A Tennessee teen practicing his surfing technique got upstaged by a shark last week, when the rambunctious predator burst from the ocean a few feet away and began a series of Olympic-style spins.
It happened Friday off North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, according to the teen’s mother, Kaci Allen. She identified the surfer as her 15-year-old son, Ethan, whom she calls “E.”
Her video shows Ethan’s surf board crossed over the shark a split second before it jumped from the water. I didn’t even realize we’d captured the shark jumping up right after he pulled his feet up on the board!
I didn’t see this one until he was scrolling through videos! ... Seriously though, (as) soon as E pulled his feet up! ... We’ve seen sharks in the water before, but never captured video of one; they’re fast!”
The family lives near Nashville, Tennessee, but Kaci Allen is a Myrtle Beach native, according to her Facebook page.
It’s believed the shark was a young spinner shark, a species common off South Carolina that grows to about 6 feet and 120 pounds, according to Sciencing.com. Spinner sharks are not considered a threat to humans, the site says.
“This shark hunts by rapidly swimming upward into a school of fish while spinning and biting in all directions,” Sciencing.com reports. “It often breaches the water surface and spins through the air, which is how it gets its name.”
