“I got smoked in the ribs really hard, but then I turned around and I saw this face of a shark. … My leg was like a biscuit. I could hear bones shatter.”
Overview
Lucas Arsenault is a professional kiteboarder from Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), Canada. Recognized as a top-tier “shredder from Canada” on international livestreams, he has been a core member of the kiteboarding community. In 2024, he suffered a tragic shark attack that resulted in the amputation of his right leg. However, displaying astonishing resilience, he made a miraculous return to the water with a prosthetic leg just three months later, earning immense admiration from the global community.
Career
Influenced by his brother, Lucas started kiteboarding around 2010. His home spot is Squamish, Canada. He quickly rose to become one of the country’s top riders, winning the Canadian Freestyle Championships (KiteClash) multiple times.
Specializing in freestyle and wakestyle, his riding prioritizes power, style, and fluid grabs (tweaks) over simply maximizing rotations. His favorite tricks include the “Seatbelt back to blind” and the “KGB 5.” During the lockdown, despite the lack of park features in Squamish, he trained relentlessly on flat water to master top-tier GKA tricks such as “a nine” and “slim nines,” showing a strong drive to compete at the highest level of the world tour.
Sponsors & Affiliations
For many years, he has been an international team rider for Cabrinha and Dakine. Beyond his role as a pro rider, he has also served as a team manager for the brand, possessing deep knowledge of the industry and gear development.
Personality & Relationships
During the shark attack in 2024, his girlfriend, Jory MacIsaac, saved his life by quickly creating a makeshift tourniquet out of a shirt on the boat. Six months later, in November of the same year, Lucas returned to the Turks and Caicos with Jory and successfully proposed to her. In the wake of his accident, the global Cabrinha family and riders united, creating a charity beer named “Shark Eh” to help fund his medical recovery. His unwavering gratitude, humor, and refusal to be pessimistic continue to deeply inspire everyone around him.
Quotes & Anecdotes
On winning the Canadian Freestyle Championship:
“On a personal level (the Canadian Freestyle Championship title) was something I set my goal to try at some time.”
— Lucas Arsenault
On his home spot:
“Squamish is my home kite spot, but there’s no features there sadly.”
— Lucas Arsenault
On his drive to compete on the GKA Freestyle Tour:
“Yeah, I’d like to… so I ended up in Squamish for the whole season… I got like through a nine and I’m pretty close on slim nines and kind of the tricks that they’re like at the top level final tricks there.”
— Lucas Arsenault
The Shark Attack and a Miraculous Comeback
On May 23, 2024, while snorkeling with friends and family off the coast of the Turks and Caicos—a place where he used to teach kiteboarding—he was attacked by a 2-to-3-meter Tiger Shark. Although he managed to fight the shark off by poking its eyes and swimming to the boat, he sustained severe injuries that required the amputation of his right leg above the knee, alongside significant damage to his left hand and foot. Shifting his mindset to gratitude for being alive, he underwent grueling rehabilitation and, incredibly, returned to kiteboarding with a prosthetic leg just three months later in August 2024. At a subsequent comeback event, he delivered a powerful speech reflecting on survival, mindset, and what it truly means to keep moving forward when life changes instantly.
Competition Results
2016: Canadian Freestyle Championships (Kite Clash 2016) – 1st Place (A victorious comeback after a severe crash and concussion the previous year)
2017: Squamish Kite Clash 2017 (International Open) – 1st Place
2018: Kite Clash 2018 Open Freestyle – 2nd Place
2021: Kiteboard 4 Cancer – 2nd Place (Men’s division)
Search Aliases: Lucas Arsenault, LucasArsenault