Survivor recalls terrifying moment her friend was killed by a shark after boat capsized
A routine day on the water in 1981 turned into a fight for survival when four friends were stranded miles off the Florida coast
What started as a carefree afternoon on a sailboat ended in a nightmare. Four friends were thrown into shark-infested waters — and only three made it back alive.
On a hot August day in 1981, 21-year-old Tamara Ennis joined her friends Randy Cohen, Christy Wapniarski, and Daniel Perrin for a quick sail off Ormond Beach, Florida. The four were only a few miles from shore when dark clouds rolled in, lightning flashed across the sky, and their 17-foot catamaran began to take on water.
Moments later, the boat flipped. None of them were wearing life jackets. Clinging to a pontoon in silence, they realized no one had seen them go down.
“When the Coast Guard flew right over us and didn’t spot us, the reality hit us,” Tamara later said. “Christy was very quiet… I had a sense that she knew she was going to die.”
A fatal decision to swim
By dawn, no rescue had come. Tamara — a strong swimmer — urged the others to try for shore. She reassured 19-year-old Christy, who couldn’t swim, that the salt water would help her float.
But only an hour into the swim, Christy’s cries pierced the water.
At first, Tamara thought she was drowning. Then she saw the unmistakable sight: a shark striking from below.
“She went straight up, just like in the Jaws movie,” Tamara said. “Then straight back into the water. That’s when I knew.”
Christy screamed to her boyfriend Randy: “I’ve been bitten! I think I’m going to die!” Seconds later, she disappeared beneath the waves. Her body was never found.
Alone in shark territory
For Tamara, survival became a battle of will. A shark brushed against her, but she refused to give in to panic. “That’s not how I want to go,” she told herself.
Separated from the others by a rip tide, she swam on her own for five exhausting hours. “I kept telling myself, just another five minutes, another hour. Keep going.”
Finally, a lifeguard spotted her just 100 yards from shore. She had swum nearly nine miles.
Daniel was later found walking along the beach. Randy was rescued and airlifted to a hospital. Both survived. Christy was gone.
Though Tamara returned to working on boats, she admitted she could never again swim in dark water.
“Surviving that gave me a whole new outlook on life,” she said. “Dying wasn’t an option.”
