Canberra - Australian surfer Mick Fanning has vowed to get back on his surfboard, telling a packed media conference intimate details of his harrowing brush with a great white shark that could have easily taken his life.
Talking to the press outside Sydney Airport on Tuesday, Fanning and fellow Australian competitor Julian Wilson described the attack, which occurred at the J-Bay Open in in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, earlier this week.
Fanning said he was “doing okay” after having some time to collect his emotions and speak with family and loved ones.
He said he was lucky to be alive after the incident, but admitted he was still emotionally shaken as he told the media his recount of the attack.
“I haven’t got a scratch on me. It’s more of an emotional, mental trauma right now. It might take a couple of weeks, months to pick me up,” he said.
“It just sort of came up and went for the tail of my board. I don’t know why it didn’t bite… my board is totally fine. It just kept coming back. I kept trying to put my board in between us.”
“I tried to just position myself away from it. But it was right there. I don’t know if I punched it hard or if they were baby punches, but I just went into fight or flight.”
Fanning praised the competition’s organisers and staff for the quick response and their way they took care of him after the incident, but saved his greatest admiration for competitor and good friend Julian Wilson who came to his aid.
“Julian showed his true integrity. He put himself in harm’s way to get to me,” he said, adding “You’re so thankful to have people like that. That will look out for you. I don’t know if I would have made it if the boats or Jules didn’t come then.”
Wilson said he wasn’t sure if he could make it to Fanning in time, telling the press conference that he thought he might have to dive under the water to try and find Fanning, had the shark decided to bite.
“I froze. I saw him start to get manhandled by the shark, and I was kind of freaking out,” he said.
“I just started paddling for him, fearing for his life. I came over the wave and I was just hoping he would be there. He was away from the board, the shark bit his leg rope and I went into panic mode.
“I felt like I couldn’t get there in time. It was a horrific feeling.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Fanning’s mother Elizabeth Osborne spoke to the Nine Network, offering a heartfelt thanks to the Wilson family.
“Thank you to your family and especially to Julian for being such a hero and caring about what was happening to my son,” Osborne told Wilson’s mother.
“We have been friends for quite a while and this will just cement a very, very close friendship.”
Osborne said when she witnessed the attack live on television, the thought that she had lost her son crossed her mind.
“I was absolutely terrified. I went over to the television almost as though I could pull him out … to save him,” she said.
While the incident will leave an emotional scar on Fanning for the rest of his career, the 34-year-old vowed to get back on the surfboard, saying surfing is just part of his nature.
“I’ve been surfing for 30 years, and yeah (all surfers have) seen (sharks) from a distance. But it’s like crossing the road, you never know if you’ll get hit,” he said.
“I am sure I will surf again, surfing has given me so much.” he said.
Xinhua