When Fear Of Sharks Overcomes The Joy Of Surfing

Stab’s dedicated shark week is coming soon. 

We’ve interviewed a ton of researchers, casualties and first responders, trying to make sense of the recent spike in activity in Australia and what we should do about it. 

There’s calls for culls. Research debunking the effectiveness of culls. Anecdotes on the lingering effects of experiencing and witnessing attacks. Dave Rastovich’s rules of surfing solo. Case studies from Reunion Island. And other topics. 

One question we posed to our IG audience, which we never heard a peep from was: Do You Know Anyone Who Has Stopped Surfing Entirely Due To Sharks?

Crickets. 

Which was surprising to us. I thought once bitten, twice shy applied perfectly, universally, always. 

Then we saw this video of Riss Lasair, a South Coast teacher and mother of two, who is, understandably, cagey about re-entering the water after two close calls in 48 hours.

While surfing solo at Inyadda over the weekend, between the Bendalong and Manyana beachies, a shark approached Riss, breaching over her board in a way faintly reminiscent of Mick Fanning’s famous 2015 shark scare.

Fortunately, Riss escaped unscathed.

The more alarming part came two days later, when she returned to the beach to try and shake off the fear, only for a shark to immediately dart towards her from the shoreline.

“That was meant to be my redemption session,” she told 10 News.

Feary.