‘I knew I got bit.’ Surfer vows to return to the ocean after Oregon shark attack

Sitting on his surfboard waiting for a wave Sunday in Seaside Cove in Oregon, 20-year-old Cole Herrington says he suddenly “got hit really hard” and landed in the ocean.

“When it first happened, it was like, ‘What’s going on? OK, this is getting real,’” Herrington said, NBC News reported.

Herrington had been bitten on the leg by a shark, most likely a great white, said Tiffany Boothe of Seaside Aquarium, the Seaside Signal reported.

“A shark just came up out of the water and it came up and spun around in the air and came back down and pushed him under water,” said surfer Casey Weyer, KGW reported.

“And I looked around for my board, and grabbed my board, and knew I got bit,” Herrington said, NBC News reported.

Other surfers carried Herrington to shore, according to a press release from Seaside Fire & Rescue.

“Once you figure out that you’re getting attacked by a shark, you’re just calling out to God asking that it doesn’t come back to bite you again,” Herrington said, NBC News reported.

Once Herrington was ashore, an off-duty lifeguard applied a tourniquet to slow the bleeding from the bite, Seaside Fire & Rescue reported.

Firefighters took Herrington to a hospital in Astoria before he was moved to a Portland hospital, the Seaside Signal reported. He’s a 2018 graduate of Seaside High School.

Herrington, who has undergone one surgery on his leg with more planned, says the shark attack won’t deter him from getting back into the water, NBC News reported.

“I love surfing. That’s probably the only thing I care about in this life, surfing and God,” he said, according to the network. “As soon as I can be healed up, everybody is supporting me to get back into the water.”

Oregon has recorded 28 unprovoked shark attacks since 1837, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

The last shark sighting reported near Seaside happened in July, said Chris Havel of Oregon Parks and Recreation, KGW reported.

“Sharks are pretty well-tuned to what their prey food is and sometimes they’ll make a mistake and, for instance, a surfboard can mimic the outline speed of a seal or a sea lion,” Havel said, according to the station.

This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 11:04 AM with the headline "‘I knew I got bit.’ Surfer vows to return to the ocean after Oregon shark attack."