Mick Fanning is chasing the two items left on his pro-surfing bucket list: winning the Pipe Masters and defending his world championship.
Beginning December 8, the Billabong Pipe Masters is the last event on the ASP World Championship Tour schedule, and the last opportunity for surfers to take home all 10,000 points.
Mick Fanning has never won a Pipe Masters but he has come close several times. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride – but, he says, that changes this year.
"(Pipe Masters) has been the one result that's definitely on the bucket list," Fanning said. "That's the main goal for me, to go over and win the Pipe Masters. If a title comes with that, awesome, if not then I'd still be so stoked."
For Fanning, the World Championship Tour leading up to this last event has been a good one. He has three event wins under his belt, including the most recent tour event, the Rip Curl Pro in Portugal, and three other top-five placings. He sits in second place, just under 3500 points below tour leader Gabriel Medina from Brazil.
After the last event, other title contenders, Medina and Kelly Slater, headed home from Europe to get some rest before the last event of the year. Fanning, meanwhile, surfed as much as possible. Although carrying no championship points, Fanning surfed in the Reef Hawaiian Pro earlier this month. "Even though I was there for an event, it felt more like a surf trip, which is great," he said.
After the event, Fanning flew home for 10 days in Australia to clear his mind, before heading to Hawaii for the Pipe Masters. "I wasn't ready to spend that much time away from home again. The Europe leg was really long and I didn't feel I could spend another month away from home and be completely ready to go," he said. "It was great to come home for a week and put the final pieces of the puzzle together. The only things I can control is my body and boards and I'm just trying to get in the right mindset to get on the plane to go over there."
Fanning has kept himself relatively out of the media spotlight, preferring to take a backseat to the coverage of rivals Medina and Slater. Fanning says that, for a young guy, Medina is coping with the media attention that comes with being tour leader. Fanning understands the stress and anxiety that comes with being thrown into the media spotlight at a young age.
"The last couple of events you can see a little bit of stress creep in," he said. "You know it's hard when you've never been in that situation. You get feelings and emotions that come up and it's hard to deal with. All of a sudden all this anxiety smacks you in the face and then there's joy and then there's loss and, like, how do you put all of this into perspective."
"(Medina's) doing a good job. He carries himself well and he's got great support in his family and friends that follow him on tour."
On Friday, Australian Steph Gilmore won the ASP Women's World Championship for a sixth time. Fanning was proud of how well Gilmore went on the tour along with fellow Australians, Sally Fitzgibbons and Tyler Wright, and Hawaiian, Carissa Moore. "That was amazing. Steph's such a true legend. Six times now," Fanning said. "Also Sally and Tyler put a huge showing throughout the year and Carissa Moore. Those four girls, they just took women's surfing to a whole new level this year and it's amazing."
