The final round of the competition, the sixth stop on the Samsung Galaxy World Surf League Championship Tour, had just begun when Fanning was knocked off of his board and landed in open water. Live television cameras showed the Australian surfer lying on his surfboard, waiting for his next wave, when a great white shark approached him.
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“It went for the tail of my board, I don’t know why…it just kept coming back”.
Play video “Surfer: Shark “Dragged Me Down”.
Julian Wilson, the surfer who swam towards Mick Fanning as he was being attacked by a shark, says when he first realised what was happening he froze.
“I think the most shocking thing is, after you hear about the six attacks in North Carolina, ok these are just swimmers”.
Three-time World Champion Fanning was bumped off his board and forced to fight the shark off during the attack.
“This man came to my aid like a warrior!!”, Fanning said of Wilson in an Instagram post before arriving back in Australia.
Fanning admitted Tuesday he was now dealing with “an emotional mental sort of trauma” that would probably take weeks, if not months, to get over.
“Jbay is an incredible place and I will go back one day”.
Despite being a three-time surfing world champion, Australian Mick Fanning isn’t a household name outside of the surfing community. He commended everyone involved in the rescue, including Wilson, who was “sprint paddling to get to his friend”.
“I just froze and saw Mick getting manhandled by the shark”, remembered Wilson. I’m just totally tripping out.
His mother Nola, also watching on television, told reporters: “I don’t know if he’s mad or a hero”.
He said after he saw the fins, he waited for the teeth of the shark to appear.
“I’m just lucky that it wasn’t my time”.
Fanning added: “He just gave all regard up for himself, and came for me”. At one point when Fanning disappeared from view, an anguished Wilson, who was picked up by a jet ski, thought his friend was gone.
Fanning lost his brother in a car crash nearly 17 years ago and his mother said it brought back the memories.
“Mick was looking at me”.
The incident, which was broadcast on live TV, led to the cancellation of the final against compatriot Julian Wilson.
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“I was ready, I was calm”, he said, but the last thing on his mind was a shark.
