Cancelled in 1959 --- This was an annual event for my family and we were driving south a couple days before the race when we heard on the radio that a diver got eaten by a shark in La Jolla Cove and the race was cancelled! I had a real good chance of winning my division (12 & under) so was extremely bummed. (It wasn't a total loss because my brother and I shifted our focus around the point to bodysurfing at Boomer, a passion that lasted for decades---). But years later when I was a State lifeguard, I was swapping yarns with a co-worker (long time San Diego water guy) and he said he knew the divers involved. Told me the "widow" got $250K and married the dive buddy (the only witness). The insurance co tracked down the shark food years later in Mexico! I never really verified this, and yarns told in the jeep to pass the time often were spiced up a bit, but --------
Cancelled in 1959 --- This was an annual event for my family and we were driving south a couple days before the race when we heard on the radio that a diver got eaten by a shark in La Jolla Cove and the race was cancelled! I had a real good chance of winning my division (12 & under) so was extremely bummed. (It wasn't a total loss because my brother and I shifted our focus around the point to bodysurfing at Boomer, a passion that lasted for decades---). But years later when I was a State lifeguard, I was swapping yarns with a co-worker (long time San Diego water guy) and he said he knew the divers involved. Told me the "widow" got $250K and married the dive buddy (the only witness). The insurance co tracked down the shark food years later in Mexico! I never really verified this, and yarns told in the jeep to pass the time often were spiced up a bit, but --------
