THE COAST MAN BEHIND THE CAMERAS FOR FANNING SHARK ATTACK My heart was on the ceiling
AS the world watched world surfing champ Mick Fanning’s heart-stopping encounter with a shark, a fellow Gold Coaster was behind the controls of the now-notorious live broadcast.
The approaching fin, the violent struggle – that wave – World Surfing League broadcast director Lyle Fielmich was tasked with deciding, under unthinkable pressure, what the world would see.
“My heart was on the ceiling,’’ he said.
“I was directing that morning and when it happened it seemed to go on forever, although it was probably only eight seconds.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Then it was all over and I could breathe again. It was remarkable.”
The former Elanora High student, who graduated from Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus in 2007, had started his day covering the J-Bay Open Surf World League Event at 5am – the same as every other day.
Video of the broadcast had yesterday clocked more than 18.5 millionilli views. Nothing could have prepared the WSL broadcast crew for the moment that slick grey fin appeared behind the bobbing Fanning, and the frantic seconds which followed.
“We do our rehearsals, have everyone ready, and then we usually don’t know whether we are going to be live or not, so you have to be in this state of readiness the whole time,’’ he said. “Within 24 hours there were more than 16 million views on YouTube. It’s just as- tonishing.” Mr Fielmich, who now lives in Manly, will be featured by his university as one of their Faces of Griffith 2015 ahead of their open day this weekend.
The communications graduate has freelanced for the AFL, NRL V8 Super Cars, cricket and the Australian Open, and has directed 10 Quiksilver Pro surfing events.
He hopes the Fanning attack was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. “I don’t want to see anything like that again.”