stories going out. I didn’t want any sharkbashing stories to go out. I don’t have the
solutions and I don’t have all the facts, but I
didn’t want the wrong message going out.
Even that day though, I didn’t really have my
head around it. We woke up the next morning
and the surf was pumping, it was absolutely
cranking and there’s no way I wouldn’t have
been out there ordinarily.”
Like Fanning, Mike is now revelling in the
comforts of those close to him, and is seeing
things a little different of late. It would be
enough to rattle the cages of anyone and to
say you weren’t a little apprehensive after such
an encounter would be a lie for most people.
Mike may not have had a mass of people
breaking down to tears around him, the lights
and flashes of the hundreds of cameras, the
endless pats on the back or the thousands
of internet experts dissecting every millimetre
of his encounter - but it has had a significant
effect on his future.
“It’s definitely changed the way I surf. I used
to always be out before the sun, right in the
morning dark and getting waves, and that’s the
perfect time for an attack, probably the worst
time you could surf ... but I think it’s also a lot
like the lottery. I always told myself that you are
more likely to die driving on the roads than by
a shark - than to win the lottery - but people
do win the lottery and now I am not taking as
many chances. It’s had an impact on the way
I see the ocean and surf and I’m not taking as
many risks I suppose,” he tells LiQUiFY.
“I’ve started spending more time with my
family and a lot less time on myself, it’s been
good and you do notice it.” //
Read the exclusive
LiQUiFY feature on drum
lines in Queensland
- CLICK HERE -