You don’t have to live around the surfing community long before you start to hear some pretty wild tales of what goes on out on the waves. Surfing pets, celebrity surfers, shark attacks, and heroic rescues are sometimes a bit exaggerated, but there is usually a grain of truth!
Take the surfing pet stories, they may seem like flights of fantasy till you meet one like Buddy, the amazing surfing dog in Ventura who helped his owner Bruce win the 2007 Surf Dog Championship in Del Mar. But if you think that’s strange, consider Domingo Pianezzi’s surfing cat, Nicholasa, perched on the tip of her owner’s surfboard in Peru! Whether she is enjoying the ride or terrified is still a question up for debate.
Watching celebrities on the waves is becoming a popular pastime at posh resorts like the Grand Wailea on Maui, where a beach full of guests watched Pierce Bronson wipe out and ingloriously wash up on the sand looking pretty bedraggled. Or the sensation caused when the big waves hit the shore and only the ‘serious’ surfers are out tackling the waves…the fans line up on the shorelines and cliffs to have a ringside seat for the action.
Stories of shark attacks and daring rescues are more commonplace than non-surfers realize. Some make the news, like the bravery shown by Bethany Hamilton, the youngster who lost her arm to a shark bite and was back on the waves in no time. Often tales of daring rescues and narrow escapes just become legends around the campfire, but nonetheless form the basis for friendships that last a lifetime. one thing is for sure, the wonders that take place on the waves never cease to amaze those who love to surf.