s board. That’s some force. Could it have been a shark that hit it’s nose on the fins and that altered the attack? Possibly.
Also, if you live around that break, you should know how fast the depth drops off. When it’s well overhead it still breaks only 20 yards from shore. That means it’s real deep, real quick.
I am skeptical that it was a shark or any other creature.I saw Eric G’s video interview on Surfline. The board was brand new and broken clean across just above the fin boxes with no other damage. His board break locaton is a weak zone where boards frequently tend to snap. I suspect the board was flawed or got cracked surfing the beach break. When it broke under him EG just freaked out.
My skepticism from this comes from Eric’s own report. he said to Transworld, that the back of his board was still attached to him by his leash and he didn’t bother to take the time to reach back and take it off. I don’t see the tail of his board dragging behind him in the video.
To others that argue the validity based on the fact the he was up and riding, he was NOT. He was supposedly standing on his board as you would out in the water to look for a set on the horizon, etc.
All that aside, I have had brushes with sharks and reacted much the same way. So who knows, you get a little freaked out and don’t really know what went on, your natural insticts just kick you into survival mode and remembering clearly after can be difficult.