Scott Stephens, 25 years old, was surfing about 400 m from shore at the 'Bunkers,' at the North Jetty Humbold Bay.

Ralph Collier, Shark Research Committee, reported that during a telephone interview Stephens reported; “I was paddling out when the shark came up out of the water striking the board and me simultaneously. I was pulled below the surface and could see the shark, from the head to the dorsal fin, a distance I would estimate to be about 4 – 5 feet. The shark began to shake me back and forth at which point I struck it just behind the eye and it let go and swam off.” He was assisted to the beach by Blake Barr. Ian Louth, an off-duty EMT, applied pressure to Stephens' wounds while they loaded him into Jason Gabriel's vehicle to be transported to the hospital. Gabriel drove the victim from the water's edge to the intersection of U.S. Highway 101 and Myrtle Avenue, where emergency personnel met them. He was then transported to St. Joseph Hospital, Eureka for surgery. The victim had about four 12-inch long gashes from his ribs to below his hips. The surfboard has a bite with a diameter of 14 inches, comparable to a 9 – 10 foot Great White Shark. This is the eighth confirmed  shark attack from the Pacific Coast for 2012 and the seventh from California (entire description courtesy of Ralph Collier, Shark Research Committee).