Man relives shark attack in Virginia Beach

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Recent shark bites in Virginia Beach and North Carolina are forcing a Chesapeake man to relive his encounter in local waters 14 years ago.

It was an afternoon that Caleb Kauchak will never forget.

“It was actually a beautiful day in September,” he said.

In 2010, Kauchak and his buddies were in Sandbridge almost every day – just a couple of 18-year-olds looking for some waves.

“It never occurred to me,” Kauchak said, “that there were sharks in the sea. … I knew they existed.”

They were about waist-deep in the water when the water suddenly became still and the current subsided.

“When it grabbed my ankle, I was basically watching my leg, like I lost control of it,” he said. “It’s like someone has it and it’s like it’s just tightening up more and more and there’s nothing you can do about it. Not at all.

Somehow he managed to get on his surfboard and ride a wave to shore. There was blood everywhere, and so were his thoughts.

“Are you going to make it? How bad is it? You’re going to lose your foot, you know, an arm, a leg. You don’t know,” he said.

Today, Kauchuck wears his scars like a trophy.

“Right now I still have tooth fragments in my ankle,” he said.

Sometimes a shard of glass shoots a sharp pain through his muscle, making him think back to that day, but he is not afraid of the water. Kauchak jumped again the same day the doctors removed 51 stitches.

“I feel like I’m more aware of everything that’s beneath me now,” he said, “and it’s a different feeling.”

According to experts, the probability of being attacked by a shark is 1 in 3.75 million. By comparison, the probability of being struck by lightning is much higher.

Although Kauchak always has another attack in the back of his mind, in his experience as a surfer and fisherman, it is usually the shark that gets hooked.

“Either you have a good day,” he said, “or you live the rest of your life in fear.”