CRESCENT BEACH, Fla. -- A 19-year-old says he felt a sharp pull on his leg while in knee-deep water Wednesday morning. When he emerged from the water, his left leg was covered in blood.
Shane Lancaster said he was surfing on Crescent Beach and was coming out of the water about 11 a.m. when he was bitten by a shark he estimates as 6 feet long.
"He just grabbed a hold of my leg real quick and he was gone," Lancaster said. "I think I scared him ... by jumping off my board."
When Lancaster saw his leg covered with blood, he called to a lifeguard for help.
St. Johns County Marine Rescue cleaned and bandaged the wounds, and Lancaster was driven by a friend to Flagler Hospital. Even though he was in shock, he said he knew he didn't want the big ambulance bill.
Lancaster said the shark left 22 teeth marks on the bottom of his leg and six on top.
"It just felt like a bunch of little pins ... like somebody had just taken a bunch of little pins and just poked them into my leg," Lancaster said. "I knew it was a shark."
He said the worst part of the ordeal wasn't the pain or bleeding, it was having to tell his mother.
"I said, 'Hey, listen, don't freak out, alright, but I got attacked by a shark,'" Lancaster told Channel 4's Vic Micolucci.
Lancaster said this encounter won't keep him from going into the water. In fact, it might become an asset when going to the beach.
"Like the lifeguard said, 'It's the coolest free tattoo you'll ever get,'" Lancaster said.
Shane Lancaster said he was surfing on Crescent Beach and was coming out of the water about 11 a.m. when he was bitten by a shark he estimates as 6 feet long.
"He just grabbed a hold of my leg real quick and he was gone," Lancaster said. "I think I scared him ... by jumping off my board."
When Lancaster saw his leg covered with blood, he called to a lifeguard for help.
St. Johns County Marine Rescue cleaned and bandaged the wounds, and Lancaster was driven by a friend to Flagler Hospital. Even though he was in shock, he said he knew he didn't want the big ambulance bill.
Lancaster said the shark left 22 teeth marks on the bottom of his leg and six on top.
"It just felt like a bunch of little pins ... like somebody had just taken a bunch of little pins and just poked them into my leg," Lancaster said. "I knew it was a shark."
He said the worst part of the ordeal wasn't the pain or bleeding, it was having to tell his mother.
"I said, 'Hey, listen, don't freak out, alright, but I got attacked by a shark,'" Lancaster told Channel 4's Vic Micolucci.
Lancaster said this encounter won't keep him from going into the water. In fact, it might become an asset when going to the beach.
"Like the lifeguard said, 'It's the coolest free tattoo you'll ever get,'" Lancaster said.