Bobby Gumm is fortunate to be alive and in one piece after a harrowing incident involving a large great white shark as he was surfing Thursday off South Beach near Newport, Oregon.
Gumm was sitting on his board when a shark estimated to measure about 15 feet first brushed against his leg and then swung around and chomped onto the front end of his surfboard, lifting him and the board out of the water, ultimately removing a 23-inch slab of foam and fiberglass.
There was at least one up-close witness, Ron Clifford, who was surfing nearby. He told KHON 2 News:
"I saw the water churning up like there was a bunch of piranhas. All of a sudden I saw a dorsal fin that was at least two foot in length high and as I saw it I saw the shark actually lift my friend up with the board and everything, it looked like an old geyser or something just lifted him out of the water about 10 feet."
Gumm dodged reporters before teaming with Big-Wave Addicts to produce the accompanying YouTube production, which was posted Friday afternoon and features exclusive input from Gumm as well as input from a local shark expert and Clifford. The video is 8-plus minutes long but worth watching.
In the video, Gumm talked about the attack, how fortunate he is to be alive, and how much he loved his children. He credited his survival, to emerging totally unscathed, to a prayer he says before every paddle-out.
It remains unclear how long he'll wait before paddling out at South Beach again.
Ron's a douche. Poor Bobby couldn't get a word in edgewise when the State Parks ranger showed up to take his statement.
Ron, move back to SoCal. Or at least shut up when you're polluting my lineup. We're all sick of your yelling.
Bobby, I'm glad you came out of this physically unharmed.
Posted by: D | Oct 27, 2011 at 03:00 PM
So his prayer saved him from injury but not from a terrifying experience? Quite a sense of humour his god(s) must have!
Posted by: josh | Oct 23, 2011 at 05:42 PM
Strange a perfect bite mark. No other teeth marks? a shark will shake it's head side to side as it's chewing, & trying to get a better grip leaving more teeth marks. NO WAY TOTALY FALSE
Posted by: wigono | Oct 23, 2011 at 12:40 AM
@Kavak Girl - There are no life guards on that beach.
Posted by: Dude | Oct 22, 2011 at 08:10 PM
glad that he's okay. is there any warning from the life guard if there have been sharks lurking in the area? this is the first time i have heard of a great white traveling through that part.
Posted by: Kayak Girl | Oct 22, 2011 at 03:00 AM