ANNA MARIA – Erika Lane was bitten by a shark on Dec. 22 while wing-foiling in the waters near the Anna Maria City Pier.
On Dec. 30, Lane shared a video recap of the incident on her YouTube channel. The 54-second video includes still photos of the bite wounds she received, the bite marks in her wet suit and the bite marks on the mast that connects to the submerged hydrofoil. Her injuries were not life-threatening.
In her YouTube video, Lane says, “I am thankfully OK. I was attacked by a shark. I was out wing-foiling and I was heading back towards shore. I felt large creatures swimming beneath me. I could feel the turbulence of them swimming underneath the foil and then something grabbed me and pulled the foil and board out from under me. As soon as I hit the water, I was bitten. It was more scary than painful. And then, I saw the flash of a shark’s face and jaws go right towards my face, right past me, and I jumped on top of my wing. It was my instinct and the beautiful, red wing kept me afloat above the water and out of the frenzy.”
Lane commented in her YouTube post: “I jumped on my floating wing and out of the chaos. I am thankful for that wing. I realized I had to get myself back to shore. I had to get back in the water to get on my board and pump back on foil. I was so scared,” she wrote.
“I got going again and went straight to shore. I looked down and saw blood running down my leg through my wetsuit and teeth marks puncturing my wetsuit. I realized I was actually bitten by a shark. I was very lucky. I know it was a case of mistaken identity. The water was cloudy and my foil probably looked like a fish and I just got in way of the confusion. If the shark wanted to eat me it would have. I am back in the water again foiling and enjoying the ocean. I won’t let this rare incident stop me from doing what I love,” Lane wrote.
