Australian Mick Fanning vows to return despite shark attack.
Mick Fanning has vowed to return to surfing despite fighting off a shark during the J-Bay Open Finals in South Africa.
Mick, who was clearly shaken by the ordeal, thanked well wishers for their support and spoke to reporters on his return back home to Sydney, yesterday afternoon.
He thanked Julian Wilson, his "warrior" mate and fellow competitor who bravely swam towards him during the attack..
"I guess someone was looking out for me. To walk away from a shark attack with not a scratch on you, it's a miracle really," said Fanning. When asked if he had a message for the shark. He replied: "Thanks for not eating me". He went on to say, "I guess someone was looking out for me.
Mick is a three-time world champion and is the defending champion at the J-Bay Open tournament in South Africa's Eastern Cape
Mick is a three-time world champion and is the defending champion at the J-Bay Open tournament in South Africa's Eastern Cape
Dramatic footage of the ordeal (Above) shows the moment the shark attacks, knocking Fanning of his board "It sort of came up and went for the tail of my board," he said. "I don't know why it didn't bite. It just kept coming back."
"I was on top of it, trying to put my board in between us," he said. "I don't know if I punched it hard or if they were baby punches. I just went into fight or flight."
Fanning called his survival a "miracle" and that he was "just lucky it wasn't my time".
"Surfing's got me through the hardest times in my life, so to turn my back on surfing wouldn't be right," he said.
"I felt so insignificant. The thing was so powerful and it just moved so fast. To walk away from a shark attack with not a scratch on you, it's a miracle really. You just count your lucky stars."
He said surfers were in the sharks' domain, but vowed to return to surfing and J-Bay in the future.
Julian Wilson spoke of the horror of watching helplessly as his friend and mentor was "manhandled" by the shark. "I honestly froze and ... I was kind of freaking out," Wilson said. "I came over the wave, praying he would be there and not ... with blood everywhere."The worst case scenario is in your head, I felt like I couldn't get there in time. It was such a horrific feeling"
The internet responded in classic meme style with a host of photoshopped funnies making light of the encounter. We have posted a couple below .
There is even a J-Bay Shark twitter account.
