Has there ever been such a grand farewell in the history of competitive surfing? We can bet Kelly’s last heat would have been a big deal…but the wrench got thrown in that grand plan halfway through the 2017 Tour. And who knows now if we’ll ever get to give Kelly the same kind of proper send-off that Mick Fanning’s been given over the past month. His retirement seems like it came and went in a flash.
With the 2018 season right in front of us, Mick announced he was hanging them up on February 28th. “The tour has given me so much but I need a fresh challenge,” he wrote on social media. “I still love the game but can’t find the motivation and dedication required to compete for World Titles anymore.”
And so just like that, the surf world was put on notice they’d have two more contests to watch White Lightning do what he’d done through 22 Tour wins and three world titles. And then again, just like that, those two contests were over and Mick was done, falling to Italo Ferreira in the final of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. Now that the dust has settled, this is what the last seven days of Mick Fanning’s accomplished career looked like: plenty of high fives and a lot of hugs. And we do mean a lot of hugs.
