Pro-Surfer Fights Off Shark During Competition, Escapes Unharmed

THE shark attack on former Le-Ba surfer turned world champion Mick Fanning has sent ripples of shock through the Northern Rivers surfing community. It could be that it was coming up to try and see what was going on and became entangled in the leg rope. He is next seen furiously trying to swim to safety before a rescuer pulls him out of the water. I’m just totally tripping out.

“Now I’ve seen it all”, Slater said following the attack. “But it looks to me that this was an investigation by the shark rather than an attack”.

Fanning is expected to front media in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon before flying home to Queensland.

Robin Moulang, the operator of a drone camera who covered the surfing event, described how he watched in horror as Mr Fanning, a close personal friend, was attacked.

‘I was so scared, ‘ a tearful Ms Osborne told ABC radio on Monday. If a shark ate a guy did they just DQ him and move everybody behind him in the standings up one spot?

Elsewhere, fellow pro surfers from around the globe were expressing their relief that Fanning had escaped unharmed.

Osborne said she believes Fanning’s brother Sean, who died in a vehicle accident 17 years ago, was watching over his sibling.

The three-time world champion, a finalist in the J-Bay Open, was knocked off his board into the sea by a shark in the opening minutes of the final heat and forced to fight for his life.

When someone yells “Shark!” at the beach, you wrap up the picnic, fire up the auto and get the heck out of Dodge. Everyone letting out shrieks and screams as the shark basically took Mick underwater at one point, ‘ the surfer’s manager Ronnie Blakey told Triple M. I didn’t think much of it at the time, we’ve had several deadly shark attacks in our area lately and if she wanted to narrow her chances of getting eaten then it was cool with me.

Blakey believed Fanning, although badly shaken, would still compete in the next leg of the WSL tour in Tahiti next month.

Fanning is locked in a world title showdown with Wilson, but the pair were happy just to be alive as the latter scrambled to help Fanning once he realised the gravity of the situation.

In an Instagram photo of Fanning, he captions: “Easy for me to say now but I was definitely feeling spooked out there”.