Surf Reporter John Charlton admits he is the guy responsible for leaving a “15-cm long” gash that nearly “scalped” 12-year-old Matt Nicol after running him over while surfing at Noosa’s First Point on Sunday but he says he didn’t do it on purpose, according to a story in Australia’s The Daily.
In the Daily yesterday, Peter Nicol, who did not see the incident and was acting on reports from beachogers, alleged the adult surfer who had hit Matt appeared to deliberately change direction and run over the boy. . . Mr Charlton said nothing could be further from the truth.. . “It was purely an accident,” he said. . . .“I was going in on my last wave and was trying to hold my line to avoid him and he ducked right under me. . . “There was backwash and it pinned my rail down. If I had tried to bail out, I could have hit 10 people.
According to Mr. Nicol witnesses told him that Charlton had been involved in “several run ins before hitting Matt.”
[Link: The Daily]
