A Tiger Shark Took His Leg, Now, He's Surfing More Then Ever

Colin and I shared many sessions this past winter and would give each other a smile and a nod but it wasn’t until a friend connected us, that I got to learn more about him. 

One of the first things I shared was, that from our position at SURFER, we cover each and every shark attack we catch wind of–like most media outlets–for the simple fact that it’s sensational and is great clickbait. To be honest, this has always made me a bit uneasy–it feels wrong to hop on someone’s trauma for clicks and ad revenue. 

I asked what it was like for him, to have his story shared so widely, and to continue to surf and grow after the attack. “It kinda shifted over time–I’m so much more than a guy who lost his leg in a shark attack. The recovery was intense and I dealt with a lot of pain, especially when I first started using a prosthetic and got back into surfing.”

I’ve had to learn to live with more than the physical pain too. Sometimes people will just come up and be like, ‘what happened to your leg?’ It happens at Starbucks, or random places in public. Nowadays, I don’t even say shark attack because, if I do, then they go on to tell me stories about every shark they’ve seen or attacks that they’ve heard of…it gets old pretty quick.”

As for getting back in the water, the biggest challenge wasn’t the fear or PTSD, it was the actual mechanics of the prosthetic as an above the knee amputee. “At the time, all the amputees I saw surfing were below the knee. The knee joint is so crucial in your pop up that it was tricky to figure out a way. I showed all the doctors and they weren’t really sure what to do.”

Rather than give up, Colin and his friends were determined to design something that could get him back in the water. Given his multiple first place finishes in national competitions and his 2020 ISA World Championship in Para Stand 3 Division, it’s clear that the determination paid off. 

“My and my buddies built and designed one and kept making revisions. We made newer and newer versions to get to this point. Now, it's like my baby. It let me get my life back.”

Colin is still actively competing and says he’s surfing more now than ever before. He recently traveled to compete in Byron Bay, Australia, and is currently surfing in the Hawai’i Adaptive Surfing Championships presented by Hi AccesSurf. This September he’ll travel to Adaptive World Tour in Oceanside, CA. 

As for other adaptive surfers and competitors, Colin says that French surfer, Eric Dargent, is someone he looks up to and looks forward to surfing with in heats. “Eric is the first surfer I saw with an above knee amputee and ripping, he was a big inspiration to me because he was doing turns and working the whole wave. He’s a really good surfer and he lost his leg to a shark attack too, while surfing in Reunion Island. I love getting to link up with him and always look forward to surfing with him.” 

Colin says that, overall, “The adaptive events are cool in that, not only do we get to meet up and hang out, but we get to compare notes on our gear and what works. There’s a lot of progression that comes from getting together and learning from each other.”