Mike Spalding (original) (raw)

Mike Spalding (born 1947) is a marathon swimmer, and one of only two people to have swum all nine channels of the main Hawaiian Islands. He lives on Maui. On March 16, 2009 Spalding became one of the few humans to be attacked by the deep water cookiecutter shark. He was bitten by one of the sharks while swimming between the islands of Hawai'i and Maui in what is referred to as the Alenuihaha Channel. The attack occurred at 8:15 pm 10 miles off Upolu point. The cookie cutter shark was attracted to squid that were in turn drawn to the light on the escort boat. Just before the attack the swimmer felt squid bumping into him while swimming. The cookie cutter shark first attached itself to the upper torso but did not bite as it was scared away by the swimming motion. On exiting the water into th