Hundreds attend beachside memorial, paddle-out at Stuart Beach for shark attack victim.
Sometimes the outline of more than 125 surfers in Saturday’s “paddle-out” resembled a ♥heart in the water.
Other times it looked like a giant Hawaiian lei. Regardless of the shape, the 20-minute aquatic event and preceding beachside memorial was honoring a beloved surfer who died earlier this week following a shark attack.
“He really touched the community and a lot of people’s lives,” friend Stephanie Hudson Forsberg said of Stephen Schafer during the event.
About eight people paddled to the circle’s center to share their memories of Schafer, who worked as a graphic artist and photographer.
Schafer, 38, died Wednesday after an 8- to 9-foot shark bit him while kiteboarding in waters a quarter of a mile off shore and just south of the guarded area at Stuart Beach. Lifeguard Dan Lund rescued Schafer from the water, but the surfer later died from his injuries. Read full story here
AOL.com – Multiple sharks attacked and killed a man off South Florida’s Stuart Beach on Wednesday.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office said Stephen Schafer, 38, of Stuart, Fla., was kite surfing at around 4:15 p.m. when lifeguards spotted him struggling and hanging on to his board.
Officials said when rescuers swam out to Schafer, they found him encircled by sharks. The victim was rushed to shore but had already gone into cardiac arrest.
Schafer, a gifted artist and graphic designer, was drawn to the water as a child. He surfed competitively and later started sailing, windsurfing and kiteboarding. Kiteboarders surf across the water on boards strapped to their feet, using large curved sails to pull them along. Read full story here
AOL.com – Multiple sharks attacked and killed a man off South Florida’s Stuart Beach on Wednesday.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office said Stephen Schafer, 38, of Stuart, Fla., was kite surfing at around 4:15 p.m. when lifeguards spotted him struggling and hanging on to his board.
Officials said when rescuers swam out to Schafer, they found him encircled by sharks. The victim was rushed to shore but had already gone into cardiac arrest.
Schafer, a gifted artist and graphic designer, was drawn to the water as a child. He surfed competitively and later started sailing, windsurfing and kiteboarding. Kiteboarders surf across the water on boards strapped to their feet, using large curved sails to pull them along.
“When paramedics got there, they found a number of sharks in the water, and they found the victim had been bitten several times,” Daniel Wouters of Martin County Fire Rescue told Florida’s WBTF-TV.
He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Fatal shark attacks, like the one that killed a Zimbabwean tourist in South Africa earlier this month, are rare occurrences. According to the Florida Program for Shark Research, of the 60 shark attacks reported globally last year, seven were fatal. Read full story here
The lifeguard who attempted to save a kiteboarder Wednesday off Stuart Beach was the victim of a shark attack himself more than 20 years ago.
So as he fought rough winds and high waves on Wednesday, Daniel Lund, 46, realized what lay ahead about 20 yards before he reached the kiteboarder, Stephen Schafer, a quarter-mile off the beach.
Still, Florida remains the unofficial shark bite capital of the world, accounting for 32 of the 60 attacks reported in 2009. Read more here
A University of Miami shark expert said Thursday it’s too early to blame young great whites for a deadly attack on a kiteboard surfer in Martin County.
Schafer was experienced on the water and usually went out with a buddy
Several species could have bitten Stephen Howard Schafer south of Stuart beach on Wednesday afternoon, said Neil Hammerschlag, research assistant professor at UM’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
Sharks spotted off Palm Beach
More than 100 sharks were seen in the ocean off Reef Road in Palm Beach on Thursday morning, prompting lifeguards to keep a lookout after officials say a shark attack in Martin County killed a man a day earlier.
Hammerheads, spinners, reef and bull sharks are very common off South Florida this time of year.
They follow schools of migrating fish along the Florida coastline.
The lifeguard who attempted to save a kiteboarder Wednesday off Stuart Beach was the victim of a shark attack himself more than 20 years ago.
So as he fought rough winds and high waves on Wednesday, Daniel Lund, 46, realized what lay ahead about 20 yards before he reached the kiteboarder, Stephen Schafer, a quarter-mile off the beach.
He saw blood in the water and “two or three sharks” nearby.
Lund, a nine-year veteran whose leg was severely injured by a shark in 1986 off Hutchinson Island, swam in anyway.
“It was nerve-wracking,” Lund said today in his first interview after the fatal shark attack that claimed Schafer, 38. The fatal attack was the first in Martin County.
Knowing from experience and lifeguard training that sharks tend to bite, then swim away, and come back to their victim, Lund moved fast to recover Schafer. The man had several big gashes in his leg and arm, according to a police report.
“The amount of blood that was in the water was definitely going to attract them,” Lund said.
Lund cradled the man’s head in one arm and paddled back to shore with the other. The waves were so rough that both were thrown apart once before they made it in.
Great whites prefer colder northern Atlantic Ocean waters and aren’t usually thought of as a Florida shark. But smaller 6- to 8-foot ones migrate to Florida’s east coast during winter.
Lund recovered the man a second time on his buoy and brought him to the beach where paramedics started CPR. Schafer later died at Martin Memorial Medical Center in Stuart.
Lund said Schafer talked to him until they were about half-way from shore. He wouldn’t say what Schafer’s last words were, but Lund said he remained hopeful throughout the ordeal that the man would survive the attack.
The injured man stopped talking as the lifeguard swam ashore with him in tow. Paramedics were unable to revive him, and the victim, 38-year-old Stephen Schafer, died at a hospital without regaining consciousness, the report said.
Schafer had numerous bites on his hand and buttocks and an 8- to 10-inch (20- to 25-cm) gash on his thigh.
Authorities are investigating what types of sharks may have been involved.
“You don’t ever want to lose somebody,” he said. Read more here
Sharks spotted off Palm Beach
More than 100 sharks were seen in the ocean off Reef Road in Palm Beach on Thursday morning, prompting lifeguards to keep a lookout after officials say a shark attack in Martin County killed a man a day earlier.
Hammerheads, spinners, reef and bull sharks are very common off SouthFlorida this time of year.
They follow schools of migrating fish along the Florida coastline.
There were easily more than a hundred in the water off Reef Road Thursday morning.
Lifeguards will monitor the migrating sharks and decide whether any beaches need to be closed. Read full story here
A fisherman catches a hammerhead shark on Singer Island.
Last week beaches were closed for three days on Singer Island because of shark sightings.
Two fishermen reeled in a nearly 10 foot hammerhead shark, then released it.
Hammerheads along with spinners, reef, and bull sharks are very common
off south Florida this time of year. They follow schools of migrating fish along the Florida coastline.
