It was Joon Lee’s fourth time surfing on Sunday.
The 40-year-old Apple software engineer from San Jose had rented a board and driven south to Santa Cruz to catch some waves off the coast of the iconic surf town.
But about 90 minutes into his session, he was attacked — by a sea otter.
Since mid-June, an otter — which remains nameless — has been attacking and terrorizing surfers off the Santa Cruz coastline — in at least one case, stealing a board.
In recent days, the attacks have grown increasingly aggressive.
Lee said he’d been surfing near an otter for most of the time he was there — in Steamer Lane, off Cowell Beach. “It was being peaceful and friendly, and all of us surfers were like, ‘Oh, it’s so cute,’” he said.
But then another otter appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and swam at another surfer.
“At first, we were like, ‘Look how cute?’ But then it bit down on the board and chewed off a piece, and we were like. ‘What’s going on?’” he said.
That’s when it turned its eyes on Lee and made a beeline for him.
“I was scared. I was trying to swim away, but before I was able to get far, it bit my leash,” he said, describing the tether surfers wear around their ankle that connects them to the board. “So I panicked.”
He said the otter jumped on his board and began biting it. He tried to flip the board, but the otter got right back on — and started lunging at him.
He was ultimately able to get to shore, but not before being fully terrified and drained from exhaustion.
According to Mark Woodward — a photographer and social media influencer who goes by the name @NativeSantaCruz on Twitter, Instagram and Threads — the attack is not isolated. Woodward said he’s documented a number of similar episodes and believes they have been escalating in ferocity since mid-June.
He said he’d heard a report last year about an otter grabbing a surfboard off the coast, but it wasn’t until Juneteenth that he saw it with his own eyes — and the thieving spree really got underway.
Woodward was standing on the bluff by a lighthouse, photographing a Black Santa surf event off Cowell Beach, when he saw a hefty sea otter torpedo toward a surfboard, wrest it from the startled surfer, and then catch a few solo waves.
