COURTESY OF TOM CLEMENTS / PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY This 13-inch chunk of surfboard, shown to scale, floated onto the beach on Kauai off the Pacific Missile Range Facility shortly after the surfer left the facility yesterday.

Shark attacks surfer

A man is not hurt, but loses a chunk of his board off Kauai

MANA, Kauai » A 24 year-old Waimea surfer was not hurt when a shark took a huge bite out of his board yesterday at a notoriously shark-filled spot fronting the Pacific Missile Range Facility.

The surfer, whom officials did not identify, was surfing alone at a break known as "Housing's" at around 10:15 a.m. when the shark put a 13-inch bite across the front of his board, said PMRF information officer Thomas Clements.

"He was unhurt but obviously shaken up and thankful," Clements said of the man, who drove away in his vehicle before security personnel were alerted.

The man talked to a resident of the base before leaving, and she reported the incident to base officials, Clements said. Security personnel then closed the beach, and it will remain closed until tomorrow morning, when officials will evaluate the situation.

After the man left, officials said the chunk of board washed up on the beach.

Kauai staff members of the Department of Land and Natural Resources interviewed the man at his home shortly after the incident, said Tarey Low, the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement Kauai branch chief.

"He's fine," Low said. "He claims (the shark) was between 6 and 8 feet," but could not identify the type.

It was not the first time a shark attacked at Housing's, but this time the surfer was lucky. In October 1997, bodyboarder Michael Coots was bodyboarding Housing's when a tiger shark bit him. He lost his right foot.

COURTESY OF TOM CLEMENTS / PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY A 24 year-old Waimea surfer was not hurt yesterday when a shark took this 13-inch chunk out of his board at a notoriously shark-filled spot fronting the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai.