Saturday afternoon was a heavy one for the Santa Cruz surfing community. At around 1:30 p.m., surfboard shaper Ben Kelly was reportedly in the water at Manresa State Beach, five miles west of Watsonville and about 25 minutes south on Highway 1 from Santa Cruz, when he was attacked and killed by an unidentified species of shark.
There were reportedly two other surfers in the water at the time of the attack. Kelly was apparently helped out of the water and sadly, pronounced dead at the scene. There were no other details immediately available about the attack.
“Why do I shape surfboards? Well… it’s something I’ve done since I was a kid,” Kelly wrote on his website. “A sort of escape from an overly-productive world to a simpler more creative space! What started as a way to fuel my own surfing passion has now become a way to stoke out my fellow surfers, and that is truly fulfilling to me. It’s the way I have found to give back to others. Thanks for all the support and love along the way!”
This was reportedly the first fatal shark attack in Northern California since 2004 when an abalone diver was attacked and killed near Kibeseliah Rock in Mendocino County.
Ben Kelly was 26 years old.
