C’mon, admit it…. you know you kind of get a rise out of shark attack stories. Most of us do, it’s our guilty little pleasure and exactly the reason that nearly every single surfing website has some version of the recent Australia shark encounter stories gracing their home page right now. The numbers don’t lie, the people are interested in reading about these unfortunate encounters.

Surfing’s intertwining of man with nature is part of what makes it so unique. I’m not sure that there is another sport throughout the world that even comes close to allowing these types of interactions. While it’s the occasional negative interactions that draw all the interest and appear more sexy, for every one of those there are a countless number of other incredible and positive interactions taking place between surfers and marine life every single day. They may not get the traffic as headline stories, but they are part of what makes surfing so magical and far outweigh the 1 in a Gazillion chance you have of becoming part of the food chain each time you paddle out.

On that note, and out of fairness to all of our ocean-living friends who aren’t trying to munch on our legs, here are a few stories and images of just how incredible being out in the ocean can be. Shark attack stories may get all the headlines, but they are just a tiny, tiny part of what really takes place when we’re out in the water.

“Running of the Dolphins” – Sea of Cortez

“Shamu Regulates the Line-Up” – New Zealand

“Shark Stomps a 1280 as Mind-Blown Surfers Look On”

Tags: Sharks

Posted by Shaun on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 in Surfing.

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