Shark Tale: Mobile Journalism at the Beach
Sizing up the bite Standing by my car, hair still wet from the surf, I witnessed a surreal sight Saturday morning: two dozen surfers hustling out of the water. I figured the State Parks truck driving on the beach had warned them of a shark sighting. But a couple of minutes later, a beachgoer at Morro Strand State Beach (“A-Beach” to surfers) said a surfboard had been bitten. And I knew then that I would have to pull a Saturday shift. Normally, I at least have a crumpled reporter’s pad on the floorboard of my car, next to melted surf wax, sweaty gym clothes and discarded straw wrappers. But not this time. So I took my iPhone and immediately started recording as I ran toward the crowd that had gathered near the State Parks truck. I first caught a glimpse of the board — and the huge chunk missing from it — I knew it was going to make international news. And, as luck (or unluck) would have it, I was the only reporter in sight. As I got in position to shoot video of the surfbo...