The chances of being bit by a shark are low, with the probability sitting at 1 in 3.7 million chances, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. A Stuart man has defeated the odds by being bit twice in a little over a decade.
When Cole Taschman was 16 years old , a 4- to 5-foot-long blacktip reef shark latched itself onto his right hand while he was surfing in waist-deep water at the “Stuart Rocks” break off Bathtub Beach.
Taschman used his surfboard to deliver blows to the shark’s head to prevent it from biting him a second time. Then he slipped off his T-shirt, wrapped it around his mangled hand and paddled his way to shore…