Im sure most of you have seen this. Footage isnt too intense, but I surfed right next to this harbor on the north shore of maui while I was there in the fall. THe only real swell was hitting the northwest part of the island so we had to drive up there. The wife and I were taking pictures of tigers out in the water about an hour before I paddled out. Its just one of those things where you think, well, everyone else knows of the sharks and it aint no thing, so you just assume you are safe out there. I mean, people surf here everyday knowing its sharky, so who cares right? Im sure a ton of other people have been out to Maui and have surfed all over the north shore area too. Its wild. http://surf.transworld.net/1000122162/videos/maui-shark-attack-caught-on-video/ This kid is super lucky.
I surfed there many times as well. My wife and I snorkeled across the bay watching turtles then I got a very weird feeling and I kicked it into high gear. We ran out of reef cover and were in open water. So many tiger sharks there....
Good for the kid and props to the surfers for acting fast. As for the spot of the attack, I recall passing by a similar beach when I took the Road to Hana, not exactly along the road itself, but a small detour from it. I wonder if that's the spot. Never surfed there though. I stuck to the mellower spots like West Maui and Lahaina.
Yeah, i surfed the south side of Lahaina later in the week once a little swell came, but the north side picked up all the eastern wind swell and was breaking a little while the west side was flat... Locals told me that its a lot more "fishy" on North Maui... Even when you paddle out there, you can feel it. Sounds weird, but that whole wild north coast has a very erie feeling to it. I was definately lifting my feet up and not looking down. I think west maui and stuff doesnt feel that strange cause you can see the other islands right off the beach, so you dont have that deep middle of the pacific feeling. When you stand above jaws and look out, its like WOW... that is the wide open ocean. Middle of the sea... crazy.
for a tiger bite it didn't look that bad... I a;ways thought that when a big shark like a tiger bit down they tended to take the whole appendage...or cause life threatening damage.
Yeah, from the wounds, it looked like it would have been a smaller shark. And the kid said it bit him once, got his fins (which he didnt like), then bit him again. The kid probably was flailing and his leg just came across the sharks teeth. Thats what the wound looks like. A ton of luck in all the right places. Same thing happened 3 months ago in Lompoc CA by santa barbara and the sponger was dead. The whitey got him. Left his appendage on from what I remember reading. but the guy died. he was like 21.
