From - Tue Oct 8 17:30:10 1996 Path: nntp.earthlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-ana-24.sprintlink.net!panix!news.columbia.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!spool.mu.edu!newspump.sol.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!news.sgi.com!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!canyon.sr.hp.com!news From: Stuart Dole Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: another Marin County Shark Attack Date: Mon, 07 Oct 1996 10:18:21 -0700 Organization: Hamilton Software at HP Lines: 60 Message-ID: <53be0t$hu5@canyon.sr.hp.com> References: <3257387A.32E2@zapcom.net> <32582B90.41C6@reed.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: bossbert.sr.hp.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.0 (X11; I; HP-UX A.09.05 9000/735) Chris Harvey wrote: > > Robert Ireland wrote: > > > > From what I heard, a 22 year old surfer was attacked by an 18 (estimate) > > foot great white shark off Dillon's Beach in Marin County. The kid's > > got a bunch of stitches and a story to tell his kids now. That's not > > too far away from where that diver got hit over the summer. It sends > > chills down my spine to think that it's not all that far away from home. > > The guy's name is Mark Quirt -- he's one of my best friends. I checked > up on him this morning -- he's recovering well after surgery (180 > stitches). There've been some news reports on him as well. > > The whole incident just scared the shit out of me... Mark and his dad, Steve, are good friends of mine too. Here's a few more details. Steve and Mark occasionally check into this newsgroup, so if I have anything wrong, maybe they'll post corrections? Steve? From Steve's account, this was a very big fish -- the dorsal fin was over three feet tall. Apparently a large shark "bumped" a surfer at Salmon Creek a few days earlier (like lifted him out of the water) -- Salmon is maybe 10 miles up the coast from Dillon. My guess it that it's the same one, slowly moving down the coast. This is a father's worst nightmare -- watching you son getting attacked. Steve was about 50 feet away from Mark when it hit. (My own son, who usually surfs with Mark, is currently out of the water with an ear infection. Thank God!) From that point on, everything went as well as it could -- the first surfers out of the water got a call into 911. The folks who run the parking lot had a truck on the beach by the time Mark and Steve reached the shore, and one of the other surfers was an MD who managed the situation until the paramedics arrived, in only nine minutes after the call. The helicopter arrived shortly thereafter. Mark was incredibly lucky in that NO major tendons, nerves, or blood vessels were cut, despite massive muscle shredding. His brand new wetsuit was shredded, however... It cut the leash too. Steve helped Mark back onto his board and got him aimed towards shore, and stayed with him all the way in. The shark circled very close to them after the attack -- Mark looked right into its eye -- he "saw its face". When it swam off its wake was like a submarine. Conditions were overhead, and Mark was in the lineup in maybe 10 feet of water. One of the firemen/paramedics said this was the closest to the beach he'd ever heard of an attack. I hope I have the details right -- if there's things I've left out or gotten wrong, I'll take the blame. Mark says he plans to keep surfing... -- Stuart