Surfer Mick Fanning still earning top income despite retirement
He’s a three-time world champ surfer turned beer brewer who once punched a great white shark in the nose on live television. That could explain why Mick Fanning is still in the top income earning surfers in the world — even though he is now retired.
He’s a three-time world champ surfer turned beer brewer who once punched a great white shark in the nose on live television.
In terms of ingredients for an Aussie legend, Mick Fanning has them all, which is possibly why he is still in the top income earning surfers in the world even though he is now retired.
Surfing mag, Stab has just released its top 10 rich list and 37-year-old Fanning comes in at number three earning $4.16 million in 2018 from sponsors still sticking by his icon status.
He is the only non-competitor in the top 10.
The other Aussies in the list are world number two Julian Wilson, at number 4, and newly-crowned world champ Stephanie Gilmore is the only female on the list, coming in at number 9.
Not bad for Fanning, a kid from Penrith who didn’t really surf until he was 12 after his single mum moved to Tweed Heads with her five kids.
Apart from sizeable deals with big names like Rip Curl, Red Bull, Reef and Mercedes, Fanning now has his own brand of surf boards in Mick Fanning Softboards and is in partnership with pro surfing Gold Coast mates Joel Parkinson, Josh Kerr, and Bede Durbidge brewing the Balter brand of beer which is “going off’ as they say.
“Mick’s days as a top tier competitive surfer may have ceased, but his days as one of the most pertinent and recognisable faces in Australian culture and global surfing have not. Expect to see him sticking around in this list until he’s well into his 40s,” Stab concluded.
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Mick Fanning said he was suitably humbled, but his recipe for success was pretty simple.
“Like anything it’s just hard work you know, I guess one of my mottos would I wouldn’t ask anyone to do something for me if I wouldn’t do it myself, it’s a lot of hard work and do the best job I can with the tools that I’ve got,” Fanning said.
And retirement has been anything but relaxing. Joining Rip Curl’s The Search has seen Fanning live the dream of surfing rare and beautiful spots for a living.
“Retirement has been fun and busy because you get busier because everyone knows you got time now,” he said.
The boy they called White Lightning at the beginning of his career hasn’t always had a smooth run.
Tragedy struck twice with the loss of two brothers. Sean died in a car accident at Coolangatta in 1998, when Fanning was just 17. And a few months after that great white picked on the wrong bloke in Jeffery’s Bay, Fanning’s older brother Peter died in December 2015 aged 43 from an enlarged heart.
That second heartbreak coincided with the split from wife Karrisa Dalton after eight years. In true gentlemanly fashion, he posted on social media: “I have nothing but love and respect for this woman.”
Barney Miller, a surfer left paraplegic after an accident at 19, met Fanning over a decade ago and they have been close mates since.
Mr Miller says the secret to Fanning’s success beyond surfing is pretty simple.
“He’s just a damn good bloke.”
Gilmore’s total earnings for the year in $1.6m, with $1.3m coming from endorsement deals with Roxy, Nikon, and Audi and Breitling.
Wilson, the surfer in the water when Fanning was attacked by the shark, comes in at number 4 on the rich list with earnings at $2.84m, boosted mainly by deals with Hurley, Red Bull, Mercedes and Oakley.
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