Dudes Rock: Video Captures an Australian Surfer Punching a Shark After it Bit a Teenager
As hard as this is for me to believe, yesterday was the 50 year anniversary of the death of Alex M. Kintner. Taken from us too soon, just feet from the shore of Amity Beach. Condolences to his family, especially his mother, who somehow had a 10-year-old, even though she was like 85:
And also, let's pour one out for poor Pipit as well:
Here's hoping there is a heaven for dog like him, who only wanted to play fetch. He gave his life so that his human friend in the collared shirt at the beach could have his stick back.
I bring up the sad passing of these two iconic good boys because life just very nearly imitated art. Another young man with his whole life ahead of him was just nearly taken by a shark as well. But this was in Australia. Where, unlike in resort islands off the coast of New England, they know how to deal with perfect eating machines. Miracles of evolution who only swim, and eat and make baby sharks:
9 News - A teenage boy remains in hospital in a serious condition after being wounded in a shark attack at a northern NSW beach.
Brave bystanders saved the 16-year-old's life yesterday after he was bitten on the bicep, wrist and leg while swimming at Cabarita Beach around 4pm.
Harrowing video shows the shark following a group of surfers and swimmers as they pull the injured boy to shore.
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Surfer Bodhi McDonald told Today he'd spotted a "black figure", about seven feet (2.1 metres) long, in the water in the moments leading up to the attack.
He said about 40 surfers had been out on the water and all made for the shore after the attack victim started "screaming".
"And then as soon as I got in, it swam over to where I was. So, you know, if I didn't get out in time, I could have got bitten," McDonald said.
First of all, our sincerest thoughts and prayers for the speediest and fullest of recoveries to this 16-year-old. That this attack doesn't leave the kinds of scars you can see, and the psychological, emotional kind you can't. The trauma of finding yourself suddenly in the jaws of a prehistoric murder torpedo probably can't be overcome easily.
Second, of course one of his fellow surfers is called Bodhi:
If he wasn't Bodhi, he'd have been Spicoli. That's just how surfer culture works. It couldn't have been any other way.
But the one thing everybody involved in this near tragedy, is where it took place. This is Australia. Where every day, everything you encounter, has the potential to straight up kill you. Bite you. Sting you. Poison you. Wrap itself around you and suffocate you. Drag you off as a prisoner to Immortan Joe or make you fight in the Thunderdome. Or drag you off your board while you're shredding some tasty waves and swallow you whole. A little shakin', a little tenderizin', and down you go.
OK, at this point I have to stop because I realize this is now a confusing word soup of about a half dozen different movie references. But that's what 4th of July week does to me. So let me just get back to the video.
Check out that guy in the top middle of the screen, carrying the white board. At about the 0:08 mark, he comes rolling up and starts throwing haymakers at the shark. Standing waist deep in the surf - so he's giving away a decisive Home Environment Advantage to the fish - he throws not just one punch but two as the other surfer is helping the kid get ashore. I mean, maybe swinging the board might have been a better idea. And he's lucky he didn't pull back a stump. But I'm not going to argue since he got results. He won the fight. Even though the shark had already tasted human flesh, he knew enough not to mess with a guy willing to throw knuckles at rows of razor sharp teeth. And that show some solid self-preservation instincts, since I'm going to go out on a limb and say this isn't the first fight this guy has ended with this fists.
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This is further proof that the Aussies are just built different than the rest of us. So are their sharks. This one just ran into the wrong crazy surfer.