 In 2015 he survived a shark attack with what is suspected to be a great white shark during the J-Bay Open finals in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa.Fanning was born on 13 June 1981 in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia, to Irish parents.He learned to surf from the age of five at Brown Bay near Mount Gambier, but did not focus on surfing until his family moved to Tweed Heads, New South Wales, when he was twelve.