A kite surfer up in Stuart Beach died yesterday after he was surrounded and bitten by sharks in a rare attack.
Stephen Howard Schafer, 38, was about a quarter mile offshore when he was attacked just after 4 p.m. yesterday, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Schafer was spotted by a lifeguard, floating about 500 yards from shore and clearly in distress. The guard paddled out to him on a rescue board, and found Schafer encircled by sharks in blood red water, screaming that he'd been bitten by the predators.
The lifeguard put Schafer on his board and paddled back to shore. Schafer had bite marks on his thigh and buttocks. He died a short time later at a nearby hospital.
"I just can't picture anyone, let alone a friend being circled by sharks here in Stuart, Florida," Teague Taylor, a longtime friend of Schafer's, told WPTV. "Doing something that he loves to do, doing something that he's done most of his life."
It's unknown what type of sharks attacked Schafer, but one researcher told the Post it's possible they were juvenile great whites.
It was the first Florida shark attack death since 2005, and the first ever shark attack fatality recorded in Martin County.
