Fair play to him, there’s not really a “right” way to react in the extremely rare event that you encounter a shark in the wild. It’s not something you really prepare yourself for, mentally. And it’s absolutely terrifying in almost every conceivable way. Still, its in those suddenly perilous situations that you tend to find out a thing or two about yourself.
A bodyboarder up in Ballina copped the absolute shock of a lifetime while paddling in surf just off the coast, when he was suddenly faced with a menacing grey dorsal fin within arm’s – or jaw’s – reach.
Only problem for this bloke, one Craig Bateman age 42, was that this particular fin belonged to a curious dolphin who was merely swanning by to catch some of the surf for itself.
That didn’t stop him reacting like he was about to become chum, though. And worse still, his shrill shriek was captured by the GoPro he had mounted to his board.
GoPro footage captures a Ballina bodyboarder’s hilarious reaction after mistaking a dolphin for a shark. #TenNews pic.twitter.com/A7TfHxxnmS
— 10 News First Sydney (@10NewsFirstSyd) August 10, 2017
Again, there’s no right way to react when you think you’re about to be mauled by a shark.
But in terms of a scale of reactions, there’s “Mick Fanning punching the shark fair in the face,” and then on the exact polar opposite end, there’s this.
Hell of a yarn to spin at the pub afterwards, but.
