Let me start off, I am a pom from the UK but have lived in WA since I was 8 years old. I have swam in the Ocean all my life and I avidly body-board whenever I can. I can swim fairly well and fairly beach savvy. Recently I decided to take up surfing as it looked like fun and shares a lot of the same wave catching techniques as body boarding (I'm probably wrong). I told the rest of my family that I wanted to start surfing by buying a cheap second hand board off Gumtree. My mother in particular is fully against me surfing. She won't let me get a surfboard for fear of me being attacked by sharks. Now that I've said my little bit, what could I do to sway her opinion. Surely surfers don't get attacked by sharks as often as she makes out. I've tried to tell her that I could just as easily attacked by sharks while body boarding in deep water the same as surfers. I'm at my wits end trying to tell her that. Is there anything I can do?