Water entry in any respect San Clemente seashores was closed Monday as a result of “aggressive shark conduct,” in keeping with metropolis officers. The Memorial Day edict got here after a shark knocked a surfer off their board Sunday night.
The ocean will stay closed till 8 p.m. Monday night time, pending no extra shark sightings, in keeping with the town. Seashores within the Orange County metropolis are nonetheless open, however guests won’t be able to wade into the waves or swim.
A San Clemente lifeguard first acquired a report of a shark encounter on the in style browsing vacation spot T-Avenue Seashore simply earlier than 8 p.m., in keeping with San Clemente Marine Security Lt. Sean Staudenbaur.
“The surfer and one different surfer had been sitting on their boards ready for a wave after they noticed a darkish grey object strategy and knock one of many surfers off their surfboard,” Staudenbaur stated. The surfers then got here to the shore and reported the incident, at which level officers made the choice to shut water entry for twenty-four hours.
Staudenbaur stated it was “uncommon” for a shark to get that near a surfer, noting that “the vast majority of our shark sightings are simply sightings the place there’s no indicators of aggressive conduct.”
Harm to a surfboard might be seen after a surfer encountered a shark at a San Clemente seashore on Sunday.
(San Clemente Marine Security)
A photograph taken by San Clemente lifeguards and shared with The Occasions confirmed injury to the surfboard, with two indentations close to the tip of the board the place the shark was thought to have knocked it.
“We now have pretty-good-sized crowds on the seashore, clearly not within the water at the moment, however it’s sometimes certainly one of our busier weekends of the 12 months,” Staudenbaur stated of San Clemente seashores Monday.
