Nigel Hughes, 39, a surfer from Australia’s Gold Coast lost the tip of his big toe to a shark while surfing at Coffee Rock, near Evans Head, NSW on Sunday, December 13, 2009, according to a story in the Tweed Daily News.
Mr Hughes had just taken off on a wave when he began yelling out really loud, surfing mate Paul Plenkovich, of the Gold Coast, said. “I didn’t know what was going on,” he said. Mr Hughes paddled into shore and began yelling out “shark, shark”. Mr Plenkovich said the surfing posse managed to stay calm while they paddled about 100m in to the shore.
Hughes suffered a 10cm gouge in his toe. After undergoing surgery at Lismore Base Hospital he is expected to make a full recovery.
Melissa Hardcastle, 27, was surfing out in front of the Jupiter Reef Club in Jupiter, Florida on Friday, November 13, 2009 when she felt something chomp down on her foot, according to a story on wptv.com.
Her mother says she never saw the shark but knew what it was immediately. . . “She’s got some marks. She’s lucky to have her foot, but she’s good, very good,” says Hardcastle. . . Melissa never saw the shark, only felt it. Her mother says she grabbed the board and rode the waves to shore.
Hardcastle spent the night at Jupiter Medical Center and will be having surgery this morning. Spooky. . .
An unnamed 18-year-old surfer was hit by a 4-foot shark while surfing near News Journal this afternoon according to a story in the News Journal.
The 18-year-old man, who was not identified by the Volusia County Beach Patrol, suffered only minor injuries, including a bump on the shin where the shark hit him and lacerations to the back of the calf and the front of the shin.
He was one of 300 surfers in the water. This is the eighth shark attack of the year.
How would you react after a shark bit your board in half while you were sitting on it? This is how Eric Geiselman handled his interaction with what may have been a Great White while surfing near Santa Cruz, California on November 5, 2009.
Eric was out the back all-alone after his brother, Evan Geiselman, caught a wave in. Amidst the commotion, his foot hit the creature as he began paddling the remnants of his board toward shore. “It’s nuts to think how helpless you are,” said a rattled Geiselman to TransWorld SURF’sAaron Checkwood.
Nothing like kicking a shark while paddling half a surfboard back to shore. . .click here to hear Eric tell the whole story.
A six-meter long Great White shark regulator is apparently cruising Deadman’s Beach in Queensland, Australia, and taking bites out of other Great Whites according to a story on Metro.co.uk. Swimmers and surfers have been advised to stay out of the water after officials “found the remains of a smaller Great White that bitten almost entirely in half.”
Ashton Smith, a 19-year-old surfer, said: “Whatever attacked and took chunks out of this big shark must be massive. . . .”I’ve heard about the big one that’s lurking out there somewhere. . . “We’re all being very, very cautious and looking out for each other. Some people aren’t going in the water at all.”
Dun dun. . . We think we’d just stay behind the nets for a while.
Maui surfer Scott Henrich, 54 has 100 stitches in his knee after he got chomped by a 6 to 8 foot shark while surfing Maui’s Kalama Bowls just a little before sunrise, according to a story in the Honolulu Advertiser.
He had just paddled out about 300 yards around 6 a.m. and sat up on his board when the shark suddenly emerged from the water and clamped onto the surfer’s leg. Henrich said he punched the animal’s snout twice and it released its grip. . . “I thought, ‘I gotta get him off my leg,’ so I pounded him. I was just hoping he wasn’t going to chomp all the way through,” he said. . . “There was blood everywhere. I looked at the top gash and saw white meat and I knew it was bad. I was worried there might be other sharks around, and I knew I had to get it up and get out of the water quickly,” he said.
Henrich hobbled to his car “screaming the whole way” for someone to call 911. Finally a motorist stopped and called. Now Henrich is home recovering and apologizing for being the guy who caused the closure of the beaches “along the South Maui coast from Lípoa Street to Kamaole Beach Park I.” This is reportedly the third shark attack in Hawaii this year.
George Breen, the pilot of a Piper Super Cub, was helping researchers spot Great White sharks off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts when he saw one shark headed for a diver who had just jumped off a research ship in the water. He was able to radio the boat and they pulled the diver out just in time, according to a story in the Boston Globe.
Shortly afterward, Breen said, he watched another shark dart toward a man surfing in the waters off Orleans. . . . He said the surfer, who probably never saw the submerged fish, walked ashore as the shark got within about 100 yards of him. . . . “All I can say is I think he’s just one lucky dude,’’ Breen said. “He was pointed right at the surfer.’’
South African surfer Gerhard van Zyl, 25, died on Saturday August 29, 2009, after having his leg “nearly bitten completely off by a shark” while surfing between South Africa’s Glentana and Outeniqua near Mossel Bay, according to a story IOL.
A friend pulled Gerhard out of the water after the attack and tied a tourniquet around his wounded leg, according to local media reports. . . “We found him on the beach and treated him for amputation to his right leg,” said Lambinon. “He was airlifted to a hospital in George and when he got there, was declared to be in a critical condition. He was later declared dead.”
This is reportedly the first shark attach at Glentana Bay.
According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel Seacliff and New Brighton state beaches have been closed “for up to seven days after visitors spotted a shark chomping on a porpoise off Seacliff beach about 3:10 p.m.”
“We have a confirmed predatory activity attack by a shark,” said Kirk Lingenfelter, superintendent with California State Parks, who ordered the closures when a four-foot long harbor porpoise washed up on Seacliff beach soon after the shark was spotted. . . Lingenfelter said researchers are still determining the size and type of the shark. Scientists with Long Marine Lab hauled the porpoise off for study Tuesday afternoon.
This is reportedly the first time in five years that a county beach has been closed due to a shark sighing. Marin County’s Stinson Beach closed yesterday after a sighting, but that seems to happen all the time.
Surfer Dylan Crawford got knocked from his board by something in the water while surfing Kawaa Beach on Hawai’i’s big island on Thursday August, 6, 2009, according to a story on KGMB9.com.
“The next thing I know, I realize, okay there’s a large animal next to me,” he said. “I was right next to it for a second, basically touching it. And when it submerged, it pulled me down on top of it.”
The 8-foot tiger shark too a big chunk of the nose of his board when he left.
