“NSW Shark Victim Does A ‘Mick Fanning'”

Shark headlines are surf media’s sex scandals. But instead of Spacey seducing young boys, Harvey forcing women to pretend his Christmas ham of a head is sexually enticing, Bill and his forget-me-now pills, or inappropriate Fat Albert impressions following a mistrial, they are, well, shark attacks. Their similarities lie in emotional scarring, click-bait headlines, universally piqued interest and they (mostly) end in tragedy and wounds that may never heal.

But, sometimes, unlike a sex scandal story (depending on your level of depravity), a shark attack headline will make you smile. See: NSW shark victim does a ‘Mick Fanning’.

This morning news.com.au reported:

A British doctor who was attacked by a shark on the NSW Central Coast while surfing says he owes Mick Fanning a beer after copying the legend surfer’s tactics and punching the animal off.

Charlie Fry, 25, was surfing with three mates at Avoca beach north of Sydney on Monday afternoon when a shark hit him on the shoulder.
“I said, ‘just do what Mick did, just punch it in the nose’,” Dr Fry told the Nine Network on Tuesday.

“If you are watching or listening, Mick, I owe you a beer, thank you very much.”

Dr Fry said he was up to 40 metres offshore when the shark jumped out of the water and hit him on the right shoulder.

“I got this massive thud on my right-hand side, which completely blindsided me. I thought it was a friend goofing around. I turned and I saw this shark come out of the water and breach its head. I punched it in the face with my left hand … and managed to scramble back on my board, shout at my friends. Luckily a wave came, so I just surfed the wave in,” he said.

“I was just surfing, (saying) get in as fast as possible, ride the wave as fast as possible, ride the wave as long as you can and start paddling for your life essentially. It was very, very hectic. Very, very hectic.”
Dr Fry was taken to Gosford Hospital with scratches and a puncture wound on his shoulder.

Avoca Beach and North Avoca will remain closed for Tuesday.

Australian surfing legend Fanning was attacked by a great white while competing at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa in 2015 and walked away physically unscathed after fighting it off.

As Arnold Palmer will always be associated with lemonade and ice tea and Tom Selleck with lip ferrets, Mick will be forever etched in the art of punching sharks – which is roughly three times cooler than 3x World Champ. 

How would you like to be remembered?