Absolutely surreal. Thank god the obvious didn't happen.

FMD that is so heavy. How close can you get.

How about when he swam for it ,turned around and said fk it ill wait for it head on , no wonder hes a world champion.

PhilBennett said..
Absolutely crazy.

Reports of it being two sharks but not confirmed yet, have looked at the footage and cannot see any evidence there.

Anyone know the type of shark judged by the fin?

A freaken big one.

Lucky boy.

ET.

PhilBennett said..
Absolutely crazy.

Reports of it being two sharks but not confirmed yet, have looked at the footage and cannot see any evidence there.

Anyone know the type of shark judged by the fin?

Insane footage!! How was it when the wave went past and he dissapears! Looks like a bull shark from the rake of the tail and the notch at the top of the tail.

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/info/sharksmart/identifying-sharks

Scary stuff and Mick did the right thing - thinking clearly under that pressure shows why he is a true champion. Big, big cojones Julian - love to have him by my side.

No expert here but seems to me if Noaht wanted him would have come up from below at great speed as I understand all other attacks happen.
Big bastard - seems could have munched Mick if it wanted to. Could it just have been inquisitive and got caught in the leggie ?

Anyway, you would not have wanted to peel off my wettie if it was me.

I have surfed at Durban - they go on about sharks all the time. I ignored it but perhaps I was young & stupid. Did not make it to Jbay - always regretted it but maybe not now.

Glad I SUP and do not have legs in water anymore.

Wow. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Cool heads too. The missus showed me the footage as i was heading out the door for a surf. Saw plenty of shapes in the water this morning....
Just watched the interview with Mick, he's shaken after the adrenalin wore off. Unscathed, unbelievable.
Lucky to have a mate like Julian watching his back.

king of the point said..
Just shows you even with jet skies buzzing around all week and morning in close proximity your still potential bait

Sharks fear not / im hungry i eat

Really i think it was just checking him out to see what he was. Id say if the shark wanted to eat/attack Mick it would be a very different situation. Bull sharks have poor sight and i think it was checking him out to see if he was food first. The leg rope tangled and the shark started to thrash. Thats not to say once it checked him out, it still may very well have come back in for a bit, IF the leggy hadn't distracted it first, super lucky IMHO

breakbad said..
Glad he's ok! I'm no shark expert, but a big long fin with a sweep like that makes me think Great Hammerhead. Probably just came up to give a bit of good luck.

This is the actual fin, the main shot doing the rounds is the tail.

Good call on the bull shark Dr. Funk....all reports seem to think that is the main fin even this SMH article:




My 2 cents on if it was attacking or not is that it was, purely base don the speed of it incoming, it just seemed to pop up and go for it. I am not at all experienced on shark attacks but have watched enough Shark Week episodes so know they attack generally at speed and that seemed quite fast.

On King of the Point's post I always thought that no attack would happen during a contest due to all of the watercraft around, and this just proved me dead wrong!

Grateful to be a SUPer, anyone want to buy my shortboard?

Apparently we should all think twice before buying a Naish SUP from now on

http://www.swellnet.com/news/surfpolitik/2015/07/20/what-can-be-done-prevent-next-encounter-stripes-yummy-yellow-out

Sharks are colourblind.....www.rebelmouse.com/wordpress-vip-alternative

Sailhack said..
It wasn't attacking - the shark was probably just lurking, went too close for a sticky and just panicked when tangled in the leash imo. If it were attacking, it would have caused an injury (or worse). An attacking shark that big would have hit with speed and the leash wouldn't have stopped it from causing some sort of harm to either Mick or the board. Not enough info to see what sort of shark it is, although I wouldn't dismiss either White, Bull or Mako. The dorsal fin looks too stumpy and dark for a hammer.

www.oceansafrica.com/sharks-of-south-africa/

It looks like a case of curiosity and panic on the shark's behalf.

MF & JW's reactions were legendary! Very lucky all the same and great that no one was injured.

I completely agree, BUT i wonder if the shark hadn't got caught up it Mick's leg rope, what would have happened

maxeaus said..
" In actuality, it's not so much the color yellow itself but that in the water it is a high contrast color. Sharks see contrast particularly well, especially in murky waters, so minimizing brightly colored or patterned equipment may help reduce your level of contrast in the water"

www.alertdiver.com/Myths_and_Truths_About_Sharks

Either way, I'm still not buying a Naish anytime soon

It's like fishing with lures, dark/murky water you use brighter colours in general for catching the fishes eye.

I still think it was about to have ago at him, in the footage the fin come out going right then with acceleration goes left towards him. Clearly the leggie hindered and gave mick a tug and notification of what was about to hapen.

He was just lucky. He swam and turned not to face it, but to be rescued by the jet skiis. No heroics on display here, except by Julian Wilson who swam towards Fanning. Mick was totally at the mercy of that shark. Mick just did what anyone would do in the same situation. He just wanted to get out of there..flight not fight. He didn't know where it was. He was just lucky. He knows it, we all know it. All the best to him as he looks at his own mortality square in the face. Thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends who have lost love ones or who had loved ones injured over the last few months due to shark attacks. Thoughts and prayers go to Mick, family and friends knowing he was just lucky to survive. His life will be changed and will never be the same again. Interesting to see if his priorities change. Cheers to you Mick and your mates who saw it all and were, too, affected by that incident.