CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) —Recent shark bites in Virginia Beach and North Carolina are forcing one Chesapeake man to relive his encounter in local waters 14 years ago.
It was an afternoon Caleb Kauchak will never forget.
“It was actually nice day in September,” he said.
Back in 2010 Kauchak and his buddies were in Sandbridge almost everyday — just a few 18-year-olds looking to catch some waves.
“It never had crossed my mind” about sharks being in the ocean, Kauchak said. “… I knew that they were there.”
They had gone in about waist deep when suddenly the water became still and the current went cold.
“When it grabbed my ankle, I had basically watched my leg, like I lost control of it,” he said. “It’s just like somebody has it and it’s just like it’s tightening and tightening and tightening and there’s nothing you can do about it. Not at all.
Somehow, he got on his surfboard and rode a wave to shore. Blood was everywhere and so were his thoughts.
“Are you going to make it? How bad is it? You’re going to lose your foot, you know, lose an arm, leg. You don’t know,” he said.
Today, Kauchuck wears his scars like a trophy.
“As of right now I still have teeth fragments in my ankle,” he said.
Sometimes a shard will shoot sharp pain through his muscle, sending his mind back to that day, but he is not afraid of the water. Kauchak jumped right back in the very day doctors removed 51 stitches.
“I feel like now I’m more aware of everything that’s underneath me,” he said, “and it’s a different kind of sense.”
Experts say your chances of being attacked by a shark are one in 3.75 million. To put that in perspective, you’re way more likely to be struck by lightning.
While another attack will always be in the back of Kauchak’s mind, in his experience as a surfer and fisherman, it’s usually the shark on the hook.
“You’re either going to go have a good day,” he said, “or you’re going to live in fear for the rest of your life.”
