Mick Fanning: 20 Great Photos

had been talking to Mick for a while about getting him down for a swell at Cape Solander, or Ours as it has been dubbed. When this swell was forming I was prepping for a job that I was co directing and shooting in the Malaysian wave pool with him and was leaving in the evening of the day it was due to hit. I spoke to him about it and he was keen to head down so we made plans and I picked him up from the first flight south. We drove out to the Cape and arched for an hour, an hour too long in my books. The swell wasn’t quite right for the reef and there where all sorts of calls flying around. I had a word with Mick and asked him if he’d be keen to drive further south for the day rather than surf average waves at the Cape and he was. We pulled up in the car park of this wave and saw one of the local lads on a crazy pipe and all of a sudden the froth was on. We were out of the car and into the line up in record time, and Mick surfed until the waves weren’t cooperating anymore. Mick was keen to try get some more waves at that stage, although my flight for Malaysia was leaving in 5 hours and I was 2 1/2 hours from home. Needless to say it was hectic getting to the airport, although I made it and Mick joined us two days later to shoot the first ever matrix style project of its kind. Photo: Andrew "Shorty" Buckley