After a tough 2015, three time world surfing champion Mick Fanning announced that he was going on hiatus and now he’s given his first interview about the decision to take some time off.
“There’s been a lot of pressure and, I guess, mental strain,” Fanning told Sam and Kochie on Sunrise this morning on the Gold Coast.
2015 was not an easy year for the Aussie surfer. In July, he narrowly survived a shark attack in South Africa calling it “the scariest thing I have ever been through” and in December, his brother Peter Fanning passed away.
He didn’t talk about those events specifically but clarified that this was a decision that has been “building up for a couple of years”.
“The pressures of being ready every single day for the whole year, it takes a bit of a toll on the mind and body,” he said.
In a pre-interview montage, Fanning said, “I want to go and search some different options and see if they take my fancy”.
Still, he’s very much in love with surfing and will be diving into the water every day even if it’s not competitively. Fanning will also be taking time to focus on his family on his yet-to-be-open Gold Coast brewery that he’s working on with surfers Joel Parkinson and Bede Dubridge.
