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A Monterey man suffered multiple injuries Saturday morning when he was attacked by a shark while surfing at Marina State Beach.
Eric Tarantino, 27, was bitten along the right side of his body by a shark that took a 19-inch chunk from his red surfboard. He had wounds on his neck, shoulder, wrist and forearm, witnesses said.
Tarantino was flown to Regional Medical Center of San Jose, authorities said. His condition was not known late Saturday.
Dana M. Jones, Monterey Sector superintendent for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, said his injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.
Shark warning signs would be posted from Fort Ord to Moss landing, she said.
The attack occurred just after 7 a.m., shortly after Tarantino and a friend, Brandon McKibben of Salinas, had entered the water.
"It was still twilight and Eric and Brandon were the first two out there," said Skip Londos of Seaside. "Within about 10 minutes we saw both of them turn around and start paddling in quickly, and a lot of us who surf here consistently realized right away they must have seen a shark.
"Eric had paddled a little bit deeper than me, onto the peak," McKibben said. "I went up over the top of the wave and as I was coming down I could hear him yelling 'Shark! Shark!' And at that point we turned around and started paddling in as fast as we could. Luckily, a few minutes later a set (of waves) came in and we were able to catch it and ride in on our stomachs."
McKibben said he looked at Tarantino, 4 feet away, and noticed his arm was bleeding badly."The water all around him was red with blood," he said.
With help from McKibben, Tarantino managed to get out of the water.
"We got to the shore, and there were a couple of guys walking on the beach with their boards and I asked them to call 911," McKibben said.
Eight to 10 fellow surfers used beach towels to apply a tourniquet to Tarantino's arm and staunch the bleeding from his neck.
Paramedics arrived about eight minutes later, witnesses said, and treated Tarantino before transporting him to Marina Municipal Airport. From there, he was airlifted to San Jose.
Paul Morris, a Salinas dentist, was in the parking lot, preparing to surf in the same location when the shark attack happened.
"The gash to the top of Eric's forearm was probably 2 inches long. The two gashes on the wrist area were about 4 to 6 inches. The injury to his neck was 2 inches, but fairly deep," Morris said. "But he was conscious and responsive when people were talking to him and his color looked good."
Morris said fellow surfers and bystanders had stopped most of the bleeding by the time emergency crews arrived.
Saturday's attack occurred near the spot where Todd Endris of Marina was bitten by a shark in August 2007, a shredding-type assault that required 500 stitches and 200 staples to close.
"This thing today kind of brought it all back to me," said Endris, who happened to arrive at the scene shortly after the attack. "A pod of dolphins saved me. They were jumping over my head, surrounding me, beating up the shark. People initially thought the dolphins were attacking me until they saw the shark come up with me in his mouth."
Londos, who has lived on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, said this is the fifth shark attack he's witnessed.
"With a 19-inch bite on that surfboard, you can probably estimate that the shark was anywhere from 15 to 20 feet long. It's a big shark," he said.
Veteran surfer Jer Devanny of Marina said many white sharks reportedly are swimming in the Monterey Bay area right now because of rich populations of mackerel and seals, major food sources for sharks. Recent shark sightings have been reported at Rio Del Mar Beach, Del Monte Beach and Point Joe, he said.
That's ominous news for competitors at the annual Cold Water Classic surfing contest, which is under way this week at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, and Kelly Slater's Rip Curl Surf Contest, scheduled next week at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.
Jones, the park ranger, said signs would be posted along beaches from Fort Ord to Moss Landing advising of shark danger, recommending that beachgoers stay out of the water during the next seven days. The sand portion of the beaches will remain open, and the the waters will be observed in the coming days for additional shark activity, Jones said.
Those warnings won't deter some hard-core surfers, Londos said.
"I'm going out there right now," he said with a laugh.
"Why not? The shark that bit Eric is probably up at Moss Landing, or down at Lovers Point by now. That's what sharks do - they swim. He's nowhere near this place anymore."
