of analysing, digesting and even trying to
understand his experience that morning on
the beautiful north coast. Mike is deep in his
recollecting process as he theorises why the
shark that had just grabbed his board, had also
then decided to not finish him off “It was almost like (for the shark), you know,
‘well that didn’t taste very good so I might as
well keep going’ and he just sort of thought
about it for a second. Perhaps he was not
aware of ... he didn’t know what I was of course,
he wouldn’t have had that experience himself I
would imagine, and he wasn’t sure how I would
react - whether I was actually a threat to him.
I think he was half thinking, ‘I’ve got to defend
myself if this thing goes for me’ but fortunately,
I didn’t go for it, of course.
“I think, absolutely 100% he was looking for
something to eat - 100%. He sees what could
be an easy feed, checks it out - takes a big
bite. I don’t know if it was my mind playing
tricks on me, but I didn’t see any fins. In fact
even when it was lying next to me, I didn’t see
the dorsal fin.
“Probably the few people in my area that had
seen the event or witnessed it were more the
panicked people clearing out (the line up) and
“
going in, but it was quite a shock to me really,
to see the water clear so quickly.
“My immediate reaction (when I got to shore)
was to keep it to myself for some reason. The
only other person I was really worried about
was my brother, who was still out in the water.
He didn’t see a single thing, not the shark
attack itself. He just saw me on the beach in
an unusual spot. You wouldn’t climb up there
normally at Lennox Head, it’s a dangerous spot
to climb up - that wasn’t on my mind though
and I pulled an amazingly clean exit.
“As far as the others go, I was probably in
shock mode - if you like - I wasn’t thinking
about other people, other than my brother, at
that stage. People started to come towards
me (afterwards) and then in a few minutes, only
then, the water was clear. It took a few hours
for people to go back in the water, and by the
end of the day things were back to normal I
suppose.”
Fanning’s recollections took a somewhat
different path given the intense scrutiny that
followed. Everywhere and at every turn,
everyone was talking about Mick’s encounter.
It was inescapable and like a broken record
player stuck in a loop, and it would have
I think, absolutely 100%
he was looking for something
to eat ... the only other
person I was worried about
was my brother, who was still
out in the water - Mike Hoile