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Speaker 1: This is the Fitting in with with Kate Richie podcast.

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Speaker 2: This was so confronting Saturday morning, we saw the news

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Speaker 2: and it was around ten thirty that it first broke

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Speaker 2: there'd been a shark attack at d Y Long Reef End,

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Speaker 2: which is concerning. And Mercury Selacis is the name of

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Speaker 2: the man, father of one that was killed taken by

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Speaker 2: a shark. The story is really confronting about what happened

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Speaker 2: and how the shark attack actually took place, but it

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Speaker 2: also shares the heroic story of what Merk did out

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Speaker 2: there in the surf amongst the other surface as well.

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Speaker 2: And you know, it's about one hundred meters off short

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Speaker 2: that Long Reefend, and this has been the first fatal

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Speaker 2: shark attack there since nineteen to thirty four, so this

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Speaker 2: is not a common occurrence. And this is why it

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Speaker 2: was all so scary and so confronting for everybody, because

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Speaker 2: you know that beach, it's a beautiful part of the

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Speaker 2: world and there was also you know, surfing lessons and

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Speaker 2: carnivals that were taking place on the beach at.

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Speaker 3: The time, and it was a lovely weekend. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I guess there are people out in the water regardless

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Speaker 3: of the weather. Well, that's everything has started to turn

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Speaker 3: in Sydney and families are out and about it the

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Speaker 3: beach early.

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Speaker 2: Which makes it all so much more tragic. One man

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Speaker 2: that was across this and also a friend and a

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Speaker 2: professional surfer in his day too, Toby Martin, Welcome to

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Speaker 2: the show, Toby, Thank you for joining us. Made under

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Speaker 2: the circumstances.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, great to be with you guys. Very somber along

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Speaker 4: the promenade here at see why this morning still still

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Speaker 4: hard to walk out of my house, you know, two

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Speaker 4: hundred meters away and come down and assess the ocean

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Speaker 4: first thing in the morning, like I've done for fifty years.

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Speaker 4: No one obviously in the ocean this morning, except day

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Speaker 4: the lifeguard who's patrolling the area. Very still surreal, still

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Speaker 4: quite raw. And it's not only you know, a real

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Speaker 4: tragic loss, a tragic loss of a mate, but also

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Speaker 4: the impact that it's had on all the beach goers,

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Speaker 4: swimmers and people around the world. Like you guys have mentioned,

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Speaker 4: it is just a super rare event or incident. And

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Speaker 4: the solace I guess I take out of it is

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Speaker 4: Mirk was doing what he loved to do in a

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Speaker 4: place that he loves to do it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, can I ask Toby, were you out there on

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Speaker 2: Saturday morning?

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Speaker 4: I wasn't. I would have been out there, but I

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Speaker 4: had left the beach to take my daughter to her

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Speaker 4: soccer presentation, and then being a dy surfer, my phone

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Speaker 4: just lit up, are you alive? Quickly turned around from

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Speaker 4: the soccer presentation he got back to the beach, that

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Speaker 4: small moment of gratitude for being alive quickly turned to

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Speaker 4: we had a junior event that was going on two

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Speaker 4: hundred meters away, and then trying to work out who

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Speaker 4: it was, whether I knew them, whether it was just

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Speaker 4: a surfer race back down to the beach, and then

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Speaker 4: obviously learned that there was mercury. There was some confusion.

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Speaker 4: Obviously he's a twin, Mike's a surfboard chaper that it

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Speaker 4: is well renound around the world. So it's sort of

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Speaker 4: hard in that instance as well to try and assess

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Speaker 4: the grief and shock process. Is it Mike, is it Merk?

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Speaker 4: And then just to greet the family on the beach,

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Speaker 4: have the people that were in the water with Murk

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Speaker 4: as well to get his body back to shore and

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Speaker 4: our lifeguards who did a tremendous job as well, just

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Speaker 4: super confronting that. Everyone just did it amazingly well and

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Speaker 4: doing what we do every day is surfers try and

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Speaker 4: get everyone in and out of the water stuff.

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Speaker 1: So Toby just with the other surfers as well. So

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Speaker 1: there was quite a few surfers out there. So Merk

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Speaker 1: saw the shark, Toby, are you aware of this? And

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Speaker 1: got all the boys together as a close huddle to

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Speaker 1: sort of why would he do that? Times did he

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Speaker 1: just say, look, we just all need to stick together.

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Speaker 4: Well, you're trying to represent a big object, so obviously

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Speaker 4: you've got a large marine animal the shark circulating. If

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Speaker 4: you're a one off, isolated person, then obviously you're a

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Speaker 4: smaller target. So to try and band everyone together also

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Speaker 4: more eyes on the subject, which is really key when

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Speaker 4: you in these situations. I've had four or five serious

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Speaker 4: encounters with sharks and it's just as scary as it

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Speaker 4: is maintaining eye contacts and one of the worst things

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Speaker 4: you can do is turn your back and paddle away,

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Speaker 4: acting like a distressed this but the boys had to

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Speaker 4: get in through the break there and just corralling everyone.

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Speaker 4: Obviously this is happening at you know a second with

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Speaker 4: you know, this is an unusual We encounter sharks, dolphrin

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Speaker 4: marine life out there all the time, and just that awareness, Hey, boys,

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Speaker 4: is a shark out here. Let's all start to make

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Speaker 4: our way in. Never in your wild dreams do you

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Speaker 4: think as you're paddling in with the group that it's

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Speaker 4: going to turn on you. And it just it's just

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Speaker 4: so rare that a shark would breach in an attacking

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Speaker 4: sense like that. We know they're an apex predator, but

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Speaker 4: through that, so.

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Speaker 2: What would they normally do compared to what happened, Because

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Speaker 2: their understanding is it jumped out of the water and

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Speaker 2: then came down onto murk. Is that correct?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it breached that in which is really rare. I mean,

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Speaker 4: we're not a great source of food for the sharks.

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Speaker 4: Normally they're just super inquisitive about us. And normally it's

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Speaker 4: a bump or a small bite where they try and

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Speaker 4: coming from the side. This one got him from a

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Speaker 4: backwards position, which is the most dangerous and has just

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Speaker 4: that's sort of just in talking to the guys and Dave,

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Speaker 4: our lifeguards just got him absolutely clean off through the

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Speaker 4: lower legs and it's just dramatic. Yeah, for the guys

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Speaker 4: that were paddling in, Mert tried to save them, and

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Speaker 4: then they had to get Merc's body back to shore.

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Speaker 4: It's everything terrific.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it makes me just listening to you, to you speak.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's so upsetting, but it just makes me

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Speaker 3: feel sick to the stomach, to be honest. How are

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Speaker 3: those other men holding up?

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Speaker 4: Look, the first day was shocked. I think we're all

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Speaker 4: feeling that. The show and the process of the situation.

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Speaker 4: We've been banning around the community and the family, trying

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Speaker 4: to support them. You know. I was on the beach

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Speaker 4: with Maria and Mike and Nick and the family and

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Speaker 4: just trying to understand the process. Yesterday obviously very emotion

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Speaker 4: as well Father's Day, not being there for his daughter.

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Speaker 4: A beautiful start the spring Father's Day, but yeah, those

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Speaker 4: people are feeling the effects of that a bit more.

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Speaker 4: As a beach dy surfing fraternity, we've set up some

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Speaker 4: counseling for the community. Like I said, we had a

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Speaker 4: junior event only two hundred meters away. This is going

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Speaker 4: to have not only an impact of the loss of

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Speaker 4: a great friend, an avid surfer, a great human, very

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Speaker 4: animated Yeman, But just for us to get back in

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Speaker 4: the word water, our little beach here at the Wives

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Speaker 4: Change as such a positive place to be at, our

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Speaker 4: sollars where we go to wash off the world. At

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Speaker 4: the moment, you know, I felt like a surcus today.

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Speaker 4: I walk down the beach and I can't do that,

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Speaker 4: and I just can't do it.

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Speaker 3: Toby. That's what I wanted to just quickly finish with,

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Speaker 3: is that you talk about the fact that these experiences

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Speaker 3: happen so often that you're out there, and that it's

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Speaker 3: not necessarily abnormal for you to see a shark, of course,

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Speaker 3: for it not to develop the way that this story has.

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Speaker 3: What is it about the ocean that keeps you get

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Speaker 3: back you know, because I think, my goodness, if I

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Speaker 3: ever saw anything like that, I'd never get back in

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Speaker 3: the water. What is it about the ocean and the

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Speaker 3: community around the beaches that keeps you getting back in there?

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Speaker 4: Look, it's life. It's the great elixir of life. Whatever's

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Speaker 4: going on in your life, you jump in the ocean,

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Speaker 4: you wash away the world. You immerse yourself in nate

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Speaker 4: which are good, bad, indifferent, sometimes beautiful. Sometimes it's challenging,

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Speaker 4: sometimes it's scary, and that's I guess the message for

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Speaker 4: everyone out there. I mean, I'll be back in the surf.

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Speaker 4: I talked to my ten year old daughter yesterday and

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Speaker 4: this morning and I said, look, that's going to go

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Speaker 4: back in the surf. That's been my life for fifty

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Speaker 4: one years, especially here at Y where I've grown up.

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Speaker 4: In our community. We've just got to accept, you know,

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Speaker 4: we don't stop driving because there's an accident or a

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Speaker 4: character of our fatality. We've just got to remember this

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Speaker 4: is a beautiful place to be that we should share

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Speaker 4: and enjoy. It'll be, you know, with some trepidation where

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Speaker 4: we get out at the moment, but we've certainly got

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Speaker 4: to get back in and confront the storm and just

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Speaker 4: be back out there as soon as we can, and

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Speaker 4: do that for Merk, do that for our community, and

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Speaker 4: start to reset life as best we can.

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Speaker 2: Well said terms, We're so sorry for your loss, mate,

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Speaker 2: Merk Silakis over the weekend.

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Speaker 1: Mate. We know how hard this must be for you, Toby,

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Speaker 1: so for you to come on and talk about it, mate,

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Speaker 1: we really appreciate it.

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Speaker 3: Thank you. Brother.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, remember one of the most animated characters love

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Speaker 4: to dress up, you know, for the surfing and Greek

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Speaker 4: community as well, the heritage, the character that he was.

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Speaker 4: He lives life at one hundred miles an hour, so

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Speaker 4: we're very grateful for his fifty seven years that we've

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Speaker 4: got to share with him.

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Speaker 3: It's Whipper with Kate Ritchie is a Nova podcast to

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Speaker 3: walk great shows like this.

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