Yesterday it was heartening to read that Mick would be returning to fulltime competition on the WSL Championship Tour and that he wanted to be a part of the hunt for another world title, but when you look at it with a bit of objectivity, it’s pretty much a given that Mick would eventually find his way back to the world of cut-throat competition. Here’s why:
Mick has got mad skills. The sort of talent that has taken him to 3 world titles, 22 CT contest wins, and a healthy US$2,8M in contest earnings. During his cool off period these skills have not diminished, and they might have even been replenished. It would be impossible to put those to pasture at this stage in the game.
Mick is also the host of an obsessive competitive drive that gets him to contest wins, gets him past all the distraction, and mostly keeps him un affected by the trolls and negativity that sometimes cloud professional surfers. Mick is all about destroying that one wave, the next wave, winning the heat and then winning the event – singular and driven.
The 2017 WSL Championship Tour has awesome prize money up for grabs, and while Mick is undoubtedly well minted and invested, no one is going to turn away good money, especially for going surfing while you’re still in your prime. Mick is definitely going to be making bank through they year, and putting it somewhere safe for his later years.
There’s also a slight chance that the WSL might be morphing in the near future. While I don’t believe it, and think that the WSL is still in a very positive place going forward, the loss of Samsung as well as Speaker might be niggling some people into thinking that it might be best to make hay while the sun shines. This can be aligned to the fact that Kelly has decided to go hell-for-leather this year as well. Maybe there is change afoot?
The Championship Tour still has some of the sickest waves on their schedule, with places like Teahupo’o, Cloudbreak, JBay, and Pipe still in the mix. It is an incredible privilege to be able to access these waves as part of a career, and should not be under-appreciated. Regular surfers might get a chance to surf one of those waves. Once. Mick will get the chance to hit them all in 2017.
On the left-hand side, Mick has had his taste of exploring and going off the beaten track, surfing under the northern lights in Norway, having a go in Ireland , surfing next to icebergs in the deep in the Arctic and getting to surf one of the best waves ever at The Snake. This has probably satisfied that bit of wanderlust in him.
In his personal life, Mick has surely been through the worst of it all with the loss of his brother and the breakdown of his marriage. He has emerged through those traumas and it’s not really going to get any worse. Any one who goes through those sorts of distressing situations and emerges the other side is usually stronger, wiser and more empathic of their fellow human being.
He’s also had his once-in-a-lifetime shark incident, and that won’t happen again. So all in, Mick’s future looks bright.
Tracks prediction: Mick will finish in the top 3 at the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast.
