Maybe Wayne Hudson was seeing things, but maybe he wasn't.
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An increase in shark sightings since the start of the Australian Surfing Championships at North Haven Beach on Saturday (August 6) would no doubt have both competitors and contest directors on high alert.
A 3.5-metre white pointer seen cruising near the river mouth and in the competition area forced the men's over-60 shortboard heats to be delayed on Tuesday morning (August 9).
Lifeguards have confirmed there has been at least one shark sighting per day since Sunday.
And while it wasn't the main reason why Port Macquarie's Wayne Hudson was eliminated from the competition in the over-40 men's division, he did admit some competitors are a bit edgy.
His heat was the first one that saw surfers return to the water just after 9.30am following a 45-minute delay early on the fourth day of action.
"I duck-dived under a wave and noticed a shadow beneath me," he said.
"I thought it might have been seaweed, but when I looked again it had gone. Seaweed doesn't move that quick."
Hudson's 7.40-point ride in the closing stages of his heat wasn't quite enough to steal second position and a spot in the third round.
"I just didn't get the right waves so obviously I was disappointed," he said.
"There are no excuses because you go into a comp to win it and I didn't have the greatest preparation being (given) the wildcard on Wednesday night.
"That's no excuse and it's disappointing because I thought I surfed good enough, I just didn't get the waves both times to get to where I wanted to."
It followed his semi-final exit in the men's over-35 division 24 hours earlier and if anything Hudson admitted his taste of high-level surfing had reignited the fire in his belly.
"I've always been competitive; there are no ifs or buts about that, but it was a good experience," he said.
Hudson admitted more input from some of his family this time around - including wife Amy and son Ollie - had provided him with a "proud" dad moment.
"My son was quite young when I first finished my competitive surfing, so to have them be more involved (this time) was a proud dad moment," he said.
The Port Macquarie Surf School instructor has already pencilled his name in for a wildcard application for next year's event.
"I want to do my family, my area and my state proud when I'm surfing in these events and I don't think I accomplished that to the level I could have," he said.
"Next year I'm going to apply for a wildcard earlier and start training more than two days before the event just so I don't have any excuses whatsoever."