The following story was sent to me from Dan Jorgensen. He was the surfer that was attacked by the elusive Bull Shark lingering in New Smyrna Beach for weeks. The mullet run was on and the fish were hungry. A big thanks to Dan for sharing his story. Get well soon. Above are the shots of his painful injury and a few shots of Dan surfing. Enjoy the feature –Tupat. View more photos (graphic) photos from on Tupat’s blog.
Just Another Day in New Smyrna Beach
By Daniel Jorgensen
Last Friday started like any other here in Florida. I woke up early, and I got my board, lunch and coffee together and headed out for the inlet.
When I pulled onto the beach I saw jellyfish everywhere; they were all over the beach. “Great, they have been destroying me the past few weeks,” I thought. So I wasn’t stoked. The waves were pretty good that morning. Glassy little peaks. Two- to three-foot with some bigger breaking close to the rocks.
The moment I paddled out I got hit with a jelly right in the face just under the eye, and I knew they were going to suck. Even though the waves were good, I had a hard time finding any good waves.
The drift was pretty dramatic that day, and as I got closer to the rocks I found a few good ones.
The drift was getting worse but I could see a few good waves coming in, so I elected to stay on the surf treadmill, instead of walking down and get a few more before the tide got fat. I remember this set came in that had a ripple on the face of each wave, but it had a really good line on it. I gave a guy the first one, and I lucked into a little right that lined up to the inside of the rocks. It was the best one of my session. I also got a few snaps and a little cover up on the wave. After, I kicked off and was just going to go in and walk, but I saw this set just outside and decided I’d fight the drift a little bit longer and try and get a few more.
As I was paddling back out, I saw a huge school of football-sized mullet getting thrashed by what I thought was a pod of dolphins that had been around all morning. Then I saw something to my left about 10 feet away, and before my mind could register what it was; I felt like I was hit by a car. Honestly, I didn’t even realize what had happened. Then I looked at my arm and saw the blood. I really couldn’t believe it. Luckily, I was surfing near two of the lifeguards, Kyle and Eric. They saw the bite and Kyle immediately paddled in and waved down the Beach Patrol.
I had to paddle in with one arm, and the other rose high in the air – like back in grade school…plus the blood faucet leaking down my arm. It didn’t really hurt yet, but I hadn’t taken a good look at it. When I got up on the beach, Eric helped me up on the back of the Beach Patrol truck and I finally saw how bad it was. That is when I saw it I started to get lightheaded and felt like I was going to pass out.
They told me they thought it was pretty bad and I should get Evac to drive me to the hospital. All I could think was that I have no insurance, and that shit is really expensive! But I was just about to pass out and figured I might as well.
The damn ambulance took so long to get there that by the time it arrived I had already gotten bandaged up with a tunicate on my arm and the bleeding had been controlled. Luckily, my boy Tully saw what was going on and came over to see what had happened. When he came over, he told me he could drive me to the hospital and same me a little money.
At the hospital, I ended up getting 100 stitches and 1 tendon put back together. After a little rehab I should be surfing again soon. It’s been almost two weeks now, and the arm is feeling better. I do have an area in between the bite that has no feeling and occasional, shooting pains. Other than that, I was very lucky that I still have my arm and will be able to surf another day.
