Story submitted 4/23/96
by Startled Surfer
It was a friday afternoon and a couple surf buddies and I struck out for the
coast. We were fairly excited because a nice swell had just come in the day
before so we were looking forward to a nice long session. We pulled into our
favorite spot north of San Fransisco, and were delighted to see a nice clean
westerly swell pumping 5-7. We paddled out and experienced immediate
satisfaction. We continued to have a great session with our own peak to
ourselves.
After about two and half hours we agreed we'd take the next wave
in. Then as if someone heard us say that a 10-12 ft. shark swam practically
underneath us. My heart stopped and I froze, and before I could say anything
my buddies and I were turning onto the next wave. We surfed straight in as
fast as we could.
When we got out of the water we looked back to the ocean in
silence looking for what drove us out of the water, but the shark left as
stealthfully as it came. It took awhile for us to go back and get in the water at that spot, but sure enough as soon as the waves picked up again we were there.