REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Thursday November 8, 2007

NEW world surfing champion Mick Fanning’s thoughts were of his late brother when he clinched the crown.

It was an emotional victory for Fanning, 26, who said he felt the presence of his brother riding with him at Imbituba in Brazil - in the form of a dolphin.

Fanning’s older brother Sean, also a gifted surfer, was killed in a car accident in August, 1998, on the Gold Coast when the pair were in their teens.

The two were very close and Fanning wondered at the dolphin’s presence yesterday.

“It was so cool with Joel (Parkinson) out there in the semi-final and there was a dolphin out there, I’m not sure if it was my brother or what,’’ said Fanning.

“Every heat I’ve had today there has been a dolphin right there in the line-up, just chilling.’’

The Coolie Kid’s victory means he was the first Australian to win the world title since fellow Gold Coaster Mark Occhilupo took it in 1999.

It was fitting that it took another Gold Coaster to end seven long years of American domination of the sport and Fanning’s title reaffirmed the Gold Coast as the surfing capital of Australia.

Fanning clinched the crown when he outlasted remaining rivals Taj Burrow and Kelly Slater in the penultimate event of the season, the Santa Catarina Pro.

Fanning was in the water waiting for his semi-final against his good friend and fellow Coolie Kid Parkinson when Burrow was eliminated by Tom Whitaker and his dream was realised.