Fanning’s mother, Elizabeth Osborne, watched the incident live on television in Australia.
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A Gold Coast paddle ski instructor’s board was attacked by a shark while he was teaching a group of 30 students this morning.
Champion surfer, Mick Fanning, had to face a very different challenge in the waves at the J-Bay Open in South Africa last July 19, when a shark attempted to attack him.
“He disappeared and he was under water for a while”, Mel said. Luckily, the Water Safety Team quickly pulled Fanning and fellow competitor Julian Wilson back to safety.
“I felt something grab, get stuck in my leg rope and instantly jump away”. Like, what? The shark’s gonna be like “OH, that guy has a board and a different kind of outfit – I’d better leave him alone”? “I just just can not think it”, Fanning claimed. “It tried to position myself away from it, to the side of it. It was right there and that is when I punched…”
“They (the commentators) were talking about him going back into the competition”.
The board is trying to develop an undersea cable that emits a low electronic frequency pulse to ward off sharks.
Mike Hoile, 51, has told of the fear that stalked him after he was knocked off his board by a great white shark at Lennox Head earlier this month.
It is an attempt to keep the coverage in perspective, but when a shark and a surfer come together on live television it’s hard to put a lid on the interest and excitement.
“Being able to have a solution that not just works here (in South Africa) but everywhere would be pretty incredible”, he said.
Also, kudos to this surfer.
Surfing fans watched in horror as professional wave rider Mick Fanning was attacked during the J-Bay Open in South Africa over the weekend.
Looking back at the footage afterwards, he said he was shocked to see how big the shark was.
“Surfing has given me so much, you know, it’s something I do to clear my mind, it’s something that gives me peace”, Fanning said.
“It was absolutely terrifying”.
“I just sort of went into a final fight, really”.
Despite being a three-time surfing world champion, Australian Mick Fanning isn’t a household name outside of the surfing community. The two will share second place.
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In the statement of the league, saying “We are incredibly grateful that no one was seriously injured today,”.
