Emotional Mick Fanning says he dodged a “huge bullet” after fending off a shark attack at the World Surf League final in South Africa.
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The World Surf League cancelled the competition, the J-Bay Open, in Jeffreys Bay after the attack, New York Times reports. Live television cameras showed the Australian surfer lying on his surfboard, waiting for his next wave, when a great white shark approached him.
In the incredible footage broadcast on live TV, Fanning can be seen fighting to stay on his board as at least one of the sharks thrashes violently in the water.
“I was swimming in and I had this thought “what if comes for another go at me”, so I turned around, so I could at least see it, and before I knew it the boat was there, the jetskis were there”.
Describing his shark encounter, Fanning said: “I felt something grab, get stuck in my leg rope and instantly jump away. It tried to position myself away from it, to the side of it. It was right there and that is when I punched…”
“I was just about to get moving and start paddling again, and all of a sudden I had this instinct that something was behind me”, Fanning told the outlet.
“It’s just something you’ve got to deal with on the water, but I don’t want it to happen again”.
“It’s a place I used to go as a kid on summer vacations”, she told U.S. TODAY.
Wilson was paddling toward Fanning and later said that he believed if he could get there with his board, he’d at least have a weapon to distract the shark, which he estimated was at least twice the size of his mate and childhood hero.
“I’m just lucky that it wasn’t my time”.
His mum revealed on Monday she had been watching the drama unfold at home on television, terrified her son was going to die.
“He just gave all regard up for himself, and came for me”, Fanning said. The two were picked up by safety teams. “I don’t know how many people would have taken that thing on”.
Other shark attack survivors say he has a tough battle ahead when it comes to getting back in the surf. “I just just can not think it”, Fanning claimed. WSL finals feature head-to-head matchups, and Fanning was competing against fellow countryman Julian Wilson, one of the tour’s up-and-coming young stars.
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“I’m so thankful that Jules was there, I’m so thankful that the water patrol was there to get me to safety”.
