This is the terrifying moment two paddleboarders were circled by a hammerhead shark off the coast of Florida.
Fort Lauderdale’s Malea Tribble and her paddle boarding partner Gabe Barajas found themselves in a scary situation while completing the Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis event, in which participants paddleboard 80 miles from the Bahamas to Florida for money to collect.
As Tribble and Barajas paddled in the sea with no land in sight, Tribble felt a few bumps in the bottom of her board but was unaware that a curious hammerhead shark was swimming directly beneath her as she was in the middle of the gulf.
Her husband Ricky, who was on the escort boat, spotted the animal’s high dorsal fin as it reared up behind Tribble’s board and directed his wife to paddle towards him.
“Malea, step aside,” Ricky can be heard saying in a video posted to the Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis Instagram page. ‘Keep coming back.’
Someone else on the boat informs the paddleboarder that the shark is “continuing to follow you.”
Fort Lauderdale’s Malea Tribble and her paddle boarding partner Gabe Barajas found themselves in a scary situation while completing the Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis event, in which participants paddleboard 80 miles from the Bahamas to Florida for money to collect
A hammerhead pointed its fin at Tribble’s board as it followed her through the ocean
“Is it a big one?” she asks.
“It’s hard to say,” someone replied.
Tribble pulls her board close to the boat and sits down while they yell at Barajas to stay on his boat a few yards from the boat.
“Here’s the hammerhead,” Ricky tells Barajas, while his wife makes an artificial fin on her head to indicate what was going on.
After that, the two stayed close to the boat as they continued their journey back to Florida.
Reflecting on the moment, Tribble said she’s never “felt unsafe.”
“We felt calm. “I didn’t have time to worry,” she told organizers. “Even an encounter as unique as mine would not deter me from attending The Crossing again. Our ‘why’ for this event is the foundation itself.”
Neither was injured and Tribble said that “no one felt unsafe” during the incident
The couple stayed close to the boat after the shark sighting
Crossing event founder Travis Suit said he was “grateful that Malea wasn’t injured and so proud of the Tribbles’ calm and disciplined response to this situation.”
The crossing event starts at midnight and helps raise money for the Piper’s Angels Foundation to help patients and families with cystic fibrosis.
Each paddler must raise at least $2,000. Barajas announced on his Instagram that he and Tribble had raised $10,000.
Tribble has participated in the event three times, twice as a paddler.
According to the Shark Attack File, there have only been 16 recorded incidents between humans and hammerhead sharks since 1990, and no fatalities have been recorded.
Tribble has competed in the 80-mile trip three times, twice as a paddler
According to Floridapanhandle.com, there have only been about 1,200 shark attacks worldwide over the past 50 years, with a 14 percent fatality rate.
Sharks often attack unprovoked in the afternoon and July 2022 saw the highest number of attacks at 17. Many of the deadly attacks occurred in Florida, Hawaii, California, and South Carolina in the United States. The United States recorded the most attacks, with over 700 of the 1,200 attacks.
According to Floridapanhandle.com, Australia ranks second with just over 250 attacks over the past 50 years.
Of the 1,200 attacks, only 180 great whites were affected.