Merewether surfer Jackson Baker hopes he's left his bad luck behind after a rare stingray attack just days out from his first qualifying series event of the year.
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Baker, 23, was teaching his last surf school lesson on Friday at Nobbys Beach when he was stung in the left foot by a stingray's venomous tail spine while walking in the shallows.
He was taken by ambulance to hospital where the wound was cleaned and he was treated with painkillers and antibiotics. Stingray attacks on humans are rare but they can prove fatal, as was the case with wildlife TV star Steve Irwin in 2006.
Baker missed Merewether Surfboard Club's King of the Rocks event on Saturday and has been advised not to surf again until the 5000-point QS event in Morocco starting Saturday. He leaves for Taghazout Bay on Tuesday night.
Ankle injuries marred Baker's 2019 season on the QS, where he dropped from 79th to 120th.
He hoped the latest setback would prove character-building as he tries to rediscover his best form.
"It was a pretty random experience and it was very painful," Baker said.
"I was doing a surf lesson and I'm glad it got me and not the eight-year-old girl I was teaching.
"It was the last wave of the last lesson after a six-and-a-half-hour day. I'm just trying to earn some money after a bad year last year.
"Then it throws a curveball at me.
"It's only a pinhole wound, but it's deep and you've got to watch for infection. So far, touch wood, everything is good."
Ligament damage to his right ankle from a spill in Hawaii at the end of 2018 hampered Baker's start to last year. He then sprained his left ankle before the Azores Pro in September.
He was hoping for a change in fortune to go with a new focus as he tries to follow the path of clubmates Ryan Callinan and Morgan Cibilic to the championship tour.
"Hopefully that's my bad luck out of the way for the year," he said of the stingray injury. "It's got to start going my way.
"You've got to work hard to get it going your way, but last year a few things weren't working and you don't work as hard and you think things are going to happen, but there's no excuses now.
"I don't want to look back and have regrets. I want to give it my all. It takes a bit of struggle to realise that.
"I guess I had a couple of good years where I was on a good wicket, money coming in, didn't really have to do much, but now I've had to do every lesson I could at the surf school.
"Without the support of my Dad and my girlfriend I probably wouldn't be surfing still, they keep me stable and cover me when they can.
"This part of the year, you don't really have a lot of money, but I guess I'll borrow some to get [to Morocco]. It's more about getting back into that headspace of competing again.
"And I'm actually excited. It's the first year in a while that I'm excited to compete."