Three-time world champion Mick Fanning says he will return to the water despite being attacked by a great white shark in South Africa.
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Mick Fanning says his close encounter with a shark in South Africa won’t keep him out of the water. “And then all of a sudden I just jumped on my board and I was, OK, something’s going on”.
A still-shaken Mick Fanning will never again hit the surf on July 19, his terrifying attack by a shark at Jeffreys Bay forever staining the date in his memory.
The surfer who survived a shark attack during a contest in South Africa has arrived back in Australia to recall the incredible moments when he miraculously escaped death.
“I didn’t think the shark was that big when I first saw it… then I went back [to the footage] and looked… yeah, it was pretty big”. “Seriously, to walk away from that, I’m just so stoked”, he said.
“I just sort of went into a final fight, really”.
“I was on top of it, trying to put my board in between us”, Fanning said.
He is even prepared to get back in the waves at Jeffreys Bay, replying “for sure” when asked if he would compete there again next year. “If a three-time world champion surfer isn’t safe, who is?”
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.
Surfing legend Kelly Slater, a friend of Fanning’s, said, “I’m halfway between crying and laughing because he [Fanning] got so lucky…”
“I felt so insignificant, the thing was so powerful and just moved so fast”.
He added in an interview with redbull.com that: “Mentally I’m a bloody mess, but I’ll come good in time”.
The Australian was able to swim away on his own and was picked up by the water safety team. It kept coming at my board and I was kicking and screaming.
Julian Wilson was watching a nightmare unfold in slow motion and could do nothing to stop it happening. In the footage, the fin of the shark was clearly seen as it was approaching him from behind.
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This morning, the gang over at “Fox and Friends” spent a minute chatting about the video, as well as the recent spate of shark attacks on swimmers at beaches in North Carolina. “I felt like I had to hold it together for Mick”.
