What a Shark Attack taught me about Experience

How do you work out what to do when you have no experience match for the situation you’re facing?

A woman was attacked by a shark at Coogee Beach this week (14 June 2026). Nearby was Charlie Vercoe, an experienced paddle boarder and surf lifesaver, who helped her to shore. This struck me as an extreme example of experience in action.

We often think experience means, I’ve done this before, but life rarely happens like that. In particular, almost no one has experience rescuing someone during a shark attack.

It’s like an architect designing an office building for the first time.

Or a leader implementing new technology they haven’t used.

Or a coach responding to a problem they haven’t heard before.

Yet, despite these unique situations, people perform well under pressure anyway.

Charlie stayed calm. He assessed a fast-moving situation quickly. He prioritised what mattered and he moved towards a problem rather than freeze or flee.

But Charlie Vercoe had never encountered a shark attack before. So what did he notice that told him how to act?

I think it comes down to this: The event was new, but his way of seeing the situation wasn’t.

This suggests experience isn’t primarily about memory, and perhaps experience is about perception instead: It’s not ‘what have I seen before?’ but ‘what have I learnt to notice?’

Where a novice may have seen chaos, Charlie saw a pattern that resembled his lifesaving training. A novice may have looked at the shark or the blood, but Charlie looked at the person who needed help. And where a novice may have seen uncertainty, Charlie recognised a useful action to take.

This might explain why experience remains valuable in an age where information is everywhere, and the world is chaotic and uncertain.

While information tells us what happened, our experience changes how we see what is happening.

Source: Man who rescued woman bitten by shark at Coogee Beach speaks

Bonus: Man who rescued woman bitten by shark at Coogee Beach wins world paddleboard championship

More Field Notes

This is Field Note #1. Field Notes are observations from my ongoing enquiry into experience. To learn more about how to best employ your experience, read these posts next:

• What a Designer taught me about Experience
• What the Socceroos taught me about Experience
• What an Anthropologist taught me about Experience