Surfer Nicholas Edwards, 31, a mine worker and father of two children from Busselton died after being attacked by a shark at 8:15 AM on August 17, 2010 near Gracetown in the Margaret River area of Western Australia, according to a story in Western Australia Today.
Police and the RAC rescue helicopter were dispatched to a beach south of Cowaramup Bay near Gracetown this morning. . . The man was retrieved from the water and rushed to hospital, but police have confirmed he has died from his injuries. They could not say how old he was or confirm his identity. . . The man is believed to have been attacked while surfing on his own, at a beach only accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicles.
According to a story on ABC.net.au a man watching the surf saw Edwards go down.
Rob Alder says he saw Mr Edwards lose his board and not come back up again. . . He rushed down to the beach with his friends and alerted a rescue crew. . . He says they found Mr Edwards washed up on rocks near South Point, lying unconscious with a huge gash to his leg. . . Mr Alder and his friends created a tourniquet using a surfboard leg rope and tried to resuscitate Mr Edwards for 20 minutes until the ambulance arrived. . . Eddie Kilgallon was one of the rescuers who tried, unsuccessfully, to resuscitate the man. . . Mr Kilgallon says Mr Edwards’s injuries were horrific. . . “[The] back half of his leg was totally chomped. It looked like one bite. It looked like a big shark bite,” he said.
The beach reportedly remains closed. Our thoughts are with Edwards family and friends.
Lifeguards at Southern California surf spot La Jolla Shores are warning the public of a 15-20 foot long Great White shark that was spotted in the area on Sunday August 15. 2010, according to a story on NBC San Diego.
Lifeguards at La Jolla Shores said they saw a large dorsal fin coming straight to shore, just off the surf line at La Jolla Shores. . . “We put lifeguards out on our Jet Ski skis and we warned people,” Lerum said. “We brought a rescue boat from Mission Bay and we warned people all the way from La Jolla Cove to Scripps Pier, about two miles of area.” . . Lerum says there is no closure in effect, since there was no aggressive behavior by the shark. He says there isn’t an eminent threat of danger, however, most people made the decision to get out of the water.
This, coupled with the San Onofre Great White footage shot by Chuck Patterson last week, just might be keeping surfers out of the water for a while.
Chuck Patterson was apparently out SUPing with the Great Whites and got them on video. . .He says:
The day before I shot this video, i was SUP surfing with a couple friends and 2 sharks circled us for about 15 minutes. the next day, i decided to go back out at around the same time and take my GO PRO HD camera mounted on a 10 ft pole and do some exploring. . . Sure enough within 5 minutes a 9 ft shark came out of no where and circled twice and slapped his tail on my board before disappearing. then a minute later a 7 ft young juvenile Great White swam circles around me for 12 minutes.
Not so sure we’re itching to surf Trails anytime soon. . .
Josh Clement, 25, of Wilmington, North Carolina reportedly kicked a shark before getting what can only be described as the smallest shark bite in the history of shark attacks, according to a story on WWAYTV3.com.
“I honestly thought that I lost my foot,” Clement said. “I mean it happened, and it hit so hard, I thought I lost my foot, and I couldn’t look back to see if my foot was there and finally I got to see if my foot was still around my leg. Of course it scared me to death, but it all comes with the territory. You’re out there in the ocean and they’re out there as well.”
Sadly, his six stitches look like nothing more than a scratch. This is reportedly “the fourth shark attack between Topsail Island and Myrtle Beach in the last six weeks.”
Clayton Schulz, a baseball player for the University of North Florida was bitten by a shark while surfing near Jacksonville, Florida’s Seventh Street on Friday July 23. 2010, according to a story on New4jax.com.
“I was hopping back on my board and I felt something grab my foot. All I really feel is teeth,” Schulz said. “It took me a second to kind of process everything, and I yelled to the other guy out there — there was another guy who was out a little bit farther — and I yelled to him, ‘Hey, man, I just got bit.'” . . Schulz was taken to Baptist Beaches Medical Center then flown to Shands. He said doctors put more than 400 stitches in his left foot to repair the damage.
Biologists were quick to point out that the chances of dying from a shark attack are 1 in 3,748,067. But we always wonder what the chances of dying are after being bitten by a shark. That seems like a more relevant metric for surfers.
Jimmy Johnston, a 55-year-old surfer who claims to have been surfing Florida’s Ponce de Leon Inlet for 45 years was bitten on the foot by a shark on Saturday, July 17, 2010, according to a story in the Daytona Beach News Journal.
Deputy Chief Mike Hensler said the surfer, identified as Jimmy Johnston, told Beach Patrol officers he was sitting on his surfboard with his feet out of the water Saturday near the Ponce de Leon Inlet’s south jetty. . . He said he saw a baitfish jump into the air nearby. It was followed by a small spinner shark, Hensler said. . . “The guy said the shark missed the fish, but grabbed his foot,” Hensler said. . . In alarm, Johnston pulled his right foot from the shark’s mouth, causing most of the injury, which consisted of two cuts to the top and seven to the bottom of the appendage, the deputy chief said.
Officials seem almost sad to say that this was only Volusia County’s second shark bite of the year. At this rate they’re going to lose their title as the “shark bite capital of the world.”
Galeston, Texas surfer Chad Rogers, 20, never expected to get bitten by a shark, according to a story in the Galveston News. But that didn’t stop what he believes to be a 5 foot bullshark from getting a bite in.
“When I pulled my foot out, I was bleeding all over the place,” Rogers said in an interview with YourTownTV.com. “I was kind of freaking out. I never thought I would get bitten by a shark. . . “After that, we had a race to get (to shore.) I just remember getting bit and trying to get the hell out of the water.” . . . Rogers said in addition to a large gash, he had “nibble marks” from the shark on his toes.
Rogers used his other foot to push the shark away and then hopped a quarter mile to his car. The surfers foot now has between 50 and 60 stitches on it, but other than that he’s fine.
A 19-year-old surfer who out near Pismo Beach, California’s Silver Shoals was nipped on the foot by a shark, according to a story in the San Jose Mercury News.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says . . . he was out of the water with a cut on his left foot when fire personnel arrived. . . The surfer described the shark as approximately four feet long, brown in color with dark spots.
Officials kept the beach open, but posted some warnings to give other surfers something to worry about between sets.
The study, published in “Sharks and Their Relatives II,” found that sharks have the ability to see contrast in color and that the likelihood of a shark attack increases when there’s a new moon, swimmers are in 6 feet of water or less, on a Sunday and if they’re wearing a black-and-white swimsuit.
So maybe it best to surf midweek and leave your Volcom Bruce Annihilator Mod boardies at home the next time a surf calls for sharky waters.
A surfer from Western Australia was reportedly knocked off his board and mauled by a shark while surfing Conspicious Beach near Walpole, according to the Hearald Sun.
The surfer’s leg is believed to have been badly savaged in the attack. It is understood he was bitten close to his knee, but his injuries were not believed to be life-threatening yesterday. . . An ambulance crew was sent from Walpole to tend the victim’s wounds before rushing him to Albany Hospital, which is about one hour’s drive further south.
“Monstrous” great whites have been apparently spotted in the area. West Oz surfers are tough.
Surfer Nicholas Edwards, 31, a mine worker and father of two children from Busselton died after being attacked by a shark at 8:15 AM on August 17, 2010 near Gracetown in the Margaret River area of Western Australia, according to a story in Western Australia Today.
