Anyone who has tried surfing will know that the experience of being picked up and carried along by the force of nature can be quite a thrill.
But one surfer in California got more of a thrill than he had bargained for when the wave he was riding turned out to be a whale.
The BBC News website quotes 60-year-old Spyros Vamvas as saying: “I’m looking down and there’s just swirling water and I see barnacles on the back of the whale. I never changed my position on the board.”
The website reports that several swimmers and surfers had already seen the giant mammal and had swiftly returned to the beach, leaving just Mr Vamvas in the water.
The BBC states that witnesses thought the whale was between 15 and 30 feet long, meaning that it was probably a young animal.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd
