No matter what the surf report says on any given day, the ocean is unpredictable.

Even at a familiar break, terror can strike out of the blue, as happened Easter Sunday when Mike Morita was bitten by an 8- t0 10-foot tiger shark in clear waters at Kewalo Basin, where he’d surfed for 40 years.

He lost his right foot, but thanks to surfers and first responders who rushed to his aid, he survived.

Shark attacks are rare: there have been only 157 shark incidents in Hawaii since 1995, ranging from fatalities to close calls without injuries sustained, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources shark incident chart.

Until Easter, the only other shark attack at Kewalos occurred when a shark bit a surfer on Aug. 28, 2002.

DAR’s chart shows no shark incidents at all from Ala Moana Beach Park, just east of Kewalos, to Waikiki and Diamond Head. That may be because Ocean Safety lifeguards post warning signs when sharks are sighted, and because the chart leaves out two witnessed encounters: a surfer knocked from his board by a large shark off Diamond Head in 2019, and a swimmer bitten by a small shark in 2015.

My regular surf spot at Diamond Head has no lifeguard tower and lies only four miles from Kewalos, so I’ve resolved to stop surfing alone, although odds are, I’m far more likely to be attacked by another surfer.

Just last week, a video went viral showing a man dropping in on Sara Taylor, nearly hitting her as she rode a wave in Bali April 6. She pushed him away and coolly completed her ride, but as she paddled back out, his friend punched her in the back of the head. Both men later accosted her and her male friend on the beach.

The behavior has been condemned by leaders in the surfing world, and the assailant’s sponsor has canceled his contract, according to The Daily Mail Australia, which quoted him as saying he mistook Taylor’s gender because she wore a t-shirt and shorts and “surfed like a man.”

As if it’s OK to hit anyone.

Jodie Cooper, a top pro surfer, has been attacked while surfing by both species: she was slapped off her board at Pipeline by a male surfer in 1993, and badly bitten on her hand by a shark in Australia in 2007. She told the Sydney Morning Herald she’d keep surfing, although she feared she’d probably encounter a shark again — but her next attacker turned out to be a man on an inflatable mat who dropped in on her and repeatedly held her underwater.

Cooper took him to court, and won.

I’ve never been punched or slapped, but I’ve been frightened by male surfers who have intentionally come close to striking me with their boards and yelled in my face, telling me I don’t belong at my local break where I’ve surfed for 50 years.

Dozens of other female surfers have told me they regularly encounter dismissive, insulting and threatening behavior from males.

So it was vindicating to salute the female big-wave warriors gathered at the Royal Hawaiian hotel March 26 to celebrate the third annual Red Bull Magnitude Big Wave Awards; the all-female event is held and filmed over a three-month period at Maui’s Pe‘ahi (Jaws), Oahu’s North Shore outer reefs, and Waimea Bay.

These women, who represent the apex of surfing skill, strength, experience and courage, let down their hair and had a lot of fun, easily balancing on 9-inch heels with the poise they show on waves with 30-foot faces.

The ceremony opened with talks by trailblazers Patti Paniccia, who in 1975 co-founded the Hawaii Women’s Surfing Hui, and Rochelle Ballard, aka “Barrels Ballard,” famed for her early, phenomenal Pipeline rides alongside Kauai’s Keala Kennelly, a multiple winner on the WSL championship and big-wave tours.

“The (male-centric) history we’ve been told, I feel like I’ve kinda been lied to,” said Maui’s Paige Alms, who won the overall performance award. A stunner in a crystal-studded, black mini-dress and protea haka head lei, Alms gave a shout-out to Jaws pioneer Andrea Moller, who served as a judge with Ballard, Megan Abubo, Kai Lenny and Ian Walsh.

Maui’s Skylar Lickle, whom the older women affectionately referred to as “the grom,” placed second overall, followed by Felicity Palmateer, Bianca Valenti and Katie McConnell.

Lickle, last year’s Magnitude champ, also won best paddle-in ride; Izzi Gomez won best tow-in: Anne Dos Santos won people’s choice; and Palmateer, an Australian who lived off canned tuna and rice in her three-month Hawaii stay, was named breakthrough performer.

Each winner also received artwork of women riding waves, designed on homegrown kapa by Page Chang before they were joined onstage by generations of heroines. They included 1959 Waimea charger Becky Benson, two-time’ 70s world champ Lynne Boyer, “Banzai” Betty Depolito, Jeannie Chesser of Bowls and North Shore fame, Carol Philips, Laura Enever, Siri Masterson, Kaya Waldman, and five of the first six women to have competed in the Eddie Aikau Big-Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay: Alms, Moller, Kennelly, Makani Adric and Emily Erickson.

“My mom always told me, from a very young age, I could accomplish anything I put my mind to,” Alms said, adding she looked forward to seeing “the level of the sport really pushed 500 percent” as women continue “trying to do really technical, performance surfing on big waves.”

I’ll remember this powerful sisterhood next time a guy tries to give me grief.