Mick Fanning finds renewed hope as he marks his return to Bells Beach
A decade on from that chilling shark encounter, the Australian surfing legend shares the biggest — and most unexpected — lessons he’s learnt.
For Mick Fanning, this morning began like any other – with a surf. But instead of his beloved Gold Coast break, he was catching waves at Winkipop, one point break down from the storied Bells Beach, which today is gearing up to host the world’s top surfers for the return of the annual Rip Curl Pro.
“It’s always awesome to come back,” says Fanning, sitting across from me in Rip Curl’s Torquay head office. Surfing memorabilia adorns the walls behind me, while to my left, an office bar stocked with beer is lined with trophies.
For Fanning, a three-time world champion, Bells is the site of his first World Surf League (WSL) win, in 2001, and the same beach where he competed in his final Championship Tour event in 2018. He estimates this weekend’s visit to be his 30th. “It was always the event that I felt most comfortable at and most at home,” says Fanning of Bells’ significance.
Eight years after stepping back from the WSL Championship Tour, things haven’t exactly slowed down for the 44-year-old father of two, as he juggles both business and family. He was recently named a global ambassador for health drink brand AG1, and has his own line of softboards. So it quickly becomes clear that for Fanning, a detour to the toy store followed by a meeting with Rip Curl’s product team is all in a day’s work. But before all that, we take a moment to reflect on the past.
Angelica Xidias: Let’s start by ripping the band-aid off. This July marks a decade since your shark attack at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa. How often do you get asked about it?
Mick Fanning: [Laughs] It’s a daily occurrence, to be honest. Random people bring it up. But it’s one of those things, people are fascinated by sharks. It doesn’t freak me out or anything, so I’m fine with it.
Are you sick of talking about it?
There’s only one story I can really tell, I can’t make up new stories [laughs]. What you see in the media is pretty much what happened ...
Did it affect your relationship with the ocean or your view of sharks?
I guess the one good thing that came out of it is that I see everything in the ocean now. I’ll see a fish jump or a turtle poke its head up. I get to see a lot of beauty. On the shark side of things, I look at it as an incident. People walk across the road and almost get hit by a car. They’re still going to walk across the road, aren’t they? In my job, I’m in [sharks’] element. There are times I still think about it and get fearful. I was surfing my home spot the other morning and it was raining and dark and I was the only one out. I didn’t really enjoy it, because I felt like it was a bit eerie. But then other times I’ll see a shark and it won’t freak me out.
I was lucky enough to film a documentary and learn a lot about sharks, about how they behave and actually move through the ocean. It was eye-opening. They’re all very different, too. They’re like dogs, they’ve all got their little quirks ... But the biggest thing I learnt is that they’re like the janitors of the sea, they keep everything healthy. If there’s something sick on a reef or if there’s a dying whale, they’ll clean it up. I don’t know how it happens with humans, maybe we’re sick all the time [laughs]. I think that’s why we’ve got to really protect them.
It’s an environment we cannot control and maybe that lack of control scares people?
You nailed it. We’re not under the water 24/7, we don’t see the way sharks interact and move around the ocean, the good that they do. That intrigue gets us to a point where we’re like, “Are they just killers? Are they pure predators?”. They’re actually really beautiful and majestic creatures. But when we get to see them, we see their big teeth [laughs]. So I can understand why people are so crazed out by them.
Bells Beach was the location of your final WSL championship tour event and also your first wild card WSL win. How does it feel to be back here for the Rip Curl Pro?
Bells is always a special one. I’ve been coming here since I was 14. It’s different down here, the whole town immerses itself in the event. Walking down those steps and being surrounded by the cliffs, it’s magical. The other events on tour, as amazing as they are, don’t have that same sense of belonging. So yeah, it was the perfect place for me to retire.
Was stepping back a difficult decision to make, at the time?
No, I knew I was done. In 2015, I’d had a pretty wild year, and in 2016 I sort of had a sabbatical. I did a few events, but I was chasing fun holidays and doing things for me, which was really cool. Then in 2017, I did the full year but knew early on I was done. I didn’t have the same desire, the same hunger. I started getting lazy and I could see that in my results. I was ready to move on. Bells was the perfect place to take a step away and it was an event that will always hold a really big piece of my heart.
Did you have a plan in place, or were you just happy to see where you ended up?
When I stepped back, the goal was new experiences. I kept chasing surf trips and that was really fun. In 2020, I became a father, and then the pandemic happened. I had time to investigate what my next chapter looked like. I tried everything from podcasting to media to coaching and came to the conclusion that the thing I enjoyed most was just being a dad [laughs]. So that’s where I ended up.
I was going to ask where you find fulfilment now, but it sounds like it’s fatherhood?
Yeah, it’s amazing. Just going down to the beach with the family and seeing the kids enjoy the ocean, being there with my wife. I walk off the beach happier than I ever was winning an event. Watching them grow, you learn something new every single day. I’m trying to learn a lot of patience [laughs]. But it’s one of those things that I really enjoy. Even going away without the family is hard for me now.
Are you already teaching your kids to surf?
My son, he likes to be in control. I try to get him on the board every now and then and he’ll catch a couple of waves but then he’s done. He loves rolling around in the shore break. That’s his thing. He calls it “taking waves to the face”. As long as he’s enjoying the ocean, then I’m happy. His time to decide what he wants to do will come. I don’t need to push him into anything he doesn’t want to do.
What if he wanted to follow in your footsteps?
Look, I’d be really happy. But I would want him to do it his way. I would always be there to support but being the coach? I don’t think I would be that. I would just be a guide if he asked. I just want to be a dad. My dream, whether he competes or not, would be to take the family on a crazy surf trip somewhere ... It’d be awesome to share those experiences with them and show them a different side of life.
Does your partner, Breeana Randall, surf?
Yeah, she loves it. She doesn’t get out there as much as she wants to, but she really wants to learn.
How has your own relationship with surfing changed over the years?
I try to surf every day. For me, mentally and emotionally, it’s something that I need. If I haven’t surfed in a few days, I start getting a bit snappy and Bree’s just like, “Get up, go surfing”. I’m thankful she knows when to point me to the beach. I still love it and enjoy watching the events. The lifestyle, it never leaves you. You wake up wondering what the ocean’s doing. It’s something I look at first thing every morning and plan my day around. Family comes first, but I get to sneak out when I can.
What is it about the sport that keeps you coming back?
The thing that keeps drawing me back is that it’s always different, even if you surf the same break. Trying to read Mother Nature each day is really cool. Home on the Gold Coast is probably my favourite place to surf. If I could grab a couple of other waves from around the world and put them in the backyard, that would be awesome.
Outside of surfing, you’ve launched and invested in a few businesses and worked with multiple charities. How do you decide where to focus your time?
If I’m going to invest in a company, it’s usually something that I would use regularly. Beer [Balter Brewing, which Fanning co-founded in 2016 and was sold to Carlton & United Breweries three years later] was an easy one — free beer for life [laughs]. And the softboards [MF Softboards] are perfect for my family. On the charity side, I’ve been given so much and I’ve had so many people help me. That’s what [Mick Fanning Charity Golf Day is] about, bringing people together and having a lot of fun while we’re raising as much money as we can to help give people a better life. The beauty of it is that I haven’t come from a golf background, so I don’t know the rules [laughs]. We just come up with crazy ideas and try to implement them on a golf course.
Looking back, how does retirement compare with what you’d imagined?
I try not to have too many expectations, but where I sit today, it’s exceeded anything that I ever thought ... To have a beautiful family, to be able to show them the world I got to grow up in, it’s pretty amazing. I consider myself extremely lucky. I kiss the stars every day that I get to stay at home and be a dad.
Knowing your kids will look to you as a role model, has being a dad changed the way you lead your life?
Now there’s some pressure, hey? [Laughs]. When I first found out we were having Xander, I was like, “Oh shit”. That’s all I could say for a whole day. Each day is different and you learn things about yourself that you didn’t know. I’m really lucky to have Bree as a teacher. She’s so calm and so patient and caring. It’s a full-on journey. What I want to teach them is to be kind to people, and to never give up. That’s our motto, we just never give up. Whatever they decide to do, whatever journey they want to go on in life, those are the two things: be kind and never give up.
You’ve been through both highs and lows, but the way you’ve handled those challenges has been inspirational. You’ve touched on your connection to your late brothers [Fanning lost brother Edward last year to an infection, brother Peter to a heart condition in 2015 and brother Sean in a car accident in 2008] and how they’ve helped guide you through life’s ups and downs. Is that bond something you’re always quite conscious of?
You feel that loss and that pain, and it never leaves you, but you learn tools to deal with it. I think the biggest thing is facing it. We think about the ending or that crazy loss, but I’ve always wanted to think about all the fun times we had. That’s the part that gives me hope. I’m not crazy spiritual, but I do feel their presence from time to time and that’s something that really helps uplift me.
It’s a light in the darkness, which can be difficult to find when you’re grieving.
For sure. There are times I’ll be driving down the road and all of a sudden I start crying. It just happens. But then there are times I’ll be sitting there and start cracking up thinking about something we all went through.
You’ve said the dream of becoming a pro surfer was one you shared with your brothers. During competition, did that keep you going?
For sure. When I would compete, there were times I would be in the water and I’d be like, “Hey, Sean, send me a wave”, or “Pete, you around?”. I even did it the other day. I was surfing Kirra [surf break on the Gold Coast] and I just started thinking about the three of them. Then within a minute or two I got one of my favourite waves of my life. So you get little signs here and there. It might be a coincidence, it might not. I still feel like they’re around and looking after us. Just guiding you through life and making sure you’re slowly moving in the right direction.
Looking back on your career, are there any particular moments you’re most proud of?
I had so many great moments competing and surfing. Some were ones that I won, some were when friends won. For me, it was picking myself up from the bottom and really setting a goal. Then, for instance, when Parko [Joel Parkinson] won his world title, that was one of my favourite times on tour because I got to see a friend live a dream. There are those moments that you reflect on and you have that sense of pride, that you don’t wanna be big headed about, but …
You’ve worked very hard for something, it’s fair to be proud.
Yeah, but I sort of do that when I’m in the bathroom by myself [laughs].
Then back to the kids.
Yeah. Oh shit, I’m back – dad. No one even cares about me [laughs].
You mentioned that you still follow the competition. Are there any young Australian surfers that you have your eye on?
On the women’s side, you’ve got Molly Picklum and Tyler Wright. Tyler’s been around for a while now, but she’s still winning events, which is awesome. Molly’s really exciting, she’s raw and just wants to attack. That’s the way I like to compete. Then you’ve got a couple of fresh faces in Caity Simmers and Erin Brooks. The women’s side of surfing is so exciting, they’re incredible at what they do and that’s a credit to how hard they work.
On the men’s side, you’ve obviously got Jack Robinson, who won a silver medal last year, and Ethan Ewing, who’s an incredible surfer. Those two are steering the ship for Australia. Then we have some young kids coming through, a couple of rookies. George Pittar and Morgan Cibilic are really making big strides to get back on tour. There’s one young kid, Dane Henry, who’s the nicest kid ever. He grew up just down the road from me. He’s doing things that blow your mind and he’s so consistent, he works his arse off. I’m really excited to see what he does in the next few years.
Before we finish up, I’m heading out for a surfing lesson a bit later. Do you have any pointers for a beginner?
Beautiful. Yeah! Don’t rush it. When you catch a wave, everyone’s trying to jump up as fast as they can. Count to three and then get up. That’s probably the best tip. People are always just trying to do too much, too early.
This story is from the Sport Issue of GQ Australia.
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