"It feels like the ultimate form of betrayal to
fall victim to the one thing a surfer recognizes and fears as a
possibility."
An autopsy on Santa Cruz shaper Ben Kelly, who was
killed by a shark while surfing Sand Dollar beach aka Shark Park on
Saturday, May 9, has revealed the animal to be a ten-foot
plus Great White.
Sean Van Sommeran, the founder and director of the Pelagic Shark
Research Foundation which was created in 1990 to push for the
protection Great Whites in California and whose own story is worth
your time reading, attended the autopsy.
He posted his
findings on the PSRF Facebook page.
I attended the autopsy yesterday, the shark is almost
certainly to be subadult white shark estimated to be 10′
plus.
Mr Kelly was on the inside of his friend while surfing on a
short board.
Kelly was seen by his companion to be pulled underwater amid
commotion at Kelly’s board.
Kelly surfaced and immediately exited the water with
companion however the bleeding could not be stopped.
DNA and Xray will be used in attempts to recover potential
teeth frags or shark tissue and pending final report.
It is most likely that a subadult shark 10’ft or over was
cause of the tragic mortality and the juvenile and yearling sharks
not at all likely to be implicated.
The shark most likely responsible for the fatality is of the
generational category that has always been known to frequent that
particular location prior to 2015 arrival of yearling and juvenile
shark pups. Test results and lab report still pending.
As these sharks mature from subadult 10′-14′ to adult
(14.5’ft and over) they change course and migration routes and
begin to circuit the open ocean and deep sea and return seasonally
to large seal colonies such as the Big Sur, ANI, SEFI and other
well known seal and shark associated sites and seasonal way
points.
It should not be presumed that the younger and smaller
sharks we see in the Shark Park and La Selva areas will continue to
hang out at these locations until they are 20 foot long massive
dangerous sharks.
They rotate out as they mature and graduate to wide migratory
routes mostly associated with pelagic offshores or coastal seal
colonies that can support their energetic requirements.
The Mercury News spoke to
witnesses and reports,
“Kelly was…bitten on the leg and knocked off his board. He
quickly got back on and began paddling to shore — as did his friend
who was surfing further outside. Once they got to shore, they used
a surf leash from one of their boards as a tourniquet but couldn’t
stop the bleeding in time.”
Leashes ain’t
tourniquets, however, although surfing doc John Cohen has created a
sixty-dollar device all surfers in Santa Cruz, WA, Byron Bay, South
Africa, Reunion, should use.
“In thirty seconds, using a tourniquet, you’ve saved a friend’s
life,” says Cohen.
Want to help out Ben’s wife
Katie? Funeral, living expenses etc? Donate here.
As his buddy Zachary Shull writes, “It feels like the ultimate
form of betrayal to fall victim to the one thing a surfer
recognizes and fears as a possibility. We sign the proverbial
liability waiver every time we paddle out, but the thought of such
a horrific event is dismissed as an extreme rarity. Those thoughts
are quickly overshadowed by the joy and refreshment that comes from
surfing and getting a good wave, and so we still choose to paddle
out.”
