Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Meilani Hamilton (born February 9, 1990) is an American surfer. She is known for surviving a shark

attack in which she lost her left arm, and for overcoming the serious and debilitating injury to return to surfing.

Contents Hamilton was born in North Shore, Kauai. Both of her parents were surfers who moved to Hawaii

from the continental United States for the surfing opportunities. Hamilton was taught how to surf by her

parents. Her surfing abilities progressed very quickly and, while still in school, she won first place in the

"push and ride" division of a Quicksilver surfing contest. She entered her first major surfing competition at the age

of 8, the "Rell Sunn" contest on the island of Oahu at Makaka beach, competing in the girls seven to

nine shortboard, and seven to nine longboard, taking first place in both.

Her senior career as a surfer started when she won the 1999 Haleiwa Menehune Championships 23rd annual contest.

In February, 2000, she placed 1st in the "11-under girls", 1st in the "15-under girls," and 2nd in the

"12-under girls" division at the Volcom Puffer Fish contest. She picked up a sponsor, Rip Curl, which aided

her with her plans of becoming a professional surfer. Hamilton is also a devout Christian who uses her shark

attack experience in her personal ministry. On October 31, 2003, Hamilton went for a morning surf along

Tunnels Beach, Kauai with friends Alana, Byron and Holt Blanchard. Around 7:10 a.m., she was lying sideways

on her surfboard with her left arm dangling in the water, when a 14 ft tiger shark attacked her, ripping her left arm

off just below the shoulder. If the shark had bitten 2 inches further in, the attack would have been fatal.

Bethany had lost 60% of her blood that morning. Her friends helped her paddle back to shore,

and fashioned a tourniquet out of a surfboard leash around what was left of her arm before rushing her to

Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Her dad was supposed to have a knee surgery that morning but she took

his place in the operating room. Despite the trauma of the incident, Hamilton was determined to return to

surfing. Just three weeks after the incident, she returned to her board and went surfing again. She adopted a

custom-made board that was longer and slightly thicker which

made it easier to paddle. She has observed that she has to kick a lot harder to make up for the loss of her left arm.

After teaching herself to surf with one arm, she has again begun surfing competitively.

In July of 2004 Hamilton won the ESPY Award for Best Comeback Athlete of the Year.She was presented

with a special courage award at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards. Hamilton still aspires to become a

professional surfer. Since the attack, Hamilton has appeared on 20/20, Good Morning America,

Inside Edition, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Tonight Show, as well as in

People, Time, and the Christian Music News Scoop. In 2004,

MTV Books published Hamilton's book, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back

on the Board (ISBN 0-7434-9922-0), which describes her ordeal.

The 2007 short subject documentary film, Heart of a Soul Surfer was directed by Becky Baumgartner and is

currently appearing in film festivals around the world. Described as a "faith-based documentary",

the film portrays the true, coming of age story of Bethany Hamilton. Addressing Hamilton's courage in the aftermath

of the loss of her arm in a tiger shark attack, the film follows Hamilton's quest for spiritual meaning and purpose.

Bethany is planning a duet with Disney star Miley Cyrus for the upcoming Hannah Montana: The Movie

Hamilton suffered a fall-out with Jive Records, putting her new album Armless on the back burner; however,

Bethany has been resigned to Geffen Records and the album is now underway again.

Bethany has a bachelors degree in jazz music and classical voice, which may hint as to what her music might

sound like One her songs, "Island Style" has been leaked to the internet.