Saturday, September 27, 2008

Surfing - Double Shark Attack - South Africa

That's one lucky young man.

8 comments:

Pam said...

That is very, very scary! I'm afraid that would be my last surf in those waters!

*Shudder*

Mary O. Paddock said...

That is a very, very lucky young man.

Redlefty said...

Good thing those beasts don't like the taste of dude.

Kelly said...

Wow! How scary!!

Just another reason I prefer swimming pools to the ocean!

Debby said...

Cara has decided that she will not take up surfing....

Mom thinks that this is smart on her part.

Hal Johnson said...

According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, since 1980, about 60 percent of unprovoked shark attack victims have been surfers. About 28 percent have been waders or swimmers, and 12 percent divers. Of the divers, 46 percent were free divers or snorkelers. The risk of shark attack is greatest when at or near the surface.

Still, millions of people play in the ocean every year without encountering a shark. Drowning is a much, much greater risk.

I grew up in southern California, in a town where surfing was and is big. I did a little scuba diving in high school, too. I knew lots of surfers and divers, and never knew one of them to have a scary encounter with a shark.

One high school classmate was attacked in the water, however--by a sea lion. He got too close to her pup, and she bit a chunk out of his side. Poor dude had to have rabies shots.

Debby said...

A rabid sea lion?!!! Now there is something that we don't think of here in Pennsylvania....

Bob Barbanes: said...

A bite by an angry sea lion, Hal? Hmm, good thing it wasn't a hand bitten off by a loose seal. That would sound too much like a plot-point on Arrested Development.