More than 1,000 people have taken part in a paddle-out to commemorate a beloved surfer who was killed in a shark attack at a popular beach in Sydney.
Mercury ‘Merc’ Psillakis, 57, was mauled by a five-metre great white shark at Long Reef Beach near Dee Why, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, just after 10am on September 6.
The 57-year-old was surfing with a group of friends when he spotted the adolescent shark and warned others to form a huddle and head for the shore.
Mr Psillakis remained at the back of the huddle and was just 100m from the shore when his board was bitten in half and he disappeared underwater.
Surfers spotted Mr Psillakis in the water and managed to get him back to shore but he was unresponsive after he sustained severe blood loss as a number of his limbs were missing.
Three weeks on, Long Reef Boardriders organised a paddle-out in memory of Mr Psillakis on Saturday at 11am.
Organisers anticipated the paddle-out would draw a large crowd, however, the turnout was even larger than expected.
More than 1,000 family, friends and surfers from the broader community gathered across Dee Why and Long Reef beaches ready to hit the surf.
Mercury Psillakis, 57, (right) was bitten in half by a five-metre shark on September 6
More than a thousand mourners gathered at Dee Why to commemorate him on Saturday
A paddle-out is a traditional Hawaiian ceremony to farewell a fellow waterman or waterwoman and involves surfers taking flowers into the water.
However, Long Reef Boardriders club asked participants to take a palm frond into the water instead in honour of Mr Psillakis, who was passionate about palms.
The surfers paddled out, with palm fronds in hand, and linked hands to form a circle stretching hundreds of metres across the water.
Once in the water, Mr Psillakis’ twin brother Mike paddled to the middle of the circle.
Mike was met with cheers and splashes as he addressed those gathered in honour of his brother.
Before heading out to the water, Mike gave a deeply emotional speech to the massive crowd gathered on the sand.
Through tears, the heartbroken brother spoke of the deep bond he shared with his twin and their mutual love of surfing.
‘When my brother hit the sand, I knew exactly that it was him. I could tell. I could feel him. I’d wave my board… and he’d wave it back the same,’ he said, reports the Daily Telegraph.
A GoFundMe has been established to help support Mr Psillakis’ remaining family
‘If I jumped up and down, he knew it was pumping and he’d start running up the beach. That was our code.
‘We had that connection and it was beautiful …. I still feel him with me.’
Long Reef Boardriders club president Tash Gee said the event was ‘sombre’ yet powerful.
‘It was a really sombre event, but also full of everyone cheering. It’s a celebration, not a mournful event,’ she said, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘We were expecting about 1,000 people here, but I’m sure, as you can see from the aerial footage, that the paddle-out was chockers.’
Mr Psillakis had been praised for his bravery after he warned surfers around him about the shark lurking nearby.
He was also described as a ‘keystone’ of the surfing community thanks to his decades of dedication to the local scene.
In a tragic twist of fate, his death also came just one day before Father’s Day, with the 57-year-old leaving behind his wife Maria and their daughter Freedom.
Mr Psillakis was heralded a hero for warning others of the shark threat before he was fatally mauled
A GoFundMe has since been started to help Mr Psillakis’ family cover funeral costs and support his daughter’s future.
The day after Mr Psillakis’ death, Premier Chris Minns paused a trial to remove shark nets from three Greater Sydney beaches in light of the ‘terrible event’.
The premier said he would halt the removal of nets at the Northern Beaches, Waverley and Central Coast councils until more information was available about Psillakis’ death.
‘We believe the right thing to do is to wait for the investigation to come back about how this happened, what happened and the circumstances surrounding it,’ Mr Minns said in early September.
‘It did happen on a netted beach … but I want to get the information in front of us, so we can make a decision.’
The Department of Primary Industries is still preparing a formal report on the fatal shark attack.
A funeral for Mr Psillakis was held at Archangel Michael Greek Orthodox Church on September 18.
