Fun Facts

I was getting all caught up on my magazine reading today (still working on it actually) and I came across something awesome.

When people find out that I surf as often as I do (as much as twice daily if the ocean is generous), the first thing they always ask is, “Aren’t you afraid of sharks?”

This has always been an odd question to me. The simple answer is “no.” Now, I’ve never denied the possibility of a shark bite, but to be afraid of it is just good ol’ fashioned silly. On average there are about 60-65 bites a year; of those only 4 or so tend to be fatal. The dudes that tend to get bit are usually tools who should know better – like the guy in Northern California who was surfing at a river mouth during salmon spawning season…and got bit. He was asking for it. That’s like a shrimp walking around under some heat lamps in a Texas buffet line at dinner time. That shrimp too would totally be asking for it.

Anyway, National Geographic put this particular idea of the possibility of shark bits into sweet perspective in the March 2007 issue. They wrote:

Sharks bite fewer people each year than New Yorkers do, according to health department records. And you are far likelier to drown in your bathtub or be murdered by your spouse than you are to die in the jaws of a shark.

Remember that next time you are bathing with your loved one while vacationing in The Big Apple.

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