From pioneering G-Land to running coke to building fine tube-hunters, ol Petey McCabe has a wild story to tell…
A thrill, this episode, to feature the Australian goofyfooter and shaper Peter McCabe, one of the pioneers of surfing in Indonesia, including G-Land with his yoga queen pal Gez Lopez.
McCabe, who is sixty-seven, also talks about the drug-running episode, moving a pound of pure ether-washed coke via hollowed out surfboard fins that led to his imprisonment in New Caledonia in 1984, that featured in the still never-released documentary Sea of Darkness.
“We were sitting there watching the old French cop cutting open the fins then it bust open and there was coke everywhere… he stuck his finger in it, licked it and said, ‘Oh la la… cocaine!'” laughs McCabe in Sea of Darkness.
Essential!
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
I prefer my drugs to slow me down anyway.. Not be all jittery and feeling like I need a shower every 2 minutes
Will do.
Iconic style and positioning..
I need to see Sea of Darkness
No sexual innuendo describing Mc Cabe?
Just ordered a 7’6 off Pete. Still putting out beautiful boards in Newy if you’re not in a rush
Nice. Didn’t know he shapes mid-lengths.
Hah is this a jab
Ouch. It’s a proper single fin – Padang shooter outline
He has been watching too much Barons
Why would anyone take drugs into Nouvelle Calédonie anyway? That was Mike Boyums’ idea?
The coke is essential? Aren’t you too old for that Dez Rez?
I think being Bondi/Eastern Sydney based means one’s blood runs at least 20-30% coke, or some form of cutting agent, at most times. Intent, and age aint got nothing to do with it!
I’ll listen to it later
Never gets old
That movie is gone. Will never see the light of day. Martin owns it and it’s not in his best interest to ever let it out. Especially the original version. Great fucking story, Indo was a trip back then.
Where tf do I find the original version?
Watched the bootleg one but I’ve heard the main version is juicier?
The one that shows up on YouTube periodically isn’t the full version?
Na don’t think so, think is cut down a bit
Its not the original. Someone leaked a copy from MD but all the incriminating stuff has been removed. You can tell the movie is a bit chopped up at times, thats from MD removing all links of him and Indies Trader to the smuggling trade.
Probably seen the lesser version as well. Any charitable pirates round here willing to share a link to the real deal?
It doesn’t exist. A lucky few saw it at film festivals before Martin bought it and squashed. The version everyone has seen is the edited version. Unless you are REALLY close to Martin, you will never see it.
How to give Martin Special Blowie
(not sure if this comment was deleted previously as it’s no longer here, or maybe I didn’t press the post button).
I reckon every independent surf shop in Aus has a copy. Ask nicely and bring a thumb drive.
No fucking way anyone has the original. They all have the copy that is from Martin, takes out all the juicy bits.
Sounds like Grubby still has a few hollow fins hanging around the factory…
I just binge watched the whole ‘Barons’ series on ABC. Lotsa drug running. Interesting that Rasta, Soli Bailey and others were the “surfer doubles” for main characters, yet the surfing was shithouse.
Looked like they got one day’s session from the water then reran the same shit over the whole 8 episodes.
I digress. Lotsa Indo drug running to start the big surf biz companies in Oz. How fictional? Non-fictional? Only those in the know are in the know I spose. Entertaining but a lot of flaws in the footage.
Wonder what McCabe would say about it…
The show is almost good before the script goes off the cringe end and talks about being one with the ocean, etc.
Yeah I was watching with my girl and she asked if “we” talk that way.. I really wanted the ground to open up and swallow me.
When mother nature opens herself to me and lets me breathe in the soul of the harmony in the ocean I feel at one with the universe.
Don’t ya dig it man?
That was essentially the point of the review I wrote of the show haha
yeah your review put me onto it, cheers. Never ceases to amaze me that these film production companies have the budget for sets, actors, directors blahdy bla, yet can’t fucking manage to cut decent surf footage that isn’t the same shit dished up again episode after episode. How fucken dumb do they think we are?
Even the backdrops for Newport, California and country Victoria were the fucking same. Seriously? You couldn’t shoot from a beach around the headland?
That old chestnut.
BTW, that is a proper tube shooter.
Yes! Such a good photo.
So, no contest today?
Not for us soul surfers, Chandler.
Brings out the worst in the human animal…