Back on the World Surf League's Championship Tour, veteran Sally Fitzgibbons says she's now all about the ride rather than the results.
The 33-year-old will be one of six Australian women in the 17-strong field which will start the 2024 tour at Hawaii's fearsome Pipeline, from January 29.
Tyler Wright, who finished this year ranked world No.3, will lead the green and gold charge along with eight-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore.
Finishing runner-up in the world title race three times since making her debut in 2009, Fitzgibbons had to requalify for the top competition after missing this year's mid-season cut.
With the Challenger Series taking her to new destinations and facing heats against surfers half her age, Fitzgibbons says she has changed her mindset and is no longer defined by rankings and results.
"I feel like you can't let the story overwhelm you because it can be pretty black and white in saying like, 'you're on the tour or off it' and it doesn't dictate if you're surfing good or if you're still relevant but there's so many uncontrollables in surfing," she told AAP.
"I feel like it goes beyond the result like this will be my 15th year on tour and it's kind of nice to go beyond the result.
"No-one really expects veterans to win because the new upstarts are so good and I think that's what I will bring to this year ... I just want to play the game well and do something I love.
"I understand the performance part isn't forever so I want to do the fun part until it runs out."
Fitzgibbons hasn't put a time-frame on her professional career but the Tokyo Olympian doesn't fear retirement with her own surf school and a number of books and apps keeping her busy.
A sponsors favourite, Fitzgibbons said she wanted to soak up the community of elite surfing for as long as she could, as well as the rare euphoric feeling of "performance meeting opportunity" that came from delivering on the perfect wave.
Before she called time she planned to continue training hard, which she said she enjoyed as much as competing, to prepare for the Pipe Pro and then Sunset Beach Pro the following week.
"Hawaii is definitely a beast to prepare for - obviously, the raw power of the ocean over there can absolutely wreak havoc on our bodies and at Pipeline, you're staring at a really shallow death-defying reef," the NSW south coast surfer said.
"There's so many challenges that you want to turn away from and so showing up to that alone is pretty much why you crave to be back on tour, because it's stuff that you're still learning and you don't know what's possible in terms of your performance.
"You train everything from breath work from a safety side and getting that strength work in - there's this whole gamut as the things that will make me feel comfortable knowing that I'm ready so it's exciting."
