The story of Doug Niblack claiming to have inadvertently surfed a great white shark Monday off the Oregon coast has been widely reported despite a lack of visual proof.
The surfer was paddling off Seaside when a shark he estimated to measure 10-12 feet slammed his board, knocking him from the board onto the back of the shark. He stood and rode the shark for several seconds, he said, before falling as the shark began to dive.
Niblack quickly retrieved his board and paddled swiftly to shore.
There were witnesses as well as skeptics. One witness was Jake Marks, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, who was surfing nearby. He didn't actually see the shark but did see Niblack standing up in churning water. Marks then joined Niblack in paddling toward shore, after noticing a large shape between them, immediately beneath the surface.
"I have no reason to doubt there was a shark out there," Marks told USA Today. "With the damage to his board, the way he was yelling and trembling afterwards -- there is no other explanation for that."
Now, thanks to News Direct, an animation services company, there's a video mock-up of what Niblack said happened (see above). If it did happen the way it's being portrayed, it was an amazing experience and the surfer is fortunate not to have been killed or seriously injured.
I rode a killer whale a couple weeks ago...it was awesome. Then I jumped off the whale and onto a great white which was swimming next to it and I surfed him into the beach
Posted by: adam | Nov 28, 2011 at 05:36 PM