Edited
During a voyage in southeastern Australia, his life was in danger when a surfer spotted a shark lurking around him. A terrifying encounter filmed on camera on board.
What could be more painful than coming face to face with one of the planet’s most powerful predators on the playground you love? This is what happened to Melbourne surfer Roger Essick.
On June 20, during a voyage off the coast of Gunnamatta on the Mornington Peninsula (in the state of Victoria in southeastern Australia), the man suddenly saw himself (very) closely followed by a shark about two meters away. To chase him. It is a very sad encounter that Roger was able to film with his board camera.
“This shark clearly knows what he’s doing.”
“Suddenly it was not like I saw it approaching. The shark was right there, almost like a magic trick.”, Recalled a happy athlete interviewed by the Australian public media ABC.
Once the predator is discovered, Roger’s thinking is very quick: “My first thought was, ‘He’s obviously targeting me, he’s ambushing me. It’s clear what this shark is doing. It’s a predator with millions and millions of years of evolution..
Luckily for him, things seemed so little in the shark’s mind that he didn’t seem to insist much more than controlling Roger Essick, as the latter began to rush towards the shore, screaming under the adrenaline, as you can see below.
“No fish can stop me”
In all, it took Roger more than ten minutes to get ashore. Enough to overcome the desire that a lot of people want to browse, but not for him. “No fish can stop me”, He told the ABC.
We encourage him to be even more cautious: the shark in his video has been identified as a flat-nosed shark, also known as Notre Dame Sepedianus. A shark that is very widespread in temperate seas, it can measure up to three meters in length and has the distinction of having seven kill splits.
If he is reputed to be a quiet shark, he can be aggressive if provoked. Due to the lack of data, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has not assessed the risk level of this species.