Water safety guru Drake Stanley is on it. He was up in Lincoln City, Oregon recently for the Nelscott Reef event. And he’s a regular at Maverick’s, both surfing and riding the jet ski. Well, this weekend was one for the books. After surfing earlier in the day, Stanly jumped on the ski to run safety for the crew that was in the water taking advantage of a late-season PAC NW swell. That’s when he says he spotted a huge great white.
“It looked like a whale,” Stanley told local media after the fish swam right under his ski. “I could have reached out and touched it.”
Estimating the animal to be between 15-20 feet, Stanley really got worried when the great white took interest in a surfer paddling in. That’s when he put his safety skills to work like he never has, steering the ski between the shark and the unsuspecting surfer. He then noticed the animal working it’s way out to the lineup so he warned all the surfers out there and towed as many as he could back to safety.
“I had like 8 people (on),” Stanley said. “I basically evacuated Mavericks! The shark was definitely inspecting us… I’m not sure if it was going to attack that guy.. but this was definitely the scariest encounter I’ve ever had in the ocean.”
