Shark Attack!

No, I'm not talking about lawyers this time.  Yesterday we had a shark attack off Solana Beach.  My daughter was nearby, although not in the water and I frequent that beach (although the water is still too cold for me, I like it above 60 degrees and it's hovering at a bone chilling 59 deg.).  It was, I believe, San Diego County's first known fatal shark attack.

The shark was estimated to be 12' - 16' and had a 22" wide bite pattern.  The victim was swimming in a group training for a triathlon and was hit from below.  It took off both legs cleanly at mid-thigh and while they were able to drag him to the beach he bled out within minutes and died.  It was sad.

The shark is believed to be a Great White.  As is typical in a Great White attack there was one hit and he was gone.  I have read that Great Whites don't normally attack humans and that most attacks are a mistake.  The shark mistakes the swimmer for a seal and after the initial strike, once the shark realizes you are not a seal,  the shark usually leaves.  That seemed to be the case here.

The problem is that the first strike leaves the victim pretty mangled and ripped up.

Shark attacks freak me out.  I have lived near the beach all my life, swimming almost every day of my life that the weather was nice and I have had several encounters with sharks both when I was in the water and when I was thankfully out of it. I've seen some nasty stuff and some big, scary fish.

So, will I stay out of the water this weekend?  The weather is forecast to be in the high 80's both days.  I live two blocks form the beach and the water sis supposed to be warming up.  The shark attack was about 30 miles away, a distance the shark could cover in about 15-20 minutes.  We have seals off our coast.

I will probably still spend some time in the water, trusting in the low probability that I will be attacked.

That's really what life is about isn't it?  Taking risks.  We can't live our life too careful or afraid to take risks.  Where is the living in that.  The victim yesterday was a retired Veterinarian in his mid-60's training for a triathlon.  He was enjoying and living his life, probably never really thinking, as he approached the water, of the possibility that his life was about to end.  That's the way we should all live our life.  Doing what we love right up to the very end.  Because it could end any minute now, no matter how low the probability.