Shark assault sufferer in Northern California recognized as open water swimmer

PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. (AP) — A swimmer who went lacking after being attacked by a shark final week off the Northern California coast and whose physique was discovered days later was recognized as an open ocean swimmer from Pebble Beach.

Authorities recovered Erica Fox’s physique Saturday from the ocean south of Davenport Beach in Santa Cruz County, the sheriff’s workplace stated in a press release Monday.

Fox, 55, had been lacking since occurring a swim Dec. 21 in Monterey Bay together with her husband and different members of the Kelp Krawlers, an open-water swimming membership she co-founded.

“She didn’t want to live in fear,” her husband, Jean-Francois Vanreusel, instructed the Mercury News throughout a vigil Sunday, a day after her physique was discovered. “She lived her life fully.”

Vanreuse, who led the vigil to commemorate his spouse of 30 years, stated she was nonetheless carrying her white Garmin watch and a “shark band” was nonetheless connected to her ankle. The band is an electromagnetic gadget meant to keep at bay sharks. She was a triathlete who accomplished two Half Ironmans and quite a few different triathlons.

Vanreusel didn’t witness the assault on his spouse however two folks on shore did, the Mercury News reported. He instructed the newspaper she taught him tips on how to swim, and like her, he got here to like the ocean waters.

Experts say that shark assaults are exceedingly uncommon — rarer than being struck by lightning or mauled by a bear.

Fox’s loss of life marks the second shark assault fatality at Lovers Point in 73 years. The first claimed a 17-year-old boy who was swimming there on Dec. 7, 1952, the Mercury News reported.

Still, members of her swimming membership had been shaken by her loss of life because it was the second shark assault on a member of the group. In 2022, fellow membership member Steve Bruemmer was attacked by an amazing white shark and was severely injured.

After his assault, lots of the swimmers began carrying the identical form of electromagnetic “Sharkbanz” that Fox was carrying, regardless that most swimmers knew they might do little to discourage a high-speed assault from beneath, the newspaper reported.

Bruemmer, who pledged by no means to swim within the ocean once more, used strolling sticks to affix the vigil Sunday.

“I was also bitten by a shark,” Bruemmer instructed the group, “and I can tell you that it doesn’t hurt. I don’t understand why, but it’s not physically painful to be badly bitten. So I believe that in her final moments, Erica was not suffering in pain. And I hope that that can be of some comfort to people.”

He paused and steadied himself on his strolling sticks.

“There are also lessons, things we know that we’re reminded of in moments like this,” he stated, “and one is that tomorrow is not guaranteed.”