Surfer explains how he survived 13ft great white shark attack
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Michael Trainor/Fox News
A California man who was attacked by a 13ft great white shark has lived to tell the tale in an unbelievable story.
Michael 'Jared' Trainor drove to a beach in Ferndale, California on 2 October to go surfing.
Trainor, a 31-year-old father of one, has been surfing since a very young age. Initially, the surfer had planned to go to another beach before his friend phoned him about a different location where 'the surf was good'.
Speaking to Fox News, Trainor said he was thinking about how locals call October 'Sharktober'.
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He said: "It's known in that community that you don't want to be surfing that much or alone in October. They call it Sharktober.
"So, that's what was going through my mind as I pulled up to the beach. I actually almost considered … not going to this spot at all."
Despite his worries, Trainor decided to hit the waves anyway at Centerville Beach, but it wasn't long until disaster struck.
Trainor said he noticed a lot of seals in the shallow parts of the sea, which could have signified there was 'something lurking farther out'.
And just minutes after the surfer hit the waters, something didn't feel right.
He continued: "I must've been in the water for 10, not even 15, minutes. The first set of waves came through. I paddled past them and sat on my board, and then I was kind of having that ominous feeling anyway, and, next thing I knew, I was under water."
He continued to be dragged further under the water and could feel his right leg had been attacked.
"I thought it was a seal, because the deepest point of contact was around my knee, so it made it feel like it was a smaller bite," Trainor said.
Trainor used his left leg to kick the predator, which triggered what he thought was a seal to let go.
With his surfboard still intact, he swam gingerly towards the shore where another surfer helped him and called an ambulance.
At the time, Trainor didn't believe he was that hurt, but when he was taken to hospital the picture became clearer.
He continued: I didn't realise how badly I'd been injured and when the fire department came, they tied a tourniquet to my leg, and when they cut off my suit, that's when I saw the bite marks in the board, and I started to realize that it was, in fact, a shark."
Trainor later learned he had indeed been attacked by a great white shark that was believed to be around 13ft long, with doctors telling the surfer he was lucky to escape with his life.
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