Three-time world champion surfer Mick Fanning arrived home to Tweed Heads last night to spend time with family and friends after his miraculous escape from a large shark during a world surfing event in South Africa at the weekend.
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“It was so close”. He said, “Yeah, I’m doing OK”.
“In that little room a few of my closest friends from the Connecticut came in and I completely lost it”, he said. That’s just over one attack per year, on average, in a country with thousands of surfers and more than 1,700 miles of coastline.
Fanning was competing against fellow Aussie Julian Wilson in the final of the JBay Open, the World Surf League event at Jeffreys Bay on South Africa’s east coast, when he was bumped off his board by a shark.
Television footage of the incident shows the fin of the shark come up from behind Fanning as he waits his turn to surf.
Fanning, 34, was hailed for managing to fight off the circling predator with his fists before returning safely to shore, becoming an overnight global celebrity after video of the incident went viral around the world.
“At that stage I was just screaming and telling Jules to ‘get in, ‘” Fanning told a press conference in Sydney, Australia.
Mick Fanning (pictured surfing in Australia in April 2015) said he felt the great white shark tangle with his leash before the fin surfaced.
Burgess said shark attacks are rare and he’s seen the number of sharks in the ocean decline because of fishing.
“I’m not the hero here, Mick is, he’s the one that punched the shark – seeing his fight is what gave me courage to paddle towards and hopefully help him out”, Wilson said. I’m just totally tripping out.
“I’ve got to go back, it’ll be hard but I’ll deal with it when it happens”. I don’t know why it didn’t bite.
“I knew there was only one possible reason that would ever happen in a contest, and that’s if someone got attacked by a shark”, Slater said.
The surfer then walked to a nearby auto while flanked by two police officer, and got in the vehicle. You do the math and tell me why anyone would want that on the mouth of their bottle.
“I started getting dragged under water by my leg rope”.
Wilson has been nominated for a bravery award by the Queensland state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Before the rescue boat reached Fanning, the Australian surfer quickly tried to bodysurf a wave that minimized splashing.
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All the elements organically came together for the flawless media story – a live broadcast of the attack, heroic actions of both Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson, emotional video interviews immediately afterward, and best of all, a happy ending. “He was so courageous… like a warrior”.
