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Shark watch: California surfer recalls 'black silhouette' before great white attack, then 'crunching'
This post contains graphic images.
A California man shared his dramatic brush with death and a word of advice to surfers after he was attacked by a great white shark in 2022 – and lived to tell the tale.
Michael “Jared” Trainor told Fox News Digital he was driving out to a rugged beach in Ferndale, California, when it “occurred” to him that it was the middle of Sharktober, the span of September through December when sharks are more present along the coastline.
“It’s crazy to me that this was a couple of years ago already, but it was midday and I had been surfing this area for some time, and it’s pretty rugged and remote,” he recalled.
“And I had a little bit of unease just from thinking about the shark presence in the area,” Trainor added. “And I paddled out, and it was just an ominous day.”
HAWAII TOURIST BITTEN BY SHARK WHILE SWIMMING, FOUND ‘BLEEDING PROFUSELY’
Jared Trainor used his left leg to kick what he thought was a seal’s head, and the animal released his leg. (Jared Trainor)
Trainor said he noticed a group of seals, which was “pretty regular,” as he paddled out to catch the next set of waves.
“I did have this weird and uncomfortable feeling,” he said.
“As I went onto the board and started paddling, almost instantly, I was hit,” he said. “It appeared that it [the shark] came up and pushed my left leg up into the air and latch onto my right leg and board.”
“I was lucky that the board was pinned beneath the lower jaw,” he said.
Jared Trainor poses with a surfboard. He said he saw a “large black silhouette” when he encountered the great white shark. (Jared Trainor)
Trainor, who is now 33, said that prior to being bitten he saw a “large black silhouette” when he was submerged under the water.
“The last thing I remember was looking back at the beach and seeing where my dogs were and, when I came to, I opened my eyes underwater, and I could see the surface of the water, and I could just see this large black silhouette.”
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He said his first thought was that he had been attacked by an aggressive sea lion.
“I could just see this large black silhouette.”
Jared Trainor poses in front of a great white shark. He shared that he was grateful to be alive following the attack. (Jared Trainor)
Trainor said he “only felt a sensation on my knee.”
“It felt like a dog was trying to get into my wetsuit,” he said. “And I managed to give it a few firm kicks.”
“I felt the crunching and I did see stars emanating off the silhouette,” he said.
After kicking the shark, later identified as a great white, the predator released him from its grasp.
After the shark disappeared, Trainor said he used his board to slowly travel back to shore.
“At that time, I wasn’t sure that my wetsuit had even been damaged, it kind of had felt like a large creature just came and jumped on on my leg and pulled me down,” he said. “I had no idea that I was lacerated to the extent that I was.”
Trainor and his family learned later that he had been attacked by a great white, estimated to be about 16 feet long and weighing more than 1,000 pounds. (Jared Trainor)
Trainor said no one was at the beach, but thankfully, there was a fellow surfer in the parking lot who observed the attack and ran toward the shore.
“I could see him running toward me, and I knew whatever had just happened to me was fairly serious,” he said. “And as I stood on my feet when I got to the sand, I noticed my whole leg was just basically flayed open, and I was shocked that I was still able to walk.”
“I was bleeding a lot, but it was not painful at the time,” he said.
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Trainor said the good Samaritan who met him on the beach grabbed his dog’s leash and tied it to his upper thigh to act like a tourniquet until first responders arrived to rush him to Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna, California.
Jared Trainor’s surfboard post shark attack. He shared that he knew it was a shark, and not a sea lion when he saw the teeth marks in his surfboard. (Jared Trainor)
Trainor said he asked the EMTs if it was a seal attack, and they pointed to his surfboard, which had a large shark bite mark in it.
“I was almost in tears because I was just so beside myself that I had just experienced my worst fear and kind of thought that it was a sea lion,” he said.
Trainor’s injuries included six lacerations across his inner thigh, a tear in his MCL on his knee, and some bone penetration.
Jared Trainor wore a brace following his surgery after he was attacked by a great white shark in October 2022. (Jared Trainor )
Following his surgery, Trainor began the journey of physical therapy and eventually picked up a surfboard once again.
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“Physical therapy was a hurdle that I had to go through, but I ended up doing well in physical therapy, and I ended up getting into the water to surf about two months after that,” he said.
“It was important to me to kind of overcome whatever sort of PTSD that I was experiencing from the attack,” he said.
Jared Trainor’s leg with stitches after the shark attack in October 2022. (Jared Trainor)
Jared’s scar slowly healed after he had surgery. (Jared Trainor)
The surf lover now hits the waves with a group of friends.
“I still surf that same beach pretty frequently, but now there’s a group of guys, and we all communicate with each other when we’re going so that we can have a buddy in the water with us,” Trainor said.
Trainor said he is “grateful” to be alive and for the progress he has made since the attack.
“People have died from this thing, and I was pretty close to losing my own life,” he said. “I feel really grateful that I was able to bounce back from it.”
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For sale in San Francisco: A 45-foot-tall metal sculpture of a naked woman.
Her name is R-Evolution. Her hair is pulled back and her facial expression is serene. Her mechanized chest expands and contracts, as if she’s breathing. And she tips the scales at 13,000 pounds (not that it’s anyone’s business what a lady weighs).
She will stand in Embarcadero Plaza across from the historic Ferry Building until October. Then she goes on sale. The artist says “she can go anywhere in the world,” but whoever buys or leases her will need a crane and a 60- to 80-foot bucket lift to resurrect her.
Since she was first unveiled as a temporary installation in April 2025, the giant statue, created by artist Marco Cochrane and modeled after California dancer and singer Deja Solis, has spurred debate about whether privately funded works are really public art. It also questions whether R-Evolution is a celebration of femininity in a free-spirited city that has long embraced public nudity or a hypersexualized shock piece from a male artist.
But debate, per the public and private entities who brought her to the plaza, is kind of the point. Art, they say, is supposed to be controversial.
An attempt to revitalize public space
R-Evolution is part of Big Art Loop, a privately funded initiative that aims to bring up to 100 temporarily installed large-scale sculptures — a minimum of 10 feet high or wide preferred — to public spaces along a 34-mile walking and biking trail over the next few years.
R-Evolution in Embarcadero Plaza in April 2025.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Big Art Loop is funded by the Sijbrandij Foundation, a nonprofit established by billionaire Sid Sijbrandij, co-founder of the software company GitLab. It is curated by the art production agency Building 180, in partnership with the city’s Recreation and Parks Department and other public agencies.
“We’re going to continue to lean in to our arts and culture because that is driving our comeback here in San Francisco,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a September video promoting the Big Art Loop.
A city news release last year said R-Evolution’s arrival “aligns with San Francisco’s broader efforts to revitalize downtown” by increasing foot traffic to the battered business district, where office vacancy rates soared to record-high rates of more than 30% amid the pandemic-era pivot to remote work.
Controversial lady and Burning Man
Like a few of the Big Art Loop pieces, R-Evolution originally debuted at Burning Man, towering above the sweaty and stoned desert masses in 2015.
Critics of R-Evolution say the statue and other massive pieces along the billionaire-backed Big Art Loop did not get as much community input and were not subject to the same intense scrutiny by the San Francisco Arts Commission as other public artworks.
“I think what a lot of people, myself included, are frustrated by is the fact that these private entities are able to remake the public landscape in their own image,” Max Blue, a San Francisco Examiner art critic, told Gazetteer San Francisco in October, adding: “I don’t like these sculptures. I think a lot of them are just left over from Burning Man.”
Visual artist DJ Meisner told the Gazetteer: “It’s just so clear when you see the art that it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m supposed to be unbelievably wealthy and high looking at this.’ I’m neither of those things, so I’m just annoyed to be looking at it.”
Female representation or inappropriate?
Before R-Evolution was installed, an art vendor with a booth in Embarcadero Plaza wrote in a letter to the Arts Commission, saying she thought the statue, whose bare butt faces the Ferry Building, “might be very inappropriate for children.”
Another vendor wrote: “A naked woman statue designed by a man feels out of step with the times.”
The creator of the piece, Cochrane, said in a statement: “Women’s presence in public art is rare. When they are depicted, it is often through outdated or passive narratives. R-Evolution challenges that. She stands strong, aware, and grounded — calling for a world where all people can walk freely and without fear.”
Love her or hate her, she gets eyeballs
Julie Richter, a spokeswoman for Big Art Loop, told me in an email Thursday that R-Evolution, which had been slated for removal in April, got “very positive” feedback that led to her Arts Commission-approved extended stay through October. That feedback included positive reviews from most tourists, art vendors and nearby local businesses, according to a pitch to extend the statue’s stay by Big Art Loop and Building 180.
Near R-Evolution’s current perch, Vaillancourt Fountain — a colossal, crumbling Brutalist concrete sculpture that was unveiled in Embarcadero Plaza in 1971 and became a skateboarding mecca — was equally reviled and revered. Despite fans’ efforts to save it, the city removed it this spring.
Today’s top stories
The Visalia sign seen from Highway 99.
(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)
These are California’s most affordable and least affordable cities
What we know about the boat accident near Alcatraz
- A memorial cruise turned tragic when a boat sank near Alcatraz Island, leaving one passenger dead, three missing and 17 rescued.
- The search for the missing was challenged not only by high winds and rough seas, but because the incident took place in a particularly deep channel of the bay dredged for cargo ships.
Scientists fear when the San Andreas fault finally snaps
- Scientists warn the region’s long earthquake drought is building dangerous strain on the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults, raising the odds of a devastating multi-county “Big One” in coming decades.
- With scenarios forecasting violent shaking from downtown L.A. to the Inland Empire, experts say the fault’s growing stress is a stark reminder to strengthen preparedness before nature resets the clock.
What else is going on
Commentary and opinions
This morning’s must-read
Other must-reads
For your downtime
The dining room at Baldi in Beverly Hills.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Going out
Staying in
A question for you: As temperatures rise in SoCal, how do you stay cool?
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally … your photo of the day
The trunk of a flooded car is seen in an underground garage along Palm Avenue in West Hollywood after a water main break sent thousands of gallons of water rushing down Sunset Boulevard and the surrounding area on Thursday morning.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Today’s photo is from Times photographer Allen J. Schaben in West Hollywood, after a water main break sent thousands of gallons of water rushing down Sunset Boulevard and the surrounding area on Thursday morning.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Hailey Branson-Potts, staff writer
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.
Denver Broncos football is right around the corner.
As the 2026 World Cup nears its July 19 final, sports fans will soon begin turning their attention toward NFL training camps. The Broncos are set to open training camp on July 31 — two weeks from today — with the first of 14 practices open* to fans.
*Due to construction at the team’s facility, capacity at practice will be limited to approximately 1,000 fans, so (free) tickets are required to attend. Those tickets became available on July 1 and were quickly claimed. (Tickets are sometimes returned, though, so fans should check Ticketmaster for potential available tickets.)
Broncos training camp schedule
- Friday, July 31: 10 a.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 1: 10 a.m.
- Monday, Aug. 3: 10 a.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 4: 10 a.m.
- Wednesday, Aug. 5: 10 a.m.
- Thursday, Aug. 6: 10 a.m.
- Friday, Aug. 7: 10 a.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 8: 10 a.m.
- Monday, Aug. 10: 10 a.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 11: 10 a.m.
- Wednesday, Aug. 12: 10 a.m.
- Monday, Aug. 17: 10 a.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 18: 10 a.m.
- Wednesday, Aug. 19: 10 a.m.
Fans should note that Denver’s practice schedule is subject to change due to weather. Be sure to check the team’s Twitter/X page for the latest updates on the practice schedule.
In addition to the open camp practices, the Broncos will play three preseason games in August, including two at home. After that, Denver will open the season against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football on Sept. 14.
Social: Follow Broncos Wire on Facebook and Twitter/X! Did you know: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
Letter to the Editor: Apartment Vacancy Rates Paint an Incomplete Picture
By David Malcolm | Voice of San Diego
In last Saturday’s “Politics Report,” Will Huntsberry tackled the thorny issue of apartment vacancy rates (apparently the highest in this century) and the impact on affordability. He also correctly wrote that the city of San Diego needs “strategies beyond build, build, build.”
What’s Really Happening
My company owns and operates apartment rental complexes in San Diego County (San Marcos, Encinitas, La Jolla, El Cajon and South Bay) and in Temecula (Riverside County). Here is what we are seeing.
Base rents are stable … but offers of two months’ free rent are common. That is a de facto 16.7 percent reduction on annualized rents. Reducing base rents is not possible in the face of rent control measures and, even more importantly, bank loan covenants. Thus, concessions like two months’ free rent are not hard to find.
Read more
New study shows promising step forward in improving Parkinson’s treatment
by Nicole Abrams | Times of San Diego
A small molecule was found to increase the benefits and reduce the side effects of the standard drug for Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study from UC San Diego startup called Sinopia Biosciences.
L-dopa or levodopa is the main treatment for Parkinson’s disease, but its benefits wane over time and can cause involuntary movements called dyskinesia. About 90% of patients with Parkinson’s disease develop dyskinesia in 9 or more years of using L-dopa, and 70% develop motor fluctuations in 9 or more years of using the drug, according to the study.
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