Mates wanting Gold Coast surfing legend Mick Fanning to get on board and help Cooper Allen
AS Cooper Allen recovers in hospital after being bitten by a great white, his mates have been appealing to three-time world champion and shark attack survivor Mick Fanning to donate a surfboard to him.
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FRIENDS of Ballina teenage shark victim Cooper Allen are hoping the surf gods will help them get their mate back in the water as quickly as possible.
As Cooper recovers in the Lismore Base Hospital from wounds to his right thigh where a four-metre great white grabbed him on Monday, his mates have been appealing to no less than three-time world champion and shark attack survivor Mick Fanning to donate a surfboard to him.
Cooper’s board bore the brunt of the attack at North Wall, with the shark becoming tangled in his leg rope, eerily similar to the attack on Fanning at J-Bay in South Africa last year.
More than a dozen mates yesterday visited the 17-year-old in hospital.
It was one of these friends Cooper thought was having a joke by pulling on his leg rope at Lighthouse beach.
But friends said when Cooper turned around to tell the culprit off, he was staring into the jaws of the most fearsome animal in the ocean.
The shark latched on to his upper thigh and surfboard but the board took the brunt of the attack and the animal swam off as Cooper struggled to shore.
“He was out the back and felt something tugging on his leg rope and he thought it was one of his mates and he turned around and said ‘Go away’ but it kinda bit him on the leg,” said teenage friend, Jordan Gregor.
“(Then) Cooper said it started to drag him out to sea, so he ripped his leg rope off and swam to shore.”
Cooper was in good spirits and sharing photos of his wound and his father Ned by his bedside less than 24 hours after the attack.
He is due to leave hospital tomorrow.
Yesterday morning there were about 20 surfers at North Wall on Lighthouse Beach where Cooper was attacked.
By about lunchtime the group was already trying to get new gear for their mate just before his first physiotherapy session.
Gregor said the group had messaged Fanning on Facebook trying to get a free surfboard out of him.
A handful of other friends said they had already organised a board for Cooper through Gold Coast shaper Luke Dorrington.
Friend and junior surf photographer Jayden Morrison said a group of about 30 had pooled their money to get Cooper new gear damaged in the attack.
“His wetsuit was cut up a bit (by the shark) and they had to cut him out of it on the beach,” Jayden said.
He said the Ballina local was relaxed and recovering with his father by his side.
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