World champion Mick Fanning heads for Surfers Paradise after bare-handed

As the seasoned surfer was being attacked by the shark, nobody could do anything but wait it out.

The attack happened during the final of the J-Bay Open event in Eastern Cape.

Speaking while sitting next to Fanning, Wilson added: “I definitely was there to back him up and hopefully was able to give him some confidence and courage when he was left without a board in the water”.

He managed to fight off the predator with his fists and return safely to shore without injury.

“I don’t know if I punched it hard or if they were baby punches. It’s a sensitive area”, says Lesley Rochat of AfriOceans Conservation Alliance. You’ve got a much bigger change of being killed by an elephant, struck by lightning or dispatched by a rogue coconut.

“And you thought it might be a good time to go surf?” the interviewer asks.

The organisation initially announced the shock attack on Facebook, writing: ‘Sharks are in the lineup. J-Bay was branded in my mind as terrifying for a long time. He jumped and the shark continued to move toward his board before he started kicking.

The Aussie surfer who had a lucky escape from a shark attack off South Africa on Sunday has Castlebar links.

“I think that the most shocking thing is, after you hear about the six attacks in North Carolina, OK, these are just swimmers”.

But it is also a known hotspot for sharks – and the WSL must consider the danger of placing its athletes in a work environment where they can become a wild animal’s lunch.

The Australian surfer, one of Fanning’s main rivals, selflessly swam toward him while the shark attacked.

“The number one thing for us as it relates to safety is to make sure our water safety individuals are trained to be the best in the world and I believe they are”, he said.

“It just sort of came up and went for the tail of my board, but then…” I was on top of it, trying to put my board between us.

As he scans the water, two fins appear and with a splash he disappears under the surface.

He says Fanning’s encounter was very similar. The Australian was not injured in the attack, but he said afterwards “It’s more of an emotional, mental trauma”.

As the chart above shows, weekly searches for “shark attack” worldwide are at their highest in more than a decade (the data is only available from January 2004). “And we would just run back into the water!”

Fanning said he was “doing okay”. While admitting it would take him a while to process the incident – “maybe a week, maybe a month”, he said – Fanning was determined to get back on his board.

“I think already you can sense with him he feels blessed doesn’t he”. Plettenberg Bay – 27 June 2015: Surfer Dylan Reddering, 23, survived a brush with a 3m-long great white while surfing, emerging from the incident with only severe tissue damage on the right side of his body.