Surfammo.com: Shark Meets Girl April 21...

April 21, 2008

Rico

One of the fondest memories I have of my father, was when Dad and I were swimming in the Atlantic, and he taught me how to execute the “dead man’s “ float. It took me a couple of tries, but I finally mastered it. We had a lot of fun in the water that day. I couldn’t have been much more than eight-years old. Dad never mentioned anything about sharks.

On Sunday, a fourteen-year old wahine got tagged by a shark in murky water only a few feet deep in New Smyrna Beach. Fortunately, she escaped with all her appendages, and suffered non mortal puncture wounds to one of her feet. The chance of being the victim in an unprovoked shark attack is one in twelve million. Even so, I consider her to be very lucky.

While unprovoked attacks by sharks have risen slightly worldwide, it’s all relative. According to the International Shark Attack File, it’s mostly due to the fact that more people spend more time in the water. I totally respect the shark, but he’s not going to keep me out of the water.

On a final note, I’ve never met a surfer who was too concerned about sharks. The addiction to surfing is more powerful than fear.