Meet Dane Henry: Mick Fanning’s Ultra-Professional Surfing Protege

You’ve got to admire the narrow-minded focus of Dane Henry. The Gold Coast-raised 19-year-old just cleaned out the ISA Junior and Open divisions, joining just two others to achieve this feat, Tom Curren and Gabriel Medina.

He backed that up with a win in the WSL World Junior titles in the Philippines and will shortly embark on a Challenger Series campaign, which he hopes to make short work of on his way to contesting world titles. “I’ve always been into the full competitive mindset and just the more and more I do it the more and more obsessed I've become with it,” he says. 

A protege of Mick Fanning, Dane has taken on many of the attributes that made his mentor a three-time world champion, while sidestepping a few of his less productive ones. Namely, debaucherous nights out on the drink. Dane Henry is the thin edge of the wedge of Australia’s new generation of ultra-professionalism.

[Not to mention: Henry just scored a wildcard into the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach (April 1st-11th), an honor hand-delivered by Fanning; see below.]

SURFER:A world junior title now to go with your ISA junior and open titles, you must be feeling pretty positive about the future.

Dane Henry: Yeah, it was a pretty skits run the last 18 months. That first ISA Juniors was a dream come true. And then to get the Open ISAs was even better. And then to top it off with the World Juniors was pretty special and kind of good to tick off the bucket list pretty early and in a short span of time.

What does that say about where your development is at?

It's been coming down to my circle that I've had around me. I've got a really good circle; my sponsors, my boards especially, my coach Adam Doofna and my trainer Jared. And my parents as well. I’ve just got a really good thing going and I'm in a really good head space. Body's feeling great. Everything's lining up.

Growing up there, Fingal Head, so close to Snapper, I know you're heavily influenced by Mick Fanning. He was a hard trainer outside of the water. How much work are you putting in outside of the water? 

Yeah, I'm putting a lot of work in. Before that World Juniors, I had a month-and-a-bit block and I was surfing twice a day, training almost every single day, recovery every day and eating well, all that kind of stuff. And I feel like I was working as hard as I possibly could and working as hard as fellow professional sports people. My coach Adam Doofna loves his boxing and he knows how much it takes to be at your top level for being a boxer and a footy player and that's what we wanted to aim for and we were just like, you know, we're just gonna fucking go as hard as we can and get my body in as best shape as I possibly can.

That's so interesting because in years gone by, surfing was all about this kind of anti-hero counter-culture, surf hard, party hard kind of mentality. But that's really gone by the wayside with your generation, hasn't it?

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like there's still an aspect of surf hard, party hard. We've definitely still got that on lock. You've got to be a new animal these days. Like you see some of the groms, that Loki Cullen kid does about 50 foot airs and that kid doesn't even train yet. I think just the gym and kind of starting to become more professional and more of a well rounded athlete is definitely helping a lot of the guys on tour and it's definitely helping me unlock that new potential that we all have.

What is the next logical step for you?

It's just to keep it going. I’M just trying to keep it real simple. I'm on the Changaz (Challenger Series) this year, so keen to just keep on training hard and try take some scalps in the first year of the Changaz. I know it's a pretty gnarly tour. I've seen a lot of the boys go through ups and downs on that tour and yeah, you know, just keen to get on there and just rip in.

What are your strengths in that format gonna be?

I think like it's a pretty mentally draining tour and I feel like my mental game is kind of at another level right now and I've always kind of thrived in those ISA comps and they're super mentally draining and I feel like the Changaz are pretty similar. Like really, really high level competition, a lot of heats, lots a lot of shit going on, and I feel like that's the advantage that I have over a lot of others that are coming in for their first year.

You've talked about how you really love the competitive format and that arena. What is it about those really tough moments and that grindy competitive format that you enjoy?

I just love it. I've always been a competitive kid and I grew up playing footy and doing surf comps, all that kind of stuff. So I've always been into the full competitive mindset and just the more and more I do it the more and more obsessed I've become with it. And seeing the Aussie boys on tour the last however many years since, we haven't won a world title and I just want to do that for my country and do everyone proud and do myself proud. I feel like I've just got a bit of a mongrel in me that just wants to keep it going and keep ripping in.

Brazil's been so dominant on the men's side the draw for many years now. What have you taken away from the success of Medina, Italo, Filipe, Yago?

Those guys are just on another level mentally right now and also physically. Those guys have been going to the gym, they've kind of started that whole thing and they're just another beast. Those guys are so gnarly and I feel like they've got the mongrel and the need to win. And I think that's why they've been kind of smoking everyone.

That was my next question. Why has Australia's top talent been unable to keep pace with those guys for world titles?

I don't know. I don't think the lads right now have enough repertoire to beat those guys. Like, Ethan's rail game definitely could beat them and it's good enough to compete with them. But those guys have that, Yago and Gabby and Italo, the last few years have just been so dominant everywhere else and they're just so consistent and just have so much want and need to win. I feel like it shows in their surfing.

You're famous for pulling backflips in heats and have one of the best aerial attacks we've seen from an Australian surfer, ever really. How important is it for you to have that world-class aerial repertoire if you want to compete at the highest level?

It's super important. It's definitely shown that if you've got that in your bag then you can make it through heats and get out of tough positions. But I also want to pull it back and have my surfing as well rounded as I can and keep that Aussie rail game in my repertoire. I'm just trying to aim to be the best all-around surfer I can be. And my dad's always pushed that really hard as well, because he's a lover of the rail. It's an ongoing adventure for me to find out what I can use and where I can better my surfing.

I know you’ve spent a bunch of time with Mick Fanning, living just across the river from him and sharing a sponsor in Rip Curl. How has he influenced you?

He's influenced me massively. Mick’s such a good bloke. I was just chatting to him the other day. We were talking about goals and boards and I went on a trip with him last year and learned a lot from him and just his knowledge is crazy. Like the chats that you can have with him and the amount that he pulls out and gives to myself and Ocean Lancaster was on that trip. He's just a wealth of knowledge. So it's sick to of have him in my corner and I'm really excited to hopefully do some more trips with him and keep that relationship going, because he's such a good bloke, and he's definitely inspired me in a lot of ways, apart from my surfing.

We've talked a about your strengths. What do you feel like you need to work on to go to that next level?

I'm still working on my backhand being from the Goldy area. There's not too many lefts to get the backhand swinging on, but I'm getting there and I'm still trying to figure all that out. I just want to do some trips this year and charge. I've been hanging to just send myself over some ledges. So keen to do a trip to Cloudbreak, Chopes this year and push myself in that space as well.

Amazing mate and where an we catch you in action next?

I'll be at Burleigh for the QS, just like everyone else in Australia. There's going to be a whole lot of crew in that event and should be pretty sick, especially if we get waves. The bank's mental right now and I reckon it's going to be a sick weekend. There's going to be some world champs in the comp and some CT athletes as well. So I'm really keen to test me surfing and get sorted for the Changaz.