Bethany Hamilton is a young competitive surfer who is sponsored by RipCurl. She was born February 8^th, 1990 in Hawaii. She’s been surfing since the age of four with her whole family right beside her encouraging her all the way. She has two older brothers, one that body surfs and one that’s a long boarder, and two surfer parents. Her parents strongly believe in her and always push her to keep going. Surfing is definitely in her blood. The family is very religious and has Bethany at church and youth group all the time growing and growing in her beliefs. At the age of thirteen on Halloween morning her terrible accident occurred with a fifteen foot tiger shark biting her left arm clear off. After she lost her arm she became even stronger in her faith in God and also had many of her church friends and youth group to help her through the struggle. She is now famous and has plenty of interviews when she’s not out in the water or being homeschooled by her mother. Also, she is back in the water and continues her dream and passion for the sport. For a girl who was so close to death, Bethany is definitely a strong and bright young surfer.

Created by Lexi Opatrny. November 7, 2007