We’ve been calling it the shark bite capital of the world for years, but this week Orlando Sentinel photographer Jacob Langston caught more evidence of why New Smyrna Beach, Florida is still shark central.
Langston’s focus was on his subject in the foreground of his camera and didn’t see the four-foot spinner shark jumping over another surfer. . . It wasn’t until he was back in the office editing his video that he realized he had captured the awesome moment in the background.
We’ll say it for at least the tenth time: can’t believe they risk surfing with sharks for those waves?
“I have to get out of here,” Heald said he immediately thought. . . Heald guessed the fin was from a 5- to 6-foot blacktip shark. The blacktip is probably to blame for most reported human attacks in Florida, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but never a fatality. . . The fin disappeared below the surface, and Heald figured it was his chance to try to catch a wave in. Then it hit him, hard. . . “I heard a big splash, and it felt like I was being tackled,” he said.
Heald, unlike California’s Lucas Ransom, survived with a few stitches and is already back in the water.
Volusia Country Florida, the shark bite capital of the world, logged two more bites this weekend as two surfers felt the teeth at New Smyrna’s Inlet, according to My Fox Orlando.
One surfer was bitten in the hand by a shark while he was paddling out south of the Inlet. The second shark bite was also a surfer who was bitten on his left thigh. . . Both men were taken to Bert Fish hospital for stitches to close up those bite wounds, lifeguards say were caused by sharks.
Lifeguards reportedly flew the purple flag, which in Florida “indications hazardous marine life.” We never knew.
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.”
Tar balls and a serious stink in the air isn’t stoping Pensacola Beach surfers from getting a few good waves even though BP has fouled up the gulf with their oil spill, according to a report on NTDTV.com
“This is a real shocker. I’m probably going to be real cautious today in what I do and where I go and what I see. But, like I said, we’re very stubborn,” said Blake Famer. “We’ll get in shark-infested, nasty waters. We’re borderline suicidal, I guess.”
Innerlight Surf Shop’s Yancy Spencer says the oil debacle is already hurting his business.
“It’s already affected our business. We own rental places too and we’ve had people canceling their week here. And then surfboard sales to summer surfers, that’s what we call people who don’t really surf year round, who surf when the weather gets nice, those sales have dropped off almost instantly.”
But it’s nice to know that BP is already giving Florida money to promote the fact that Florida beaches are still “open for business.”
While the total number of shark attacks worldwide increased from 60 to 61 between 2008 and 2009 the number of attacks in the United States have dropped from 50 in 2007 to only 28 in 2009, according to a story in the Palm Beach Post. That’s the good news.
Worldwide, George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at University of Florida said, more than half of the people who suffered shark attacks last year were surfers. . . Despite the decline over the past few years, Burgess says the number of shark attacks has risen to unprecedented levels over the past decade. . . “As scientists we don’t get so excited about individual years and tend to look at things in terms of decades,” Burgess said.
“Unprecedented levels” doesn’t sound so good. . . neither does Burgess getting “too excited.”
Those pesky Florida sharks are still at it in New Smyrna Beach, according to a story in the Orlando Sentinel.
This weekend saw three surfers bitten by sharks, at the main spot where this happens: the surf zone just south of the inlet in New Smyrna Beach. . . Two surfers were bitten 9 a.m. Saturday morning, within 10 minutes of each other, said Volusia County Beach Patrol Capt. Scott Petersohn. . . .A third surfer was bitten around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday at that same location, Petersohn.
We’ve said this before, but it seems shark bites are pretty high price to pay for Florida waves.
A surfer from Okeechobee, Florida has been the second shark attack victim in Volusia County this year.
The unidentified 20-year-old was surfing in front of the Minorca Condominium, 2600 block of North Peninsula Drive, late Monday afternoon when a shark grabbed his right ankle, Volusia County Beach Patrol Capt. Scott Petersohn said Tuesday. . . “It was very minor,” he said. “Two or three puncture wounds.” . . . Petersohn said it’s unclear whether the victim went to the hospital, but he was not taken by ambulance.
We think minor is the best kind of shark bite there is.
Last week the Volusia Couinty Council approved a surf contest for April at New Smyrna Beach, Florida’s shark infested waters. The sponsor? Jacksonville, Florida’s Landshark Lager.
We’re not sure if this is funny, or dumb. According to the Orlando Sentinel April is peak shark bit month with “26 bites during the past decade that month.” Nice marketing hook.
