Fourteen year old Lydia Ward of New Zealand didn’t get a good look at the shark that attacked her. For her it was just a “massive gray thing.” When that “massive gray thing” lunged, sinking its teeth into her hip, she did what most of us wouldn’t have the presence of mind to do – she smacked her attacker with her end of her boogie board.
Playing dead won’t drive an aggressive shark and you can’t out swim one. The best thing to do is stay calm and swim away while keeping the shark in sight. If the shark moves in though, you have to fight back. If you have to fight a shark, go for the eyes or the gills – despite popular wisdom, a shark will barely notice been hit in the nose.
When Lydia’s shark, which her ten year old brother clocked at 1.5 meters long, fled under her assault she knew she was bleeding and needed to get out of the water. By the time she had scrambled to shore it became clear exactly how close a call she’d had. Adrenaline had kept her from even noticing the bite before she was safe.
Lydia return to her mother’s car and told her “I’ve just been attacked by a shark” so calmly that at first her mother, Fiona Ward, didn’t believe her. It was only when she saw her daughter’s shredded wet suit and the puncture marks on her leg that she knew it had to be true.
Lydia might have been, as her mother put it, “incredibly cool headed” in the moment, but the experience has put her off her surfing hobby, perhaps for good. “It’s sort of put me off the beach,” she told the Guardian, “but it’s still fine with rivers and lakes. So I’ll just stick to them now.”
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