Mick Fanning is sitting on a brown leather couch in the living room of his palatial estate on the Gold Coast. It’s a crisp Spring day, and the waves are almost completely flat. His dog, Harper, is curled up next to him. They both look comfortable. Mick adores his dog. Just a few months earlier Mick actually flew back from California early to take care of Harper when she needed surgery on her leg. She’s a little skiddish around strangers, but she’s trotting around with a skip in her step today; she takes the elevator in the house, a feature I suspect might exist exclusively because of Harper’s hip issues. There isn’t much clutter in Mick’s home. It’s open, white, and sits on the sand just a few kilometers down the road from Snapper Rocks, where he surfed waves so exceptionally that he has his very own giant surf shop adjacent to it: Mick Fanning’s Rip Curl Store. After a marathon year in 2016 filled with personal trauma of epic proportions (think: separation, shark attack, family death, almost winning a 4th World Title), Mick is taking a break. Like actually pressing pause. Something that doesn’t come easy for him.

“When you’re going for world titles, every day is shaped around how you’re going to win that world title, you know?” says Fanning. “Thinking so many steps down the road that you sort of miss actually being where you are.”

Seated next to Harper, who is now snoring, he seems acutely present.

The Inertia: The Definitive Voice of Surf, Mountain, and Outdoors // http://www.theinertia.com

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