If you thought gliding a foot above the water was enough to keep you safe from wayward sharks, think again. This week, a downwind foiler was mauled by a shark in the Canary Islands.
According to Spanish TV channel Antena 3, the incident took place on Sunday, off the coast near Los Molinos, a popular tourist destination on the western coast of the island of Fuerteventura. The man was downwind foiling two miles west of the island, when a shark first struck his board, then bit into his leg, above the knee.
He managed to retreat to shore, where he was treated by emergency services. No life-threatening injuries were recorded. According to Canarian Weekly, eyewitnesses described panic among beachgoers as they learned of the attack.
Though shark encounters in the Canaries are rare, this is not the first time an incident has occurred in recent memory. Last year, a 30-year-old German tourist died after losing a leg in a shark attack while sailing southwest of the island of Gran Canaria.
Local authorities have not yet confirmed whether the most recent incident will result in beach closures or surveillance.
