Fanning is still dealing with the emotional fallout from the terrifying encounter in which he punched the shark on live television and used his board as a shield before rescue crews pulled him to safety during a competition.
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Asked at media conference in Sydney if there was anything he would like to say to the shark, Mick Fanning replied: “Thanks for not eating me”.
“I was just sitting there and I felt something just get stuck in my leg rope, and I was kicking trying to get it away”, Fanning told Fox Sports.
“I got an email from a friend tonight who said he clearly saw a shark figure in a wave during the quarterfinals from a drone shot”, Slater wrote on an Instagram post accompanying a photo of he and Fanning hugging after the terrifying ordeal.
“I think the most shocking thing is, after you hear about the six attacks in North Carolina, ok these are just swimmers”.
He said when he was about to start to paddle, his instincts told him that something was coming at him from the back.
To reiterate: during the first shark attack ever recorded during a professional surf competition, Julian Wilson took off in the direction of the shark, so he could stab it with his surfboard. “I’m sure I’ll go back out”, said Fanning.
“I felt like i had my board still and if I could just get to him…”
The World Surf League promptly stopped the competition after the Australian surfer was attacked by the shark.
“We took so much from the ocean and I think that was they kind of letting us know that they’re there and how insignificant we are and how powerful they are”, said Wilson.
“I’m just lucky that it wasn’t my time”.
He added in an interview with redbull.com that: “Mentally I’m a bloody mess, but I’ll come good in time”. And like I said, I was just so panicked that I wasn’t getting there in time for him. I don’t know why it didn’t bite… At one point when Fanning disappeared from view, an anguished Wilson, who was picked up by a jet ski, thought his friend was gone. Fellow competitor Wilson was even struggling for composure as he recalled the nerve-wracking experience of seeing Fanning get knocked of his board. And I just started swimming.
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Wilson is being called a hero for paddling right into danger to try to save Fanning. I saw Mick on top of something and sort of scrambling.
