2012.10.10
Todd’s dolphins
Those used to challenging the sea know they must fear and respect it, they know that at difficult moments they will have to fend for themselves. At times help comes from the sea itself, in this exceptional case, in the shape of a dolphin.
Todd Endriss will always remember that – precisely thanks to dolphins – he managed to survive a terrifying close encounter with a white shark in the waters of Monterey Bay, one of the locations best loved by Californian surfers.
It is 10.45, the sun is shining and the waves are calling, but a moment is all it takes to turn the perfect day into tragedy. Todd falls into the water and every surfer’s nightmare comes true when he is attacked by a white shark, almost five metres long. Its teeth are a red hot blade that slashes his flesh just a few centimetres from his lungs, barely missing his spine.
Todd is a man of the sea however, and somehow finds a way to get out from between the fatal jaws. He strongly hits the shark out of desperation and for an instant breaks free. Meanwhile, his friends on the shore realise what’s happening and immediately dive into the waves to save him, but the water around Todd is already calling to the white giant, once again ready to attack him. The pain is unbearable, Todd looks lost, his head appearing and disappearing in the water while his friends fight the current to reach him.
It looks like it’s all over, but this is when Todd’s other friends come to the rescue. The dolphins arrive, circle him and start to swim round and round, creating a barrier that defends him from the return of the shark. The dolphins stay, not leaving him until Joe, Wes and Samson, Todd’s surfer friends, show up and finally manage to rescue him and take him to safety.
Todd is left with no permanent damage, but a highly visible scar and the memory of the bite mean he will never forget this tragic experience and the eternal gratitude he owes to his allies in the sea.