Many of us have seen Jaws before, and for those who have, you know whenever you see that dorsal fin and that haunting orchestra music playing in the background, you know somebody is about to get got.
Of course, that’s only a movie, and shark attacks are actually pretty rare here in America.
Nevertheless, for those of us who have seen the fin of a shark poking out of the water, you can’t help but relive the PTSD from watching the movie as a child.
So for me, even just watching this video gives me the cold sweats, and I wasn’t even there to witness it.
According to BroBible, this heart pumping scene went down during the Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis event, which is a charity event where paddleboarders make their way from Bimini in the Bahamas, to Florida to raise money and spread awareness for the disease.
It’s a great event for a great cause, but this year, things could’ve taken a turn for the worse when a hammerhead shark was spotted chasing down a paddleboarder on camera.
In the video, you can hear the people in the boat coaching the female paddleboarder, warning her that a hammerhead is right behind her, as you can see the dorsal fin poking out of the water.
Once she gets to the boat, the hammerhead makes its way to the male paddleboarder, and begins to circle him.
Luckily, the two were unharmed, but it doesn’t make the video any less nerve-racking.
The Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis Instagram page wrote in a post:
“A rare sighting of a Great Hammerhead during this year’s 10 year anniversary of The Crossing For Cystic Fibrosis event! Malea Tribble of Ft. Lauderdale Florida, a three-time participant and two-time paddler in The Crossing event, was surprised by a curious and friendly visitor, while paddling from the Bahamas to Florida in the annual fundraiser for the CF community.
Malea’s husband Ricky, who was on the boat at the time, and her relay partner paddling with her in the event, was the first to spot the tall dorsal fin as it rose up behind Malea on her board. Their team was almost halfway across the Gulf Stream, out of sight of land, when the shark appeared.
Ricky was able to calmly give his wife direction on maneuvering the situation to get safely to the boat without incident. Both Ricky and Malea are experienced paddlers and official mentors with The Crossing For CF community.
Statistics show according to the International Shark Attack File, which is the world’s only scientifically documented database of all known shark attacks, since 1900 there have been 16 recorded incidents between humans and hammerhead sharks, and of those, there have been zero deaths. (Feb 7. 2022 www.newsweek.com)
Founder and Executive Director of The Crossing For CF event, Travis Suit, reflected on the situation, ‘We are grateful Malea was not harmed and so proud of the calm and disciplined response the Tribble’s had during the situation as paddle mentors in this event, providing a great example of how to handle close encounters like this. We are visitors when we are in the ocean, it’s really their home, so it’s to be expected.'”
Check it out:
