It's hectic. Coral reefs getting bleached, societal
collapse within a generation, Wozzle selling the message that
planetary salvation can be achieved via surf comps in pools and air
travel.
How do you like your eco-anxiety?
Seriously.
No factor or are you starting to feel a little hot under the
collar with the predictions of imminent collapse?
It’s hectic. Coral reefs getting bleached, societal collapse
within a generation, Wozzle selling the message that planetary
salvation can be achieved via surf comps in pools and air travel.
If the Pixies were correct, which they may well be, we’re all gonna
get buried by ten million pounds of sludge from New York and New
Jersey.
I have no solution. My fabulous murfer pal from Byron Bay is
fond of saying: eat pussy, not animals. That sounds as good as
anything, with science behind it.
It’s hectic. Coral reefs getting bleached, societal collapse
within a generation, Wozzle selling the message that planetary
salvation can be achieved via surf comps in pools and air travel.
If the Pixies were correct, which they may well be, we’re all gonna
get buried by ten million pounds of sludge from New York and New
Jersey.
Whatever your views on Nat Young, he can’t be dismissed
as a puppet, part of a global green conspiracy or be indicted for
child abuse. His thoughts are his own and he reckons that this
thing he calls “surfer-consciousness” can help save the planet, or
it’s human inhabitants at least, from environmental
catastrophe.
I disagree.
I called Nat at his Angourie home to find out how
surfer-consciousness could save the World. Me, parked up in front
of Lennox skate park while boyo and his pal had a shred. Nat,
74 and daily surfer, fielded my line of slightly combative
questioning with good grace, revealing, I think, flaws in both of
our thinking.
A little firewood at the end to throw onto the Miki Dora
bonfire.
LT: You’ve consistently said more surfers in the world
will make the world a better place. Do you really believe
that?
NY: Yes. I do. The essence of it is the older you get the less
you need. It’s a matter of what you need to keep yourself sane and
surfing. Soon as I came to terms with the fact that I’m older I
really don’t feel any animosity or aggression towards people to
surf with them. It’s my problem if I get over-excited and get too
over the top with people. It’s 2019, not 1964.
LT:Sure, but what about this issue of over-crowding and
aggression, isn’t that just a pure function of numbers in the
water?
NY: For sure, but I’d rather do it that way and give away a
wave. If someone is padding beside me I just say “go!”, they
obviously really need it. I’d like it, but I’ve had so many waves
in my life, it’s not critical. It feels really good to give
away a wave. I prefer to think of surfing as a tribe, which
means as a tribe we have to look out for each other. I mean I’d
rather have people doing this than being bikies (laughs)…
LT: Well….What about the kiddies, how do they find
enough waves to learn on, if spots are all packed out?
NY: I don’t have the answer to that. The problem is we were all
lucky enough to have it before everyone else did. That doesn’t mean
we should keep the cards close to our chest and go “My wave” or you
can just go “Hey man, go!” and I bet if you do that, you’ll get one
pretty soon. The alternative is really ugly. So, in the
future does this mean maybe one day Lennox will have its own wave
pool and Byron will have two or three and Ballina will have
one?
LT: I hope not.
NY: It’s the same as skate ramps. We need more good quality
skate ramps.
LT: I don’t agree. I think that analogy is flawed. Once
the council builds it and the build cost is accounted for that
facility is then free for anyone to use, whenever they want,
whoever you are. Whereas a wavepool you’ve got a huge running cost
with water and electricity which are the two scarcest environmental
commodities and then you have to pay. You have to pay, per wave, or
per hour, whatever.
NY: I know, one would think that at some stage if it’s our
taxpayer dollars actually creating the pool, then possibly it would
be more similar to a swimming pool. You have x amount of people in
and you pay a nominal charge just to keep the pumps going.
LT: That’s a best case scenario. But anyway, tell me
about this thing called surfer-consciousness.
NY: Well my wife doesn’t surf as such, but she’s certainly
surfing conscious. What I’m talking about are all the associated
people that are not surfers but they understand and think like a
surfer and they understand exactly what we’re going through. You
don’t need to surf . You understand all the very basics, like this
climate change we are going through and I don’t believe there’s
ever been a surfer of conviction who’s put plastic in the ocean.
What the fuck, we’d never do that. In places like Indonesia and
India, they don’t have surfer-consciousness.
LT: OK, but when you say this surfer-consciousness leads
to a lighter footprint on the Earth. We’re flying overseas to chase
waves, we’ve got twenty boards, we’re driving cars to the beach.
Aren’t we some of the worst?
NY: Well, no. I don’t think so. I was just talking about
plastics and I know surfboards aren’t biodegradeable, but I don’t
think there is any way you can get around it. There’s gotta be some
slack. We’re not conscious polluters. We don’t shit in our own
nest. We do indirectly pollute.
The worst thing about Kelly’s pool was this guy called Raimana
who’s on the jetski and he’s yelling at ya, “Get down Nat, get
down!” and I’m just standing there going what the fuck for?, why
would I get down? I can’t even see the tube. Usually the tube is
ahead of you. So I didn’t get down and just got hit by a brick in
the back of the neck. The wave comes from behind. I went back and
got ten or fifteen more waves and everytime Raimana said get down,
I got down I tell ya.
LT: Don’t we have a very heavy footprint though, we
tread heavily on the Earth.
NY: I don’t think as heavily as a lot of other sectors of
society. I mean there’s so much compromise involved in living in
this day and age. It’s tricky, but at least surfers are conscious
of it. They try not to pollute, they do their best. They still have
to fly overseas to try and find their perfect wave.
LT: On that note, if the wavepools do take off, guzzling
electricity and water, we’ve lost all claim to be any kind of
environmental stewards then, surely?
NY: It doesn’t necessarily have to be like that, I think those
are details. What about if it could be run on saltwater, using
solar power to create the energy that creates the waves. I think
all of these details will be worked out down the track. I had
a really interesting experience at Kelly Slater’s wavepool in
Lemoore. I don’t think it was anything like a real wave, but it
sure was a nice thing to do. The worst thing about it was this guy
called Raimana who’s on the jetski and he’s yelling at ya, “Get
down Nat, get down!” and I’m just standing there going what the
fuck for?, why would I get down? I can’t even see the tube. Usually
the tube is ahead of you. So I didn’t get down and just got hit by
a brick in the back of the neck. The wave comes from behind. I went
back and got ten or fifteen more waves and everytime Raimana said
get down, I got down I tell ya.
LT: After you’d ridden ten to fifteen waves did you get
that full body stoke like you get from a good days surfing in the
ocean?
NY: Oh no. No, no. Firstly, it’s icy cold water. I could have
stayed out there for another one or two but they just turned
everything off and said “That’s it, you guys have had your go.”
It’s a really good experience, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. It’s
nothing like going to Indonesia and the Mentawais. It’s just
different. It’s a pool!
I don’t really watch any of the surfing contests at all. I find
it repetitious and boring. I wrote a big letter to the lady who
runs the whole act and just told her there were a lot of things
they’ve got totally wrong and I gave her my suggestions. I’m sure
they just threw it in the bin, but we’ll see what happens.
LT: Did you watch any of the pool comp?
NY: I don’t really watch any of the surfing contests at all. I
find it repetitious and boring. I wrote a big letter to the lady
who runs the whole act and just told her there were a lot of things
they’ve got totally wrong and I gave her my suggestions. I’m sure
they just threw it in the bin, but we’ll see what happens.
LT: Relating to the wavepool or generally
speaking?
NY: I think they’ve created a bit of a monster that’s really not
a very good reflection of where surfing is. Everyone’s got a mild
interest in watching a wave being ridden by quality surfers but do
we care about who wins the contest thing in the wavepool? I found
the Teahupoo comp really good to watch mostly because I’ve been
there and it’s a terrifying wave. If you have a fear factor that’s
good. It’s good for everybody to be terrified of that. To watch
people conquering fear is essentially seeing one of of the elements
of surfing. That’s what we do. I think they sell it really
short. You watch what a joke it’s going to be at this next
Olympics.
LT: It seems bizarre they can’t craft this sport into
something that all surfers can take ownership of and love even if
they don’t compete themselves; they don’t seem to be able to figure
that out.
NY: I don’t think they’ll ever do that because competition is a
complete contradiction. What we talking about is self expression in
a liquid medium that has these animals that are trying to attack
you. There are so many things that make it not a sport. You’re
never going to be able to judge one surfer against another. It’s a
shitty sport.
LT: You have a chapter about Miki Dora in the new book.
Enduring reaction to Miki seems equal parts fascination and
repulsion. In a New York Times story
he was painted as an out and out racist. What’s
your take on that?
NY: Well, he was racist. Especially when he was living in South
Africa. He was always a bit like that.
LT: You don’t think it was just him pushing
buttons?
NY:I know he wasn’t. And he may have said racist things but he
was a long way from white supremacy. He was a master player. To me,
he was a really good friend.
LT: You think we shouldn’t judge him by todays
standards?
NY: He was a man of his time. I think he was someone that really
suffered at the hands of living and growing up in LA, in Brentwood.
He hated Hollywood, he really did. And he did everything he could
to fuck it up. But he also loved it. Loved the hell out of it.
LT:Do you see a time in the future when environmental
considerations become more stringent and surfers might be only
allowed to own two boards and take one overseas trip per
year?
NY: There’ll be a lot of other things happen before that.
LT: Yeah, hopefully it won’t be in my
lifetime.
NY: I do spend a lot of time thinking about my grandchildren and
my grandchildren’s grandchildren. They’re being bred into this
tribe of surfers, are they still going to be able to be surfers in
a hundred years time?
LT: What do you think?
NY: I don’t know. If I think about it enough I can get pretty
depressed. Because of the state of the world. But then Tom Blake
believed that we (surfers) were the chosen race so if we get pushed
to the point where we have to really unite as a surfing tribe then
maybe we can have our own space where we can really make some
changes for us.
LT: Optimistic.
Buy Nat Young’s new book
Church of the Open Sky here.
