CALM BEFORE THE STORM FOR SURF CHAMP FANNING
HE’S quit the tour, but not the tools.
While retired former world champion Mick Fanning no longer answers the call of surfing’s world tour, he still jumps at the chance for a decent wave, relishing some perfectly peeling barrels at Duranbah just south of the Gold Coast yesterday morning.
Fanning retired from the tour after the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach in April, but has kept himself busy with travel, his own brewery (which he started two years ago with a group of surfing mates including Joel Parkinson) and plenty of recreational surfing.
The 37-year-old is also keeping in shape ahead of a possible call-up to the Red Bull Cape Fear invitational contest, an event slated for Tasmania’s Shipstern Bluff sometime between now and the end of the year, when swells reach the size that make mere mortals break into cold sweats.
Yesterday’s surf was a little more sedate, with Fanning dropping into a few 1m barrels during his morning on the water.