Bethany Hamilton is one of the best surfers in the world.

She started competing when she was four-years-old and was sponsored at nine. At 13, Bethany lost her left arm in a shark attack.

Incredibly, she was paddling back out one month later, and by 18, she’d turned pro.

In Australia to promote her documentary Surfs Like A Girl, Bethany joined us in the Hack studio to tell her incredible story.

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Whatsapp Bethany Hamilton and Tom Tilley in the Hack studio.

When I was a kid, everyone in my family surfed, and we spent all of my childhood growing up at the beach. Surfing naturally became a huge passion of mine; it’s where I wanted to be every single day.

Once my real deep passion to compete started to flow, all I wanted to do was compete - and win. I’d been doing all the top ranked amateur surfing comps in Hawaii and the US, and I remember the summer of 2003 and I went to the nationals in the US and finished second in the 18 and under division, at 13 years old. It was clear that my future was looking real bright.

[In Hawaii] there’s not a whole lot of attacks, they happen, they’re a part of life. As surfers, we’re entering the ocean and it’s their home environment. It’s not like they’re out to get us, they’re just hungry.

When I was attacked by a shark

I remember clearly when I realised my arm was gone, at that point it was just about surviving. It’s so unthinkable that I was able to get through that day and continue life in a rather positive future and looking forward to my life ahead. Thankfully I had an amazing family and community supporting me, and even willing to cheer me on to try surfing with one arm.

For me, it just felt like my world had been turned upside down and my future felt uncertain. I was able to talk to a shark attack survivor named Mike Coots, who’s still a good friend today, and he was still able to surf with one leg after losing his leg [in a shark attack].

I was like - lightbulb! I’m going to go surfing with one arm.

My first time surfing again, I was actually at the beach watching all my friends surf, and it was teasing me, so I called my family up and asked them to bring down a board for me to go out. It was a really special moment having all my friends there and my entire family there to cheer me on.

I also wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do it, but I guess being young and resilient and willing to try kind of gave me the guts to get out there and do it.

I just surfed the inside, I had to figure out how to surf with one arm.

I went out on a longboard and caught some whitewash, the first few times I struggled to get up, I couldn’t do it. And then my dad reminded me - ‘hey, now you’ve got one arm you’ve got to do things a little differently.’ So the third wave I put my hand in the centre of the board and popped right up and rode the wave all the way to the beach.

And from there, there was no turning back.

Looking back on my career

Around 17 or 18 I turned pro and just started competing a lot internationally. I look back on my career and feel really blessed and really proud of my successes.

For me, once I’m up on my board surfing, it’s fine. It’s all the stuff in between that is the challenge.

I’ve always been passionate about surfing the scarier and bigger waves. I think having two older brothers and living in Hawaii and kind of being a go getter, I just naturally gravitated towards them.

Shark nets could be part of the solution

We don’t want to see anyone get hurt, but we also can’t just kill sharks and hope that nets are going to solve the problem, because ultimately there’s bigger issues at hand.

There needs to be more than just shark nets to address the situation. Sharks are getting more and more aggressive for a reason - because they’re hungry, and because the fishing industry is not being sustainable. That’s where I bring it to. Shark nets could be part of the solution, and it’ll be interesting to see if it does work.

Listen to Bethany's story on Hack below.

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