Nathan Holstedt was waiting for a wave, looking out toward the horizon, when something hit his leg and surfboard from behind.

He was pulled underwater — “directly down like a plunger.”

And when he resurfaced, he saw a shark only feet away.

It was coming back toward him.

So he “tomahawked” his board between himself and the shark — possibly hitting the animal — and turned toward the beach. He started paddling as hard as he could.

Holstedt made it to shore unscathed, though when the shark bit his board, it missed his right leg by about 6 inches.

Holstedt described the harrowing ordeal that unfolded about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday off the Oregon coast in Pacific City. Shark warning signs were posted on the beach as a result.

Holstedt, a 33-year-old Pacific City resident, told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Wednesday he’s thankful he wasn’t hurt and that his friends got out of the water safely.

The only carnage?

The shark bit the right side of his board and knocked off the board’s left fin. Holstedt also noticed a crack on the nose of his board, though that likely happened when he used his board to defend himself.

Nathan Holstedt's surfboard was damaged in a shark attack March 5, 2019. (Nathan Holstedt)

Holstedt headed home shortly after the attack, decompressed for a couple hours, then took care of some work. He also texted the Tillamook County sheriff, a fellow surfer, when he got out of the water.

Oregon State Parks spokesman Chris Havel said parks staff put up shark warning signs on the beach that day. A ranger was also posted on the beach to ensure people onshore understood what had happened.

Shark attacks off the Oregon coast are relatively rare. Fourteen have been reported since 2000, according to the Global Shark Attack File. The most recent attack listed in the database happened in 2016 off Indian Beach at Ecola State Park.

The victim in that case, a Portland nurse, survived after being bitten.

Only one of the Oregon attacks listed in the database has been fatal.

A California couple died in 1975 after a freak wave apparently capsized a fishing boat they were operating 200 miles northwest of Astoria, according to Oregonian archives. The Oregon state medical examiner said Grace Conger died of several large shark bites and that her husband drowned.

An Oregon State University oceanography professor told The Oregonian in 1975 it's plausible that blue sharks bit Oliver Conger's dead body, causing blood to enter the water and inciting a frenzy among other blue sharks.

Holstedt, the man who escaped Tuesday’s attack, said he’s been surfing the Oregon coast since he was a teenager but has only had one other run-in with a shark: one swam behind him while he was on a wave two years ago, prompting his party to make haste for the shore.

Tuesday’s attack, Holstedt said, won’t keep him out of the water.

“Hopefully my card was punched and I’m good now,” he said. “Fingers crossed.”

-- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

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