Back on the Board

Early on the morning of 31 October 2003, the sea off the north shore of Kauai, in Hawaii, was calm and clear. A few surfers were out beyond the reef at a spot called Tunnels, lying on their boards, waiting for waves.

One of them was a thirteen-year-old girl named Bethany Hamilton. Beside her were her best friend, Alana Blanchard, Alana's father and Alana's brother.

Bethany was lying on her board with her left arm hanging in the cool water. She felt a sudden, heavy pull. When she looked down, the water around her was red.

The shark

A tiger shark, about four metres long, had bitten her. It took her left arm, just below the shoulder, and a large crescent-shaped piece of her surfboard.

Bethany did not scream. She called out calmly that she had been attacked by a shark, and began to paddle for the shore with her one arm. Alana's father, Holt, pushed and pulled her along on her board. On the way, he wrapped a surfboard leash tightly around what was left of her arm to slow the bleeding.

On the beach, someone called an ambulance. By the time she reached the hospital, she had lost more than half the blood in her body.

The hospital

There was a strange twist that morning. Bethany's father, Tom, was already at the same hospital, about to have an operation on his knee. When the news came that a young girl had been brought in after a shark attack, his surgery was cancelled. The operating room, and the surgeon, were needed for his daughter.

The doctors saved her life. She was in hospital for about a week. The arm could not be saved.

Learning to surf again

Bethany had been surfing since she was very small. Her parents were both surfers, and so were her brothers. Before the attack she had already been winning competitions, and people talked about her as a future professional.

Now everything was harder. She had to learn how to get dressed, how to tie her hair and how to do a hundred small everyday things with one hand. Many people expected her to give up surfing.

She did not. About a month after the attack, she went back into the water.

At first she could not even stand up on her board. Paddling with one arm was slow, and getting from lying down to standing in one quick move, the "pop-up", needed both hands. She fell again and again. She tried a longer, thicker board that was easier to balance. She learned to kick harder with her legs when she paddled. With practice, she found a new way to rise to her feet.

Then she caught a wave, and rode it.

Competing again

A few months after the attack, Bethany entered a surfing competition. She did not win, but she competed.

In 2005, less than two years after the attack, she won a national title in her division at the championships of the National Scholastic Surfing Association in the United States. In 2007 she became a professional surfer, competing against the best in the world.

Bethany has spoken often about what carried her through: her family, her friends and her Christian faith. She does not describe the attack as something she would choose. But she has said that it gave her a chance to encourage other people facing their own hard times, and she has spent much of her life doing that.

Today

Bethany Hamilton's story was told in her book Soul Surfer, published the year after the attack, and in a film of the same name in 2011. She has visited and supported people who have lost limbs and those recovering from trauma.

She is married, with children, and she still surfs, including on some of the biggest and most powerful waves in the world.

She lost an arm when she was thirteen. She did not lose the sea.

Want to read more?

Bethany Hamilton told her story in Soul Surfer, written with Sheryl Berk and Rick Bundschuh. Her official website describes her surfing and the work she does to encourage others.