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.
