Mick Fanning Interview

Mick Fanning Interview 1

BT: You’ve got a real clean style, who would you say are you’re stylistic
influences?

MF:  Probably Curren, and Occy.  Hoyo.  There’s Heaps.  Tom Carroll.
Dooma’s pretty good, too. They’re all pretty good.

BT:  How important is style to you?  How important is it to have a turn look
clean?

MF:  Not really.  I just like it to feel clean.  I don’t care how it looks.
If you care about how you look, then you’re not going to get very far.
You’re going to be too worried about showing off in front of all the girls.

BT:  How do you think growing up on right-hand points has helped you’re
surfing?  Do you think it gives you an advantage?

MF:  Not really an advantage.  It’s just; you get to go right more. (laughs)
It Os just so much fun, just goin’, play it up on the little right hand
points.  It’s not like at a beachbreak where you do one turn, you might have
to grovel for a bit and then do another turn.  You just keep goin' on and on
and on.  It’s sick.

BT:  What do you think the future of surfing will hold in terms of maneuvers
or approach to the wave?

MF:  I don’t know, it depends who’s on top at the time.  If it’s some
aerialist freak it’ll probably be aerials and all that, but if it’s someone
who just goes out and smashes it, it’ll probably be a guy like that.  It
just depends whoever’s on top.

BT:  What kind of style are you and Parko and the crew here trying to push,
or interested in seeing?

MF:  We just go out and try to do better than they’re doing.  So, we just
try and beat each other.  If they do a big powerful gouge, I’m gonna try and
do one to.  But it probably won’t be as good.  That’s how it is with me,
anyway.  They’re always better than me.

BT:  What excites you about a board?  What do you look for in a good board?

MF:  I just like boards to go fast.  If a board goes slow it just sucks.  I
hate it.  I just like Oem to fast, that’s all.

What’s your favorite wave around here?

MF:  Probably Kirra.  Or Snapper when it’s on.  Or Tweed Bar.  Tweed Bar’s
sick.  There’s too many to pick from, like Burleigh’s insane too, D-Bah gets
good sometimes.  There’s heaps of wavesS StraddieS go down south when it’s
good, wherever.

BT: When did you move to Kirra?

MF: I think it was a bout 5 or 6 years ago.  I used to live in Ballina. Just
like an hour south and it was sort of more beachbreaks and that around
there.  I never used to surf that much when I lived down there. I used to
play soccer all the time (laughs), and then I moved up here and started
surfing heaps more. It’s just more points up here, but they probably get
more swell down there.

BT: Do you think there’s a difference between surfing and other sports like
soccer, baseball or rugby?

MF:  Surfing’s way different from any other sport.  It’s sort of like
dancing. (Mick squeals at this). It’s just different. It’s based upon
yourself more than a team.  It’s not like you can get your swing down all
the time.  You’re always changing and that, always growing, and your boards
are always different all the time.  With Golf your clubs are the same all
the time, and you should be swinging the same all the time, so it’s way
different, I reckon.

BT: Do you think that it’s problematic that with Tow-In Surfing you have to
have another person and a machine? Is it an equal part of surfing?

MF: Oh yeah for sure. GOD!  You don’t see many people taking off on waves
that big. It’s made it easier, but it’s still hard.  Just because there not
paddling into it they’re still surfing.  It’s crazy.  They have to save
their energy for when they’re getting worked.

BT:  Hopefully you’re going to be qualifying for the tour pretty soon and
you’re going to be surfing some much bigger waves.  How are you going to
approach that type of risk, and are you afraid of dying or seriously
injuring yourself?

MF:  Sort of.  I guess it’s life.  You gotta die sometime.  I guess you just
gotta go.  If you don’t go, then you can’t get through a heat, and you can’t
be the best.  So you just gotta go, I guess.

BT:  Do you look at some of those waves, like Tahiti and Pipe, and just go:
"Fuck, what am I going to be doing?"

MF:  Yeah.  Shit me self (laughter). Yeah but I’m sure it will come one day.
Just one day, I’ll wake up and won’t be scared, hopefully.  Just take off.
Get smashed.

BT:  Being a young professional, is it hard to keep your head on straight?
Do your friends sort of keep you in line?

MF:  Not really.  I sort of don’t look at it as other people might.  I don’t
care what goes on around me, as long as I’m having fun.

BT:  It seems like a lot of American professionals, even on the home
circuits, have a bit of a prima donna attitude that, it seems you don’t get
as much here. Everyone seems a bit more down to earth.  Is it because of the
strong friendships?

MF: Nah, I think it’s because, over here, if you start loving yourself
everyone’s just gonna write you off and say you’re a goose and whack up to
yourself. So, I guess that’s probably why not many people have got Oem over
here.

BT:  Do they call it Tall Poppy?

MF:  Yeah, Tall Poppy Syndrome. (More laughs)

BT:  Do you think all the media, and Hollywood has made Americans more crazy
about making celebrities out of people?

MF:  I don’t know, probably.  IOve never been to Hollywood, so I don’t know
what’s going on.  They get publicized a lot more.  All the major films are
made in America, so I guess they want everyone to be the best, coming out of
America.

BT:  Tell me about CK7.

MF:  Oh, it’s funny.  First we were just gonna make a video, like the Coolie
Kids, and then all of a sudden my brother, and Westie, and a couple of other
mates just changed it into the seven of us, because we had this picture and
thought we’d make up this little club. Then everyone around here just wants
to be in it, there’s probably twenty or thirty now.    We’re just so close
to each other, all our mates and all that.  So it’s just a little group
thing really.  You just go down the beach and you see the odd CK7 somewhere,
it’s sick.  I never though it would happen like that.

 BT:  And your brother started all this?

MF:  Yeah.  When we used to live on D-Bah hill everyone used to come around
our place, and he was always tryin’ to make up something.  Like he was an
inventor, or something.

BT:  How was it to win your brother’s contest?  Was it a special feeling?

MF:  Yeah, I was so stoked.  To be the first person to win it, I was so
stoked.  I didn’t want anyone else to win it.

BT:  And all your friends were there for you, too?

MF:  Yeah it was one of funniest weekends and nights I’ve ever had in my
life (laughing).  I didn’t stop laughing for probably an hour and a half
straight. It was just that funny.  Everyone was just playin’ up.

BT:  So what’s it like hanging out with Beau, Tony, Farmer and the boys?

MF: It’s funny.  I love just coming home and just hangin’ out with the boys.
We always have so much fun together, just writin’ off everyone.  We don’t
care. It’s sick.  They don’t winge much, so it’s good, I hate winges.  So
it’s pretty good.  I’m stoked to be home and hangin’ out with those guys.
I’d hate to have dorks as friends.

BT:  So your friends are pretty important to you?

MF:  Oh yeah, for sure.  You don’t have friends, you don’t have nothing.

BT:  You guys have good weather, good waves, and get heaps of chicksS

MF:  I don’t know about heaps of chicks, butS

BT:  Is it just a dreamworld?

MF:  Yeah, it sort of is.  I go other places and there’s nowhere like home,
but I guess it’s like that for everyone.  There’s no place like home.

BT: So is "Get Busy" your motto?

MF:  No, it’s Wayne Seacom’s.   One of my friends.  He just kept sayin’ it.
Just grown on me.

BT: Can you give me a good "Get Busy" for the camera?  A good loud one?

MF:  No, I can’t. I’m sorry.

BT: It’ll be good way to start your sequence.

MF:  I’m scared

BT: You’re scared?

MF:  I’ll get in trouble

BT: For reals? No get busy?

MF:  Nah.

BT: C’mon

MF:  It’s all over

BT: C’mon, "Get Busy."

MF:  Nah, it’s all over