"The shark had kind of come at me from in front and then went around the back and had a little go at my legs…"
At around three this afternoon, the former world number one Matt Wilkinson felt, but didn’t see, a wild splash near his feet while paddling at Sharpes Beach, a lonely stretch of water between Ballina and Lennox.
A clubby drone operator, who filmed the encounter, told Wilko via the little chopper’s speaker that there was a dangerous shark in the area.
Wilko came in, saw the footage and oowee.
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“The shark had kind of come at me from in front and then went around the back and had a little go at my legs, then last minute decided that my feet stunk or something and turned away,” Wilko told ABC North Coast. “It was probably about eight-foot long, it looked like it was a few feet longer than me…I’m feeling pretty lucky. We get to see sharks a little bit out in the surf but that was definitely my closest encounter and I hope it doesn’t get any closer than that.”
Comparing his encounter with Mick Fanning’s famous episode in 2015, the newly wed thirty two year old said,“His one was a little bit more wild than mine, but I guess I got to feel that weird, heart-sinking but lucky feeling when I saw that footage. But I’m still here in one piece and I’ll live to surf another day.”
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