Stuart Beach fatal attack

[djtimmy77]

On tuesday after work I paddled out on my LB at Carlin park in Jupiter. It was just me and some nice glassy waist high peelers, clear blue water. Not more than a minute after I sat up on my board to start picking a wave, a ~5' spinner shark jumped out of the water ~50' away from me. Now I have seen spinners jump while surfing, but usually it is a hundred yards further offshore or more. This one was at the same distance out I was, probably in 7 or 8 feet of water. I decided it was "too sharky" and paddled back into shore to call it a day. I've paddled in once before after seeing a shark a couple years ago, that one was riding in a wave.

When diving, I am not really afraid of sharks at all, the water is generally clear, they can sense what you are and decide they aren't interested. When they are feeding in the surf zone and sense the splashing of your hands and feet near a drifting piece of debris (the board) I can see how it could easily be mistaken for a fish hiding out by the debris. Because of this, I don't feel comfortable sticking around when they make their presence known. Funny thing is you know they are pretty much always around, but you can put them out of your mind if you don't see them actively feeding.

 

[ONESPEED]

Fatal shark attack investigated - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

 

[Jayde323]

Here is a quote from one of the articles I read:

Research scientist Grant Gilmore told The Palm Beach Post the attackers were likely juvenile great white sharks.

Juvenile Great Whites? I thought GW's were pretty rare in FL waters? Other articles I read stated they are still determining the type of shark.

 

[joystershell]

Here is a quote from one of the articles I read:



Juvenile Great Whites? I thought GW's were pretty rare in FL waters? Other articles I read stated they are still determining the type of shark.

Update;

The shark that killed a kiteboarder off Stuart this week was an 8- or 9-foot shark in the requiem family, a group which includes bull sharks and tiger sharks, a shark attack expert who examined the body said Thursday evening.

 

[BDSC]

It is very sad that the guy died but I certainly take my hat off to the lifeuard (Daniel Lund) who went out and brought him back to shore. I realize it's his job to help people but to keep his cool once he found out what the situation was out there and truly risk his own safety to bring the guy back was an outstanding job I thought.

 

[cruiser]

Seems like the surfer has died from "blood loss." Tragic even though the shark was just doing what sharks do.

 

[all4scuba05]

It is very sad that the guy died but I certainly take my hat off to the lifeuard (Daniel Lund) who went out and brought him back to shore. I realize it's his job to help people but to keep his cool once he found out what the situation was out there and truly risk his own safety to bring the guy back was an outstanding job I thought.

Yeah, I would think that would be the equivalent of dragging chum through those waters.

 

[mksmith713]

It's sad all around.
A person died doing what he does.......kiteboarding.......sad
The sharks get a bad rap doing what they do........feed.....sad
The shark didn't know it was a person.
Sharks don't usually eat people.
They didn't eat him.
They mistook him for something else.....what? I don't know.
Maybe a manatee?
Do sharks feed on Manatees? Again, I don't know
Certainly not a seal......don't know of any seals around here.
Unless the sharks migrated from an area where there are seals......unlikely.
Kiteboarders usually don't paddle so I can see how they would identify the splashing as baitfish hanging around debris.
Kiteboards might look a little like a dolphin skimming the waves from below but sharks don't like dolphins........they even may be a bit afraid of dolphins.(Yeah, I saw that on Mythbusters)
Anyone else have any insight on this?
I want to know what makes a shark bite a human.
My daughter won't be surfing anytime soon.........

 

[Puffer Fish]

Not sure what was going on in this event, but the fact the sharks were still there at the point of rescue would seem to point to him being bitten and then left to bleed to death, before being eaten. The rescue may have interrupted the shark practice of bitting and then sitting back and waiting.

Bull or Tiger though, not sure if Tiger's school, but Bulls do...but both have a rather long history of biting humans.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

It's sad all around.
A person died doing what he does.......kiteboarding.......sad
The sharks get a bad rap doing what they do........feed.....sad
The shark didn't know it was a person.
Sharks don't usually eat people.
They didn't eat him.
They mistook him for something else.....what? I don't know.
Maybe a manatee?
Do sharks feed on Manatees? Again, I don't know
Certainly not a seal......don't know of any seals around here.
Unless the sharks migrated from an area where there are seals......unlikely.
Kiteboarders usually don't paddle so I can see how they would identify the splashing as baitfish hanging around debris.
Kiteboards might look a little like a dolphin skimming the waves from below but sharks don't like dolphins........they even may be a bit afraid of dolphins.(Yeah, I saw that on Mythbusters)
Anyone else have any insight on this?
I want to know what makes a shark bite a human.
My daughter won't be surfing anytime soon.........

Why would you assume that the shark which apparently took multiple large bites mistook the victim? Tigers and bulls are maneaters, they don't always accidentally bite people. They eat meat.


Maybe it was 10 yrs ago that a 12 yr old? boy was EATEN while playing in the surf about 50 miles north. His carcass washed up with no head and very little meat on the appendages. I got this information from the Dotor who examined the body. They attributed that one to a tiger.

Tigers especially eat large prey, sea turtles skulls are very commonly found in the gut of tigers from that area. A sea turtle is larger than a human.

The bullsharks in that area can be extremely aggressive toward humans, especially divers.