Quick thinking by an off-duty lifeguard helped a man attacked by a shark near Seaside on Sunday afternoon.

The adult man was in the water at Seaside Cove when he was bitten in the lower leg. Seaside spokesman Jon Rahl said bystanders pulled him out. An off-duty lifeguard used a surfboard leash — the cord that keeps surfers from losing their boards when they fall — to tourniquet the surfer's wound.

"First responders are saying that was pretty instrumental," Rahl said.

The surfer was in stable condition when he was taken to Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria.

Rahl said the incident serves as a reminder not to surf or swim alone in the Pacific Ocean. He said shark bites are not common, but they do happen: Rahl found notes in city archives to a similar incident in Dec. 2011.