It Gets Better: A Story of Resilience and Moving Forward
On Thursday, May 13, the South Florida watersports community gathered at Coconut Grove Sailing Club for an unforgettable evening with professional kiteboarder Lucas Arsenault, hosted by Adventure Sports USA and Cabrinha.
For over a decade Lucas worked for adventure sports, he was previously our Cabrinnha and Dakine team manager and has also been and remains a Cabrinha team rider. Now after years of involvement and collaboration despite a crazy shark attack that took his leg Lucas shares his story.
What started as a dinner and a talk unfolded into the kind of night that makes you pause and reflect on your own life long after you get home. Riders, families, friends, and strangers gathered as Lucas delivered a powerful reflection on survival, mindset, and what it truly means to keep moving forward when life changes instantly.
Lucas began by sharing the story of his rise through professional kiteboarding. Years of dedication, empty beaches, relentless training, and an obsession with progression eventually led him to magazine covers, traveling the world, and riding alongside the same athletes he once looked up to. By 27, he was living the life he had always dreamed about.
.
Then, in 2024, during a snorkeling trip in Turks and Caicos with close friends and family, everything changed.
Lucas was attacked by a tiger shark.
Hearing him describe the experience in person left the entire room silent. The shark grabbed onto his leg, and after a violent struggle in the water, Lucas managed to fight back and survive, but not without help from his loved ones and a mindset that ultimately determined life or death.
Throughout the evening, Lucas spoke about the lessons he learned both before and after the attack. He reflected on the discipline it took to reach the professional level, the importance of showing up even when nobody is watching, and how perspective can completely shape the outcome of difficult moments.
One of the most moving parts of the night was hearing how people immediately rallied together after the attack. Friends, family, and the global Cabrinha community stepped in to support Lucas during the hardest period of his recovery. A GoFundMe was launched to help cover medical costs, recovery, and prosthetics.
In a uniquely fitting tribute to Lucas’s personality and resilience, his community even launched a beer called “Shark Eh” to help raise funds for his recovery. It became a symbol of the humor, strength, and support system that helped carry him through an unimaginable chapter of life.
More than anything, Lucas’s story was about resilience.
Not resilience in a motivational-post kind of way, but real resilience. The kind built through hardship, uncertainty, fear, and recovery. His story was a reminder that adversity does not always arrive gradually. Sometimes life changes instantly, and how you respond in those moments matters deeply.
What made the night so impactful was how relatable the message became for everyone in the room. Lucas spoke about pressure, setbacks, fear, purpose, and growth in a way that applied far beyond sports.
As the evening came to a close, people stayed long after the talk ended, continuing conversations around the club and reflecting on the story they had just heard. It was one of those rare nights where you leave feeling genuinely changed by someone else’s perspective.
A huge thank you to Lucas for sharing such an honest and powerful story with our community, and thank you to everyone who came out to be part of an evening none of us will forget.
