The ocean along a two-mile stretch of San Clemente has reopened, following a 24-hour closure due to an “aggressive” shark incident late Sunday, May 26, when a surfer was knocked off his board.
An “enter at your own risk” advisory is still in effect until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28, pending no additional shark sightings, according to an announcement by the city.
The surfer, identified by news outlets as 25-year-old surfer Evan Garcia, said the shark looked to be about four to six feet.
He was knocked off his board while waiting for a wave at the T-Street surf break, just south of the San Clemente Pier, at about 7:55 p.m. The board was damaged by the shark, lifeguards said.
“When that thing hit me from below, I knew right away that it was a shark. There’s people out there who have been injured by sharks. And I’m so lucky that it only got my board,” Garcia told FOX 11.
On Monday during the busy holiday, beachgoers were greeted by signs notifying them about the shark closure, which stretched one mile to the north and to the south of T-Street.
Lifeguard agencies up and down the coast use a variety of metrics to determine when shark sightings or interactions call for closures.
A sighting of a shark 10 feet or greater calls for a closure, usually for several hours, while any kind of aggressive behavior automatically prompts a 24-hour shutdown, pending no additional shark sightings.
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