“I went to stand up. When I put the pressure on my
leg: boom. All the blood was just pouring out of my leg.”
Sharks, man. If it is not Topangry locals
causing maximum physical damage, out in the surf lineup, then it’s
sharks and especially in Florida. The Sunshine State, which has
become a haven for all manner of the criminally-minded, has been in
the news, recently, for Diddy’s “freak-offs” but up the coast near
New Smyrna a different sort of freak slithers beneath the
Atlantic’s surface.
Not just regular ol’ sharks but bull sharks.
These mean bastards are known for actually enjoying the taste of
human flesh, as opposed to merely tolerating it, and, over the
weekend, one nearly feasted upon a royal hoof.
The foot of 18-time East Coast surfing champion “Gnarly” Charley
Hajek. Now, the 62-year-old was in the midst of a 148 days of
surfing ironman streak when disaster struck. “Nobody’s out, the
waves are firing, it’s pumping, I’m surfing for two hours, having
the best time of my life,” the feisty blonde
explained to the local
news.
It was around 11 am on a warm Sunday morning and Hajek was
finishing up, taking a wave to the send. In knee deep water, he
hopped off and, as he continues, “I could tell I was on top of
something. That split second I go ‘Oh (expletive) I bet I’m on a
shark.’ By the time I even thought of that, it bit me so fast. It
was so quick and the thrust was so powerful that when I was in his
mouth for that split second, it bit down on me and let me go. And
then I said ‘Oh (expletive)’ so I jumped up on my board and the
shark must have hauled ass cause he was scared.”
Initially, the highly decorated champ didn’t want to look down…
“But I gotta look at it. So I looked at it, and I didn’t see
nothing like, ‘Oh my God, I got lucky. Just bumped into me or
something.’”
The fortunate feeling did not last.
“I went to stand up. When I put the pressure on my leg: boom.
All the blood was just pouring out of my leg,” he said with a
chuckle.
After fashioning a leash tourniquet, Hajek drove himself to the
hospital where he learned the nasty bull missed his Achilles tendon
by inches. Yet while ending the ironman streak, the encounter has
not dampened a profound love of surfing.
“I’m not mad. I’m not pissed off. I stepped on a shark. What’s
gonna happen?” he philosophized. “That was Henry. Henry don’t like
me because I don’t give him enough attention.”
And as soon as the stitches come out… “I’m going to surf harder
than ever.”
Freak on, dear friend. Freak on.
