Drone operator saves Santa Cruz surfer from getting eaten alive by great white shark

Big yikes.

Be it climate change, government protection, over-fished seas or just the way things are, incidents of great white sharks eating people, or at least parts of people, have skyrocketed. It seems as if every day there is a new horror story involving death, or dismemberment, from below. There has been a wild spate in Australia with calls for culling the beasts growing louder, though New South Wales premier Chris Minns, not to be confused with the wonderful Chris Binns, has other ideas. Namely, drones.

“We’ll be using technology that’s available, but hasn’t been rolled out at scale anywhere in the world, not in California, not in Florida, [nor South Africa] … places where you’ve got developed world economies, large tourism populations and sharks. We’ll be first,” he bullishly declared.

Well, speaking of California, and bolstering Minns’ theory, a drone operator just saved a surfer bobbing off the coast of Aptos from the white plague. Nick Bertocchini was there at around 8:45 in the morning flying his toy when he spotted a menacing shark stalking a lone surfer. Jumping into action, he alerted the surfer of doom by “revving the drone’s motors” and “moving to the side of the shark.”

Thankfully it worked and and the surfer, later identified as Rex, was saved.

Bertocchini later told the local news that he often sees sharks whilst droning but “this one stood out because it appeared more investigative than the average encounter I typically see. I am glad the shark and surfer left without any further contact.”

Back to Rex, though, how cool is it to be known by only one name?

Clearly a legend.