Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Your backstage pass to the world of surfing, hosted by MC and commentator Terry “Tappa” Teece. From pro surfers and legends of the sport to shapers, innovators and anyone with an epic story and a love for the ocean—The Green Room dives deep. Expect tales of epic wins, brutal wipeouts, and behind-the-scenes moments from life in and out of the water. Whether you’re chasing waves or just some inspiration, this podcast will leave you stoked to paddle out.
00;00;07;19 - 00;00;29;09
Tappa
Welcome to the Green Room. Your backstage pass to the world of surfing. I'm your host, surf emcee and commentator, Terry Tapper diving into epic winds, crashing fouls and wild stories with surfing's biggest names, as well as the legends working behind the scenes to keep that state alive. A big shout out to our sponsor for this episode. The official break out with their new Jersey lager.
00;00;29;11 - 00;00;50;08
Tappa
So wax up, paddle out and join us in the green room with a surf chat. Never guys flat. Good night folks, and welcome to the Green Room. I've known today's guests since I was barely a teenager. Out of nine of him and his family. Ever since I started surfing, I thought I was a bit of a local on the Gold Coast, born in 1965, but this bike lays me for dead.
00;00;50;11 - 00;01;17;26
Tappa
He's a second generation Gold Coast, so if I, over 70 years of age now a grandfather to the fourth generation of Nelson's hitting the waves, a surfer suit, a super, super athlete in the 1970s, businessman, coach, innovator, trailblazer and an all round man of the surfing community. He was surfing in Hawaii well before busting down the door, and described by the Encyclopedia of Surfing as a sociable first generation pro surfer and a cheap riding virtue.
00;01;17;26 - 00;01;37;28
Tappa
I'd say is one bells and events in a Y and is known for his fearless big wave approach. I still say pole at it early in the solid days, and he has a real crack in his 70s and charging, maybe just dropping in a little bit. Mostly on me not. But it's gold surfing royalty here, as I would call him, and I welcome the green room.
00;01;37;28 - 00;01;38;23
Tappa
Paul Nelson.
00;01;38;26 - 00;01;43;12
Paul
Geez. Thanks, Trevor. That's a that's a very, very big introduction. I'm not sure I'm worth it.
00;01;43;13 - 00;01;44;15
Speaker 3
I'm glad.
00;01;44;18 - 00;02;02;14
Tappa
You are. My go into that. When you're out in the big stuff, I'm going to sort of go back a little, forwards before we go backwards. I remember one day I was out there and, I'm at, at Berkeley and like, I'm paddling around, walking around a, I mean, I've got my six five film. All I saw was pretty solid and I saw this bloke, he's in his 40s, you know, about ten years younger than me back then.
00;02;02;14 - 00;02;20;14
Tappa
And I'm gonna go in at night and he goes, nah, nah, nah, a bit too much work at it, too hard. I like, I, you know, paddled out there. Next thing I think you was 69 years of age. You've paddle out and I'm gone, like the tell this like this. And then not long after. Yeah. At 70 years of age.
00;02;20;14 - 00;02;34;01
Tappa
Out. Paddles. Mal Chalmers with one hand. I thought this black needs to have a good look in the house of mirrors. But that was just one thing I remember about used to you, like, is still, like, getting out there, and that's. That's a great thing, mate. It's, you know. Yeah.
00;02;34;01 - 00;02;48;20
Paul
Well, Yeah, I was I was gonna say to you earlier, I surfed, day by yesterday morning, which was pretty good, but it's, I don't get as many as I used to. I can assure you. You still not. And I still have. You know, I have some very, very bad days, but that.
00;02;48;23 - 00;02;49;07
Speaker 3
You know.
00;02;49;10 - 00;02;52;01
Paul
Some days I have to go home with my towel between my legs.
00;02;52;03 - 00;03;00;22
Tappa
Yeah, I think it does. Well, especially when you're agreement. Now, my Bill ganger and Betty dad was born on the Gold Coast, is that right?
00;03;00;23 - 00;03;15;13
Paul
No no no no no no, he wasn't he wasn't born on the Gold Coast. It's it was, my older brother, Rick was born in Brisbane, and then I was the first one actually born on the Gold Coast at south at Southport Hospital.
00;03;15;15 - 00;03;24;22
Tappa
At Southport Hospital. Yeah, because I was born in a Southport hospital in 65. You got 14 on May I. Yeah. That's, Yeah, that would have been the old little hospital. Not even when the heart was white before.
00;03;24;22 - 00;03;29;09
Paul
Well, well, I can't remember, really.
00;03;29;11 - 00;03;36;02
Tappa
But, how was it growing up on the Gold Coast in, like, we would have been? What now? And what was going on the mid to late 50s, wouldn't it?
00;03;36;04 - 00;03;59;25
Paul
Well, yeah, of course, you know, I was born in 51 and so, so you know, the like the late 50s, you know, it was you know, there just wasn't much here. I mean, you know, everyone, everyone knows and can remember when Lennon's hotel was first built. And basically between Surfers Paradise and Lennon's, all there was was a sand ride that went down along the beach and the highway went, you know, down past that on its way to Coolangatta.
00;03;59;27 - 00;04;19;04
Paul
And, so, you know, there was a lot of, a lot of sand hills, a couple little shacks here and there along the way at Mermaid Beach and etc. and, and of course, you know, as is today, often the beaches had had, you know, erosion and, and, you know, the sand would come back and you'd, you'd lie around in the sand.
00;04;19;04 - 00;04;24;17
Paul
But that west of where the where the Gold Coast highways. It was just, you know, swamp scrub.
00;04;24;17 - 00;04;33;21
Tappa
Nothing was about a block when I was a little kid, about a block back was swamp back then. And that's quite a while before that. Where did the our family settlement. Where did your family settle on the Gali?
00;04;33;22 - 00;04;39;04
Paul
Well, when I was first born, we lived in Beach Road, where the RSL club is. And yeah.
00;04;39;06 - 00;04;40;19
Tappa
Well, the houses in very dry.
00;04;40;19 - 00;04;41;10
Speaker 3
There were houses.
00;04;41;10 - 00;04;58;17
Paul
In Beach Road by it or not. And, and of course where the Paradise Center is, there was the, the all Seabreeze Hotel and all of those, you know, the very fashionable hotels that were, that, you know, which is now Bernie, Bernie.
00;04;58;19 - 00;04;59;16
Tappa
Oh, I then.
00;04;59;17 - 00;04;59;28
Paul
He also.
00;04;59;28 - 00;05;00;15
Tappa
Said.
00;05;00;18 - 00;05;12;07
Paul
Yeah, then he else he had had the, you know, used to have the pajama parties and all that sort of stuff. Now that was sort of a bit, you know, a bit early for me because I wasn't sort of at in service at, at that stage.
00;05;12;13 - 00;05;15;18
Tappa
And breeding Surfers Paradise. Yeah. There's not many. They could say that.
00;05;15;24 - 00;05;16;12
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;05;16;14 - 00;05;40;18
Paul
And then then we moved to Broadbeach and and gang of Built, my father built a, built a house there and that sort of became the family home. And that's really where, where, I mean, as a kid, Rick and I used to play football, of course, you know, at school and and in the, in the local clubs and, and, you know, I recall, you know, back at one stage I had played all three cards, which was a bit lighter.
00;05;40;18 - 00;06;08;06
Paul
Was it actually when I went to to Miami High School, but I was playing, you know, Aussie Rules as a kid, rugby league, you know, when I was in state school and then I played, union when I was in, you know, what I call rugby now. Yeah, but it was union when I was in high school, and, but of course, naturally, at, I started surfing the age of ten with, you know, alongside Peter drawing and, I'd already been doing it and I was very, very frustrated because I didn't have a board.
00;06;08;09 - 00;06;12;04
Paul
And, you know, there was a lot of agony there for a while for my parents.
00;06;12;04 - 00;06;14;10
Tappa
But so. Did you go surfing? Did you borrow boards or.
00;06;14;10 - 00;06;23;25
Paul
Well, yeah. You just you just sit on the beach and just wait until someone, you know, someone you'd say, oh, I can either go on your board, you know, and and I'd say, oh, yeah, just go and, you know, catch one.
00;06;23;26 - 00;06;25;19
Tappa
This is on the beaches around Broady or.
00;06;25;19 - 00;06;45;23
Paul
Yeah. Yeah, just on the beach ramp. Ram Brody and, Yeah. And then and then eventually, my father bought me a, a North that had eight foot, 6 or 8ft ten balsa board. And, I didn't realize that then. I was just so incredibly grateful. But I did know that he paid a lot of money for it.
00;06;45;23 - 00;06;47;08
Paul
It was 18 pound.
00;06;47;10 - 00;06;48;11
Tappa
Which is a lot of money back there.
00;06;48;12 - 00;07;07;24
Paul
I didn't pound in the early 1963 or thereabouts. 18 pound, you know, the equipment. I mean, first of all, it's $36, you know. Yeah. If you just if you just, you know, convert it. But but it was, you know, obviously it's worth like hundreds and hundreds of dollars and, Yeah. So I said, you know, drag that boat.
00;07;07;24 - 00;07;09;08
Speaker 3
Ramp and it.
00;07;09;13 - 00;07;11;24
Tappa
Would have been a little fella too big for the dragger.
00;07;11;24 - 00;07;28;02
Paul
And, well, I was I was only little when I was young and and I, you know, because I sort of had a bit more of a growth spurt later on, but but, yeah, we just lay there boards up at the Broadbeach Surf Club and, you know, we got there or we'd leave them, leave our boards up the beach.
00;07;28;04 - 00;07;47;03
Paul
You know, a guy by the name of Greg Cluff? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Greg Cluff lived up the road from us, and, or his family had a home up there on the top of Britannia Avenue, and, you know, interestingly, just sort of put some context into that. You know, Greg Cluff, many years after sort of the event, you know, went on to create a lot of surfboards.
00;07;47;05 - 00;07;52;09
Paul
So it was, he was his father was we had it was a publican. And so he was sort of in that.
00;07;52;09 - 00;07;54;13
Tappa
So we started at the gala and then moved to.
00;07;54;16 - 00;08;11;14
Paul
That's where he lived. Yeah. He lived at the top of, at the top of Britannia Avenue, and I think he moved. Then he moved to the Sunshine Coast and then and then moved to move to Sydney. So. Yeah, but that's, Yeah, it's just an interesting thing I always found it was interesting that coffee, as we call him, ended up getting into surfboards.
00;08;11;16 - 00;08;20;29
Tappa
Wow, that's cool, mate. And, that first board, like, do you remember the first guy that really had you hooked on surfing? Or was it one on one of the bar ride ones?
00;08;21;01 - 00;08;38;28
Paul
I was just I was just hooked because I can remember as a, you know, I don't know, ten year old, I would I would just cry. I was just crying. I just wanted a board so bad. And at one, at one time, I said to my mother, I could chop up. I could pull all that stuff off that awning board.
00;08;38;28 - 00;08;47;20
Paul
The all timber awning board, and I can ride that. Can I have that?
00;08;47;22 - 00;08;47;29
Speaker 3
And.
00;08;47;29 - 00;08;49;21
Tappa
Did she like. Yeah. And,
00;08;49;24 - 00;08;53;15
Paul
I don't think so.
00;08;53;17 - 00;08;59;07
Tappa
Right. So so from there, like in 1906. So what was that when you first started? So that would have been 61.
00;08;59;07 - 00;09;02;08
Paul
Was the event about 1961? Yeah.
00;09;02;11 - 00;09;06;01
Tappa
So four years later you win the Queensland cadet title.
00;09;06;04 - 00;09;25;08
Paul
Yeah. That. Yeah. That's 65. Yeah 1965 won the cadet title. And as I was showing you earlier, McTavish won the Open Men's Peter Drew and won the juniors, and, and Peter Lascelles came second in my division, and I think Robbie Dean, Robbie Dean might have got second in the in the right.
00;09;25;08 - 00;09;26;18
Tappa
So for Robbie Dean to.
00;09;26;18 - 00;09;43;21
Paul
Rob Robbie's a a great, you know, unsung hero. Really. He's a very, very, very good surfer. And didn't you know you know, wasn't wasn't sort of gregarious or anything like that. He just sort of stayed to himself and surfed good. But yeah.
00;09;43;23 - 00;09;52;20
Tappa
Oh that's cool. And Robbie Dennis my. Was that when were you when did you join Wind and Sea? Because that was really the only Boardriders club wasn't it. Sort of around back in those days.
00;09;52;23 - 00;10;14;19
Paul
Yeah, pretty much it would have been the late 60s. Early. Yeah. The like very late 60s. Yeah. We sort of, wind and sea was very prominent because it was out of Southern California, of course. And Southern California was the complete, you know, virtual ride in everything. I guess would have been sort of. Yeah, around 67, 66, some somewhere around there.
00;10;14;22 - 00;10;30;05
Paul
And, you know, that was sort of the club to be in. It was a prestigious club. They had had it opened up a branch in Sydney as well. And you know, it was just a very prestigious club to be.
00;10;30;05 - 00;10;33;08
Tappa
And who was in that with you? Because there's probably a couple of well-known names.
00;10;33;08 - 00;10;58;08
Paul
Well, there was John and Rick and Mickey Stafford, of course. And, and so Phil Walla was very prominent in that. He was he was, President Mel Chalmers, of course. There was, chatty. There was, Roy Roy, Roy Menzies. Yeah, it was it was just sort of a bunch of local guys that were in it and, and that's sort of really when clubs started, started to sort of take off.
00;10;58;08 - 00;11;12;24
Paul
But it was, it's a funny, a funny time, you know, that that kids wanted to be you know, in organizations and they and those sort of things and wear uniforms and, and badges and things like that. It was it's it's peculiar to look back on.
00;11;12;26 - 00;11;17;03
Tappa
Did you used to have the sticker on your board there or have you a license for your board?
00;11;17;05 - 00;11;34;19
Paul
Well, the, the council, the council started that because there were no league ropes. And so the reason they started the licensing of the surfboards was so that if someone lost their board in the, in the flags or the line up and hit someone, I could no, well, they could confiscate the board and find who it was that owned it.
00;11;34;19 - 00;11;37;00
Paul
And so it didn't it didn't work.
00;11;37;03 - 00;11;37;11
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;11;37;11 - 00;11;40;27
Tappa
I try to take my dad's board off him once a year. Yeah, ripping it off, I mean.
00;11;40;27 - 00;11;45;04
Paul
Yeah, well, there was a lot of. Yeah, there was a lot of arguments, a lot of where to go and so on.
00;11;45;11 - 00;11;49;02
Tappa
Yeah. I was in the surf has had a big, big thing going on there.
00;11;49;06 - 00;11;52;20
Paul
The clubs didn't endear themselves to surfers and vice versa.
00;11;52;22 - 00;11;57;19
Tappa
And so it wasn't long after it was you, you know, in Miami High in the, in the 60s. Was it.
00;11;57;19 - 00;11;59;05
Paul
Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And the school.
00;11;59;05 - 00;12;00;09
Tappa
Callahan was there. There.
00;12;00;11 - 00;12;23;29
Paul
No no no no, it was before. It was before Bill. And it was I recall I was the first of the, Year Eights that went through there. What it out. It was it was a different set up there. And I didn't have, I think what was called the Bradford system, which incorporated. Yeah. Right. And then you went to year 910 and then, and then on the year 11 or 12.
00;12;24;01 - 00;12;30;15
Paul
So, I was very keen to get out of school. So, so, so I left at the end of year ten, I was gone.
00;12;30;22 - 00;12;40;14
Tappa
Yeah, a lot of people did back then. And I think it's not a bad thing when you can do a try and you're not really into. Yeah. So you had your brother Rick did used to sort of wear you a bit like Batman and Robin every way together.
00;12;40;17 - 00;13;01;07
Paul
Well, I think so, yeah. Of course. Like all Batman. Well, unlike Batman and Robin, we'd always had our fights at home in the backyard. And, and of course, you know, playing, playing, you know, football and fighting over surfboards and stuff like that. Rick was, three years older than me, and so, so he sort of, had the upper hand on me for quite a for quite a while.
00;13;01;10 - 00;13;06;09
Tappa
Yeah, but you got him in that, Australian title, wasn't it, in, 71.
00;13;06;09 - 00;13;28;23
Paul
Was, you know, 1971, which, which incorporated the Australian titles was bells and was a different format, you know, then I used to have three rounds and, Yeah. So we had, you know, three different rounds to surf your way through. And, I recall Terry Fitzgerald in that I think came second. And I think Rick came third in that.
00;13;28;25 - 00;13;38;27
Tappa
Oh, that's cool, that's that's good. Right. And that's so that's all leading up actually at Miami High. Who were there any surfers that went to Miami like? Because I suppose it was one of the only schools on the coast, wasn't it?
00;13;39;01 - 00;14;03;08
Paul
Well, well, there was a very good surfer, but I'm a Chris Barber. He he was there in the early stages. And of course, drew and drew him was there in the, in the early stages. And I remember one, one time and there was a, another guy by the name of, Jimmy Franklin, and he, he ended up starting a very big, concrete business on the Gold Coast and poured a lot of concrete all over this place.
00;14;03;10 - 00;14;16;12
Paul
And he did. He did very well out of it. But his his brother, had I had, like one of the first cars he was I said, well, I'm only assuming this, but I'm assuming it rain kept down a few years because.
00;14;16;14 - 00;14;17;01
Speaker 3
00;14;17;04 - 00;14;18;07
Paul
Because he was, he.
00;14;18;07 - 00;14;19;07
Tappa
Had a car at school.
00;14;19;08 - 00;14;39;13
Paul
It was a he had a car at school. Yeah. And so, so there was one, one year that Acura was real, real good, real big, like very big. And, and drew and Drew was Kane, and we're all Kane and and, Franklin, you know, I said, oh, look, we'll get in the car with wag school, I'll pick you up, you know, blah, blah, blah.
00;14;39;15 - 00;14;51;29
Paul
And, and of course, we serve Kier all day. And it was, you know, big, good, solid, big, big Kirra. And, we'd had a real diet and, and, and I wondered what I was going to say to my mother when I got home because,
00;14;52;06 - 00;14;53;21
Tappa
You would have a sunburn when you.
00;14;53;22 - 00;15;00;10
Paul
Well, well, no, not. No, no, not only that. I had wax all day on the floor of my,
00;15;00;12 - 00;15;01;18
Speaker 3
My school shorts.
00;15;01;20 - 00;15;04;15
Paul
Which which, as you know, you can't get wax out now.
00;15;04;15 - 00;15;05;23
Speaker 3
He's dancing.
00;15;05;25 - 00;15;11;16
Paul
So it was just sort of shoved onto the table and sort of forgotten about, but, Yeah. Anyway.
00;15;11;18 - 00;15;21;07
Tappa
That's cool. So how often like because, like, back then getting down to Kirra and, that. Well, there was really not to really snap. It was. It was just Kira. Was that basically.
00;15;21;08 - 00;15;38;19
Paul
No, no, there was rainbow buyers, as we called it. We didn't, you know, there was little Molly snap, snap at rainbow by, but it wasn't like I don't recall it being snap a like it is now. You know, where you get that sort of real wage coming around the corner. I sort of recall it more as it, you know, snap a would, would, would peel off.
00;15;38;19 - 00;15;58;09
Paul
You'd go right through Molly, you know, down into rainbow Bay, etc. because most of those early days everyone was writing mouths and so, so, you know, the, the chalkboard revolution didn't come until sort of the lighter, lighter in the 60s. But, you know, talking about, you know, how you get down the damn place is this and that it.
00;15;58;11 - 00;16;33;00
Paul
I remember one time, I know I had a mal at this point myself and some other, like, I can't remember which guy was which friend it was, but, we walked from Broadbeach to Burley to go surfing Burley with what had to be 8ft or 9ft boards and I, I well, we walked, paddled a bit, walked, paddled, you know, had your boards on your head and eventually, you know, I had to walk home as well after surfing all day and I got home and the back edge of my board had completely worn through to the foam cookie line.
00;16;33;00 - 00;16;34;02
Speaker 3
Drag up.
00;16;34;04 - 00;16;35;25
Paul
Bring it up and saying, yeah.
00;16;35;27 - 00;16;36;25
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;16;36;28 - 00;16;41;15
Tappa
That's not real life, but that those days. So what were the crowds like in those days?
00;16;41;18 - 00;16;57;28
Paul
Well, again, you know, there's no leg wraps. And so and so a lot of boards on the rocks and, you know, burly, you know, in boards went on the rocks. You had to, like, crawl alive at the you have things and you have to, you know, get back out, you know, paddle back around, etc. was it was pretty hard.
00;16;58;00 - 00;17;06;06
Paul
But interestingly enough, there were still quite a few surfers. But, you know, I mean, we're not talking anything like we're not doing anything like today. No.
00;17;06;08 - 00;17;14;06
Tappa
And and I'm a believer that not that not many people surf the cove for that very reason. Because if you lost your board at the Cove, your board was basically stuffed.
00;17;14;06 - 00;17;33;05
Paul
That's that's right. Because, yeah. Well, probably it not only was your board stuff, you couldn't get at it. You know, that that was a very that's a very dangerous area on that cove front to go along there and be trying to grab, an an 8 or 9ft board out of the rocks, you know, is pretty well taking your life in your.
00;17;33;05 - 00;17;34;10
Speaker 3
Hand is, you know.
00;17;34;12 - 00;17;37;05
Paul
Depending on what's depending on what size as well as, of course.
00;17;37;05 - 00;17;45;10
Tappa
Yeah. All that time around, like like just those dice. Santoro now. So you left school and you became a chippy mate. How long did that last?
00;17;45;12 - 00;17;47;10
Paul
Oh, well, that lasted the whole time I was.
00;17;47;10 - 00;17;49;18
Tappa
Are you afraid your dad saw. No, no.
00;17;49;21 - 00;18;07;18
Paul
No no, not not no. I spent a couple of years with, with a, another builder and, did did my first two years of apprenticeship in college and, and then, I got so sick of that because we started to build high rise in. And you'll remember in like 1968, we had that really, really 67, 68.
00;18;07;18 - 00;18;25;12
Paul
We had a very severe cyclone in the first of the really what seemed to me to be the very big ones, and we were building a block of units up, where now that, the jewel and and, Oh, yeah, all of that is where we were building, a Spanish joint which is next door ordered. I can't think what the name of it was.
00;18;25;14 - 00;18;53;00
Paul
Anyway, that was when the cyclone hit and I was like, I'll be an apprentice. Then 15 or 16 years of age. And I remember working overnight. We had to work through the nights because, the, the, the build up, Hughie, Hughie Ashton, his name was, he was he was getting semi-trailer loads of, vessel blocks to throw over the over into the ocean to try and shore up because the, the waves were coming into the.
00;18;53;00 - 00;18;54;02
Tappa
And washing the building and.
00;18;54;05 - 00;19;07;13
Paul
Yeah, coming into the underside of the, the building make a noise. That was the name of the the name of the place. I believe it's still there. It's still there. So. Yeah. So, so yeah, we worked a number of nights, which, you know, was great because you're getting tired.
00;19;07;13 - 00;19;13;05
Tappa
So at this time we you're still surfing and like, doing it competitive surfing away into that much day by then.
00;19;13;10 - 00;19;35;21
Paul
Yeah. Well, well at that, at that stage I would, I'd surf in the morning before work. At work, I used to take like a, half hour and surf just straight out because I was working on high rises on the beach all along, and I beach and all along, surfers Garfield Terrace and that area. And I would take a time aboard to work, and I'd surf, you know, 15 or 20 minutes at lunchtime.
00;19;35;23 - 00;20;03;03
Paul
And, fortunately, Hughie was was good to me. Whenever I had events on, he would let me go and, because I'd had sort of that early success and then and then I, you know, I went to, junior state title of a men's state title. And, and then we were doing sort of numerous other events up and down the coast and anything that was sort of major, he would he would let me sort of take the, you know, a few days off to be able to get there because we'd have to drive in.
00;20;03;05 - 00;20;08;26
Tappa
71 was a really good year for it, wasn't it? You won one. The was at the Rip Curl Pro then at Bill's.
00;20;08;26 - 00;20;12;27
Paul
No no no no. The Rip Curl probably didn't start until around about 74 I think.
00;20;13;02 - 00;20;14;29
Tappa
But it was it. But you want a belt. You've got a belt.
00;20;15;00 - 00;20;36;08
Paul
Yeah yeah yeah yeah I've got a bill. And yeah that that year I'd, I'd well the way that came about was, was was, was pretty much because the year before, the February in 1970, that was when I finished my apprenticeship. I'd finished just that Christmas before. So the whole plan was to go to Hawaii.
00;20;36;10 - 00;20;56;17
Paul
And so Rick and myself and another mate, Ida, we were all going to why come February and, right at the last minute, they both both pulled out for various reasons. And so and so I went, well, I'm going, you know, I'm going no matter what. I was 19 years of age and I just finished an apprenticeship and I was going to.
00;20;56;17 - 00;20;58;20
Paul
Why not? There was nothing was stop.
00;20;58;20 - 00;21;05;08
Tappa
And what was what gave you that motivation was the the surf movies. You had seen or the magazines or what?
00;21;05;11 - 00;21;15;01
Paul
Yeah, it's all of that, you know, it was the whole, you know, the whole, essence of Hawaii being like, you know, the, you know, sort of the heartbeat of it.
00;21;15;01 - 00;21;17;26
Tappa
All, the proving ground to be, to put yourself against all.
00;21;18;02 - 00;21;37;15
Paul
That proving ground and just and just I'd sort of I'd, I'd work so hard towards it. I'd been saving. I'd been saving and and, you know, I just there was just no, no stopping me. And so, so. Yeah. February I flew to flew to Hawaii and, met up with Malcolm as was just finishing up a trip with Peter June.
00;21;37;17 - 00;21;48;11
Paul
And I'd been staying at, Randy Rick's house at Haleiwa. And, so I sort of bunked in there and rented a room for the, for the month, and, and Keith Paul was still there at that time. He had a.
00;21;48;11 - 00;22;02;05
Tappa
Month in Hawaii. That'd be awesome, because I remember when I went to Hawaii, because I was only there for two weeks and Shane gets mad, you gotta go at least a month, maybe three months. Yeah, you really get it. And did you find that that was like that month helped you sort of adjust to it?
00;22;02;07 - 00;22;20;06
Paul
Absolutely. Because we lived it, however. And so I could surf halibut every day. And as it turns out, you know, all those years or, you know, a year later or over a year later, that's where I win the event and how I ever. But but yeah, you know, Keith Paul was good to me. We went surfing.
00;22;20;06 - 00;22;43;02
Paul
He took me out the back of sunset. We sat on the hill. He he pointed out, you know where the north swells come in the west swell. You know how it all looks and feels in the water. And we'd surf sunset. And we got in and surf part and, you know, part was sort of always crowded. But, you know, obviously now it's just out, out of, out of control and, you know, it's just downright, you know, problems are dangerous.
00;22;43;02 - 00;22;50;21
Paul
Why? If, you know, I hit my head there in the park Masters, I got 40 stitches. So it's it can hurt, you know? So,
00;22;50;23 - 00;22;54;28
Tappa
So when you was, when you went to war, I. That was, what, 70 did you say?
00;22;55;01 - 00;22;56;19
Paul
Yeah. 1970 and February.
00;22;56;19 - 00;23;03;26
Tappa
17th. That was. That was, well, short. But board revolution, it happened. So it was like we're on sort of modern, more modern shape.
00;23;03;29 - 00;23;25;01
Paul
Yeah. I, you know, I wasn't writing mail. The mail thing just just ended, you know, because drew and was had won the Makaha in 1968 or 69 and he'd won that like on a medal. And, and so, yeah, the boards had changed to be sort of more, more gun type boards. But of course, I didn't have any boards to take at that point.
00;23;25;04 - 00;23;53;29
Paul
So, Keith had boards, Randy had boards. I just sort of borrowed some boards and sort of got on with it and, surfed there for a month and then, and then came home and went back the following year. Oh, sorry. Later that year, went back and surfed, surfed again, and then and then went again the year after that in February, and then came home after that and then surfed in at bells and and won the event in 71.
00;23;54;01 - 00;24;20;06
Paul
And then after that we went to the world title, which, which Jimmy Bliss won in 1972. The which was, you know, again the following year after that, in 1972. We went in September to the world titles, and that's when we all came back to a Y. And that was in, September, October, we built some boards.
00;24;20;06 - 00;24;27;24
Paul
Rick and I built some boards because by then, you know, Rick had come, to a y a couple of times. We built some.
00;24;27;24 - 00;24;33;07
Tappa
Boards, and he taught years shape and also taught Rick Sharp and glass and, you know, glass.
00;24;33;09 - 00;24;42;29
Paul
Well, Rick at work for Hennessy and I had been a champion there. I'd ridden boards for, but honestly before that, as far as learning to glass, that was just kind of, you know, you.
00;24;42;29 - 00;24;43;16
Tappa
Just had to do.
00;24;43;16 - 00;24;44;20
Paul
It, just had to.
00;24;44;23 - 00;24;51;24
Tappa
Well, Laurie Hollis, he. How many people went through Ronnie's factory? Hi. It's amazing when you look at the names it went through. When I see it now.
00;24;51;24 - 00;25;06;01
Paul
That's right. Yeah. You know, heaps and heaps. And of course, that late 60s was the surfboard revolution where all the brands came up, you know, Nipper Williams, Ron Wyden, you know, well, you know, Richard was there building boards with, I believe he was with.
00;25;06;01 - 00;25;06;16
Tappa
Shot.
00;25;06;16 - 00;25;31;03
Paul
With with Nipper and shot and shine, of course, shine Steadman's shine surfboards and that whole Mermaid Beach thing really, really started to rage. And then, and then Ken Surfboards, I was, I, I then moved to Ken Surfboards prior to that. And it was in 1971 when, when, when I when they started entitled right after that, Rick and I moved out on our own and started building surfboards at Mermaid Beach.
00;25;31;07 - 00;25;46;17
Tappa
And started the Brothers Nelson brand, the iconic brand in which behind you there, we've got one of those iconic stickers. It's on real. And I got to say that my dad, it was well, I remember going up to one of your shops when I was a kid because dad always said, he goes, I had one board at Rick Nelson.
00;25;46;17 - 00;26;01;15
Tappa
Challenge is the best board I have had. And he goes, you know, I've used to get boards often on that, but I guess not that one of the best board ever, but there was nothing that was small enough about the size I was in the shop, I tell you that. But, but my yeah, had a great reputation, Brother Nelson.
00;26;01;15 - 00;26;05;13
Tappa
So then from then on, were you on Rick's boards from, from about then on, was it.
00;26;05;14 - 00;26;32;08
Paul
Well, well, what had happened is Reagan, who come back from the world titles in California, which, as I say, Jimmy had won and Pete had got second. And, thing was David new ever got got third at that at the Oceanside, event. And it was a huge, huge event. We all came back. The Australian team, by and large, came back to, to Hawaii because everyone wanted one of those surfer y.
00;26;32;10 - 00;26;56;16
Paul
Rick and I, we went into town and built some boards and, and started surfing that, you know, the 72 seas and pretty much back from there October. And, we were living in this funny little house with, within cans and, you know, dapper and Mark Warren and and, that, chatty and his and his girlfriend Cheryl had sort of got this house and we were all sort of living there.
00;26;56;16 - 00;27;22;18
Paul
And there was Dick earlier off the. So if the if the walls could talk because you illustrate is right at the end of sunset on the village and so on. And so if you walk down that street, you know, you look right, and you see VLT land and and, you know, you walk left and you sort of head down the back doors and, and into sunset and, yeah, if, if the walls could talk, I'd tell you that's funny.
00;27;22;21 - 00;27;22;28
Tappa
On the.
00;27;23;00 - 00;27;24;28
Paul
Benches. Yeah. It was just a funny.
00;27;25;00 - 00;27;34;07
Tappa
We just got backtrack a bit. My first bell. How was that when you were that? Because that was the only what, the, third year of professional contest. It had gone on before that, but.
00;27;34;10 - 00;27;36;07
Paul
Yeah. Well, see, it wasn't professional then.
00;27;36;08 - 00;27;37;01
Tappa
Wasn't professional?
00;27;37;06 - 00;27;55;11
Paul
No, that was 1971 and that and, I didn't get I didn't get the bell until much later. I had to back up because they had this sort of thing where they when I went through the history and they said all of a sudden people didn't get a bell. So I only got my bell in a round about, oh, geez.
00;27;55;11 - 00;27;59;28
Paul
I've got to remember now. I gave it to me around about 25 years ago. So, I mean, well.
00;27;59;29 - 00;28;01;12
Tappa
That's still good. My job.
00;28;01;14 - 00;28;12;04
Paul
I was still great. It was it was, during the event they did the awards. Yeah. I think that hadn't got one or I hadn't got one. There was, maybe one hadn't got one from one of those early coins.
00;28;12;05 - 00;28;13;04
Tappa
Which, which is. Yeah.
00;28;13;04 - 00;28;16;15
Paul
And, and so what I did is I just sort of picked up and it was great. Yeah.
00;28;16;16 - 00;28;25;01
Tappa
Yeah. That's awesome. Now, well might say the season 72. Yeah. You're a young black from Australia. How old were you. What. 21.
00;28;25;04 - 00;28;28;26
Paul
Year, 2021. Yeah. Well, I had my 21st birthday there.
00;28;28;29 - 00;28;30;08
Speaker 3
Oh. So. Yeah.
00;28;30;14 - 00;28;41;02
Tappa
Nice stories about that one. But, mate, that must have, That must have been a very exciting time for you. And you're in the, the Smirnoff. That was it. That was a the one.
00;28;41;08 - 00;28;55;13
Paul
Well, the Smirnoff was considered because of the prior world title. Well, it was called the World Program. And and the, it was considered, you know, the number one event worldwide because of the prize money. You know, it was invitational.
00;28;55;13 - 00;28;56;29
Tappa
5,000 USD.
00;28;56;29 - 00;28;58;28
Paul
5,000 USD for first year.
00;28;59;00 - 00;29;02;27
Tappa
All right. That'd be that'd be like a new car or more than that, wouldn't it be?
00;29;03;00 - 00;29;12;07
Paul
Well, well, well as a as a as a person said to me afterwards you could buy a push, you know, you could go into town and buy a Porsche. I went, yeah, yeah. With the.
00;29;12;07 - 00;29;13;15
Speaker 3
Price money. Yeah.
00;29;13;20 - 00;29;17;12
Paul
It wouldn't, it wouldn't have been a 911 but it would have been a boxer or something.
00;29;17;16 - 00;29;22;04
Tappa
So how would the wise tell us about that. Well was it the either one day it was either a few days.
00;29;22;04 - 00;29;26;02
Paul
Yeah. Yeah. Well I guess the first part of the story is that I didn't get an invitation.
00;29;26;09 - 00;29;29;11
Tappa
And so you needed invite to get it. You could just rock up.
00;29;29;13 - 00;29;54;17
Paul
Yeah. You had to be invited. And they were the, the, or I hadn't received an invitation, and I was pretty dirty because I was Australian champion and and because they world titles were taken over two years. I'd got first in the first, year, and in the second year I'd come fourth in Sydney and, so I'd sort of had out of the two years the points to lead, you know, into the, into the world titles.
00;29;54;20 - 00;29;59;12
Paul
And I didn't do any good in the world titles. It just the surfboards just we just weren't.
00;29;59;13 - 00;30;01;02
Tappa
Well, that was what was really small.
00;30;01;02 - 00;30;21;17
Paul
One that was really, really tiny. And the wives were very weak. And we just weren't, weren't we just didn't have boards for it. And that's when all of the twin fins and fishes and all that started coming out, new wave was building. And anyway, so yeah, I had to get an invitation. And of course, I had a, you know, I wrote letters to to, to,
00;30;21;20 - 00;30;35;28
Paul
Oh, God. What's his name? You know, the senator, the guy that that ran it with Randy Rarick? He's not just. He's not just escaped me for my. Yeah, but. Yeah, but I, you know. Right, right. Let Fred Hemmings, that's Fred Hemmings.
00;30;35;28 - 00;30;36;17
Tappa
Oh. That's right.
00;30;36;17 - 00;30;58;17
Paul
Yeah. So Fred Hemmings was was the event. Promoter. And anyway, you know, he, he finally sort of someone pulled out or something and, and, and I got in and, and it's a one day event, you know, there's four heats of, 624 surfers. And, it was, you know, very two big at sunset.
00;30;58;17 - 00;31;04;25
Paul
And so they moved it to maleeva. And maleeva was, you know, you know what I to ten.
00;31;05;02 - 00;31;11;29
Tappa
That's a pretty intimidating place because with the reverse sweep and everything and getting positioning. But I suppose you'd had practice as well.
00;31;11;29 - 00;31;30;23
Paul
As I said earlier, I'd live there for, for that first month that I went to a war and I served however, day in, day out and it served avalanche, you know, the big left hand that saw that. And so I had I had tons of experience there and I, I didn't feel in any way sort of new to the sport or intimidated or anything like that.
00;31;30;26 - 00;31;55;05
Paul
And and, you know, going back to where Rickard built this, surfboard in, in Honolulu earlier in the year, and, we'd built a couple large, actually, and, I had this one, this one particular board, this big, big red board, eight foot. And, I had to ride and everything because that was sort of the board that I had, and it just sort of went magic when magic at, at sunset went magic at at lever.
00;31;55;08 - 00;32;17;16
Paul
And, yeah. So I just had this, this fantastic board and, and, you know, yourself, anyone that sort of competed it at a high level, the difference between an excellent board and a great board is miles. It's just. Yeah. You know, like when you get an excellent board, you just feel as though you've doubled your UAW performance. You know.
00;32;17;19 - 00;32;22;12
Tappa
It's oh, I've got one of those boards that even though it's old and beaten up, it's still magic.
00;32;22;19 - 00;32;39;00
Paul
Yeah. Well, I currently go back to a 66 that I've got and I've had I must have had half a dozen other boards since and I, and I've just gone back to that one because I go and I always keep thinking it's too small for me, it's too thin, it's too this, it's too that. And then I ride it and I go, no it's not.
00;32;39;01 - 00;32;41;03
Paul
It was the wife's last time I got sick of it, you know.
00;32;41;04 - 00;32;46;06
Tappa
And how was the final might of that, that because you've obviously the what was it, six man heights.
00;32;46;08 - 00;32;47;18
Paul
Yeah. That was six man heights.
00;32;47;18 - 00;32;50;00
Tappa
I had like quarter semi finals.
00;32;50;04 - 00;33;14;25
Paul
Yeah yeah yeah it was, it was first round hate semifinal and then a final. And I mean I remember that day, you know, pretty vividly. And we're in the final and there's the six of us in there. There's myself, there's Jeff Hackman, dapper, and I think there might be Sammy Hawke, Tiger Spear and, Barry, can I pony?
00;33;14;27 - 00;33;26;13
Paul
And, we're out there and, you know, the first couple of wives go. And what I would do is I had a, like, a Boston Whaler in the lineup would come around and tell you all the placings.
00;33;26;13 - 00;33;27;12
Tappa
Well, that's about it.
00;33;27;15 - 00;33;34;01
Paul
Yeah, yeah. Boston while about. Yeah, yeah. That they'd come around and I had the camera crew in there and all that sort of stuff because.
00;33;34;03 - 00;33;34;27
Tappa
That was filmed as.
00;33;34;27 - 00;34;02;25
Paul
Well. Yeah, they're all on. It was all on ABC TV in the United States. American Broadcasting Commission and that was one of the shots. And I want to bring in. It's got a helicopter, you know, with that, the camera crew out of the window and so on. Anyway, they're out there and, and, and, you know, you go through the first round of things, you know, he goes, you know, pink in first, I'm wearing pink and he goes, you know, such and such in second and such and such in third.
00;34;02;28 - 00;34;16;13
Paul
And then and I think Hackman was wearing wearing blue or white, whatever. And it says, you know, and, blue because Hackman was the big worry. Yeah. He was, he was he was the guy to beat on the North Shore for, for many.
00;34;16;13 - 00;34;17;22
Tappa
Events at any venue.
00;34;17;24 - 00;34;43;00
Paul
Almost at any, any venue. Yeah. Particularly sunset. Sunset. Why me and Hal. Aviva Jeff was the one to date. And as the final went on, I think it was about 45 minutes, or an hour after the final. He was he was creeping up, you know, and the colors would go around and every time, every time they'd say, you know, pink in first and, and then blue and being in third.
00;34;43;00 - 00;35;14;04
Paul
And then with about five minutes to go dapper, I'd been in second. And, you know, the vote came around and with about five minutes to go, it said, you know, blue and second all went, oh, here he comes. You know, it's it's honest. He's gonna, you know, he's going to get me, you know, fortunately the fortunately the the clock ran out and and yeah, I can tell you, it's, you know, when when I did the presentation, I turned to Jeff, and, and I said to him, I said, man, I man, you know, three long eights and halibut.
00;35;14;09 - 00;35;17;16
Paul
And you said earlier, there's that big rip that goes right through the line up.
00;35;17;20 - 00;35;19;28
Tappa
And it's gone. It's dragging you out, not in.
00;35;19;28 - 00;35;32;12
Paul
Yeah, it's dragging you and it's dragging you deeper in, in towards the river mouth. And you paddle, all you do is paddle. And three, you know, three hours of surfing in that plus warm up heats in the morning and all, you.
00;35;32;12 - 00;35;37;16
Tappa
Know, and it's a thing people don't realize that I hate takes a lot more at it. You know, surf.
00;35;37;19 - 00;35;48;08
Paul
There's a heap more stress that, you know, because, you know, you sort of you're running on adrenaline. And I was exhausted. And I turned to Jeff and I said, Jeff, I'm exhausted. Aren't you tired?
00;35;48;08 - 00;35;49;16
Speaker 3
You know, any day he just.
00;35;49;16 - 00;35;51;16
Paul
Looked at me like I was weird.
00;35;51;18 - 00;35;53;11
Tappa
That's what's wrong with you asses.
00;35;53;14 - 00;35;54;13
Speaker 3
Yeah, yeah, I.
00;35;54;13 - 00;35;57;11
Paul
Was I was completely and utterly unbothered. But hey, but you.
00;35;57;11 - 00;35;57;28
Tappa
Got the win.
00;35;58;05 - 00;35;59;28
Paul
But I got the winning. Yeah. That's right.
00;35;59;29 - 00;36;02;10
Tappa
And what'd you do with the five grand? Right.
00;36;02;13 - 00;36;04;08
Paul
Well, I came home, bought a house.
00;36;04;10 - 00;36;23;14
Tappa
Well, that's what Richard did with his. Well, he got 1500 bucks, so he said it was a 10% deposit on a house and land at at my mom at, doing parade Miami. So we worked. Yeah, it was about 150 grand. So you must have been able to buy a house out right now. Only with five grand.
00;36;23;17 - 00;36;43;01
Paul
Now, it was, what our house we first bought, which is in Kelly Street, which is near. Near where your caravan park. Where your dad's caravan park was. That cost about 7500. So. So it was, I don't know, seven, nine off Grand deposit or something like that. So whatever it is I put down, I might have put down more.
00;36;43;07 - 00;36;44;10
Paul
Yeah, I can't remember.
00;36;44;10 - 00;36;45;04
Tappa
But that's on rent.
00;36;45;09 - 00;36;46;06
Speaker 3
To us.
00;36;46;08 - 00;36;58;22
Tappa
And that's cool. Yeah. And that you bought that was we actually. Well I, I have to mention your beautiful wife, Karen Karen Phillips, so I actually, I, when I first met Karen, she was Karen Phillips. I think it was it's,
00;36;58;25 - 00;36;59;22
Paul
Karen. James.
00;36;59;23 - 00;37;00;17
Tappa
Okay. Jane.
00;37;00;17 - 00;37;01;15
Paul
So John.
00;37;01;18 - 00;37;21;25
Tappa
Phillips. James. Cameron. I'm sorry. Karen. And, I was a long time ago, but also the Miami Boardriders meeting. I think it was 72. Or maybe, I don't know, or maybe not. Maybe. And, and Dennis Callanan had, a Ryan show to talk about deportment. Yes. And and you know what you do when you take a lady out, and this is how you say it.
00;37;21;25 - 00;37;24;20
Speaker 3
And so the service. Yeah, it was, that was.
00;37;24;25 - 00;37;32;26
Tappa
It was pretty funny. But I mentioned that the Dion King about 30 years later and you guys. Oh yeah that was great. I got it right from that.
00;37;32;29 - 00;37;39;05
Speaker 3
00000000 you know.
00;37;39;05 - 00;37;43;06
Tappa
Oh. But my what is that. Well when did you meet Karen, by the way.
00;37;43;08 - 00;38;04;17
Paul
Well, I'd known Karen, obviously, for a long time, from sort of the mid 70s and in the late in sort of the mid to late 70s, she actually worked for us in the store and in Service Paradise. And then, I was in Sydney in, about 1978 and she was, she was going to leave and move to Sydney.
00;38;04;24 - 00;38;17;14
Paul
Her father had lived in Sydney and, she was going to move and, and move down there and work down there and etc., etc.. And, we were having a party. I was with Harry Hodge. We just got back from.
00;38;17;19 - 00;38;18;14
Tappa
The band on the run.
00;38;18;14 - 00;38;37;02
Paul
We had been doing during some of the filming, been on the run, which we'd sort of started back in about 1975, 76, and we'd been in Africa and Europe and etc., and we were back at Harry's place, sort of regrouping to do that balance of the trip to go to go and do sort of the finale part of it.
00;38;37;04 - 00;38;45;21
Paul
And and. Yeah, and Karen came over, so I, I met her in Sydney. I'm sorry. Yeah. So yeah. So she came over for a party and we sort of met there, and, and.
00;38;45;21 - 00;38;49;03
Tappa
The rest is history and the rest is history from the capital, you know, like.
00;38;49;04 - 00;38;52;27
Paul
Well, with that. Yeah. We've been married since 1979, so it's.
00;38;52;29 - 00;38;54;05
Tappa
Yeah, that's pretty awesome.
00;38;54;08 - 00;38;55;18
Paul
45, 46 years.
00;38;55;18 - 00;39;15;17
Tappa
So that's really cool. Yeah. But between that it would have been, but it would have been had a bit of fun, like in Hawaii, they say so, but basically everything tells me, I reckon that you were kind of fearless in Hawaii, like you used to just go and just airdrop straight down. What sort of where did that come from?
00;39;15;17 - 00;39;22;18
Tappa
Because obviously the Gold Coast isn't like a a massive white venue, is you? Just what do you put that Dante.
00;39;22;20 - 00;39;34;20
Paul
I don't know, I just, I just, I love drawing big waves, so I just, I just love the, I mean, it's a, I don't know whether you've ridden Big Sunset or. Nah, it's.
00;39;34;23 - 00;39;37;03
Tappa
Only eight foot, but that's tiny.
00;39;37;05 - 00;39;38;22
Paul
Yeah, well, well, you know,
00;39;38;24 - 00;39;40;15
Tappa
My eight foot, not there eight foot.
00;39;40;22 - 00;40;11;27
Paul
It's a, it's a, it's an amazing, great thrill. It's like it's like Waimea. Like you look at Waimea Bay and, and, you sort of think, oh, well, it's just a real short, you know, just a little sort of like a one section take off. And that's all it is. But if you ask anyone that's ridden it, when you stand up and you and you, you know, you get going, like, first of all, you got chop chop, you know, two foot three foot high, you know, and and you're going blind, you know, you can't see because the amount of spray.
00;40;11;29 - 00;40;27;25
Paul
And then when you get over the lip and you take the drop and you start to grind a grind it, turn it, I can tell you that anyone that surfed big Waimea, it's the longest wall you've ever seen. Wow. And you do not think you're gonna make it. You just don't. You just. All you do is you just.
00;40;27;28 - 00;40;40;16
Paul
You just look and you just go, oh, my God. Because of the height of the wave. Yeah, it it confuses the length of it, you know, but you just, you just you just feel you can't turn. You can't turn enough, but you do.
00;40;40;19 - 00;40;46;19
Tappa
Well, when I think I saw a sunset, I see coming off the bottom is the hardest thing to do. This that.
00;40;46;19 - 00;40;48;13
Paul
Much. What a beautiful place to be.
00;40;48;20 - 00;41;04;27
Tappa
Oh, this is lovely, I love it. That's my favorite place. When I went there, even though I didn't get it that big. It's such a beauty and it's so far out. Nobody really tells you that it's that far out just to paddle out there. It's like paddling from, Miami nearly to Berkeley. It's.
00;41;05;02 - 00;41;29;05
Paul
Yeah, it's a it's a bit it's a big, big paddle. But you know, those two wives, Haleiwa and Sunset, they were my absolute favorite wives in Hawaii. And still, I surfed sunset, back when I, when I went to a y with my boys and so on was for Danny's wedding, and, and, I was 70 and and surfed surf sunset and saw some old guys, and that out there.
00;41;29;05 - 00;41;49;15
Paul
And my boys were stoked because I did have a board from, from, Hamilton, from Billy, from Billy Hamilton and, I was a male because I'd always wanted a male. I'd had an earlier male of his, and now he made a really good mouse. And so I picked up this board. And so I tried that out there and work worked fine, was great.
00;41;49;18 - 00;41;59;05
Tappa
But, when I was at sunset, there was guys that younger than what, younger than 70, and they all had flotation vests on. We attempted the guy for the flotation mates.
00;41;59;05 - 00;42;27;21
Paul
Right now I know, but but it was a rising swell and and I was out there with, with Chris and, and my youngest son Matt and and it was a rising swell and it was, you know, it's a good solid sort of ten, ten, 12ft, I suppose. And, and, you know, I it was, you know, you could sort of tell on I knew from experience, even though I hadn't surfed in, in quite a few years, I knew or went, it's time to get out of here because I could get in trouble, you know.
00;42;27;25 - 00;42;37;18
Tappa
Well, I remember King dying. King again. He was telling me he surfed it once, and he got caught in the rise and swell and couldn't get in that position. I think he couldn't catch the wave to get in.
00;42;37;18 - 00;42;39;27
Paul
Well, I'll tell you a story if you've got time.
00;42;39;28 - 00;42;41;25
Tappa
Oh, we've always got time here at the graveyard.
00;42;42;02 - 00;42;53;13
Paul
So this goes back to illustrate, right. We're all in this man kangaroo and and, you know, dapper and, you know, a funny crew, you know, like, we are having a.
00;42;53;18 - 00;42;54;12
Tappa
Good ol voice.
00;42;54;12 - 00;43;17;00
Paul
Yeah. 100 Laughs we've been on you know, we've been in California where now you know why. And I'd, I'd been in town, doing something a lot of with rigged with some boards or something rather. And the die kangaroo or kangaroo I the day before in Cairns and I had gone into town to do whatever it was we're doing, I can't recall.
00;43;17;03 - 00;43;35;19
Paul
And, we drove past sunset and it was absolutely perfect, but we had to go and we were picking up some boards or something, and we had to go. We had to go into town. We drove past was perfect. So the next morning, the next morning we wake up and we are, you know, we've been in town all day yesterday.
00;43;35;20 - 00;43;55;14
Paul
Everyone's raving how good the waves were. We missed out. And so we are down at sunset. We look at it. It's clean. It looks identically the same right as the as the morning before. There's no one out. And so we just go and we just jump it. We jump in the rip. And as we're paddling out we kind of go on.
00;43;55;16 - 00;43;58;29
Paul
There is this is the rips pretty big. You know, there's a lot.
00;43;58;29 - 00;43;59;19
Tappa
Of water moving.
00;43;59;20 - 00;44;15;11
Paul
There's a lot of water moving. And you know, you know when the rips that big and it's all moving. And so so we get out there and of course, you know, by now we're starting to deal with sets and it's like, it's really, really out of control. It's too big for sunset, it's out of control.
00;44;15;11 - 00;44;15;26
Tappa
And you're out.
00;44;15;26 - 00;44;22;01
Paul
There and we're there's him and me out there, and we're just paddle around trying to get out of the way. You know? Get out of the.
00;44;22;01 - 00;44;23;28
Tappa
Way of his eyes. West sets absolutely.
00;44;23;28 - 00;44;42;14
Paul
Evil. Yeah. And it was, you know, kind of had this whole evil thing which we hadn't seen because it was glossy or pretty glossy, you know, just, you know, watercolors. Beautiful was a bright, sunny day, and but it was just monstrous anyway, you know, I told him, I say, look, you know, congrats. Every man for himself. You know.
00;44;42;14 - 00;44;46;18
Speaker 3
Me. Yeah, yeah, we,
00;44;46;20 - 00;45;06;08
Paul
Excuse me. We've got to, you know, it's like, you know, I'm just going to catch a wave and get it, you know, because this is it was truly dangerous. And, Anyway, so. So I get this wave, and I, I go in, and he was still sort of paddling over on to the north. He was trying to sort of get a wave out of there.
00;45;06;10 - 00;45;11;06
Paul
Anyway, I went in, went home, got the cereal announced, and I started having breakfast.
00;45;11;13 - 00;45;12;16
Speaker 3
The whole thing.
00;45;12;18 - 00;45;17;29
Paul
And, got about an hour later. You know, I'm sort of guaranteed you want to be a kangaroo.
00;45;18;02 - 00;45;22;14
Speaker 3
Anyway, he walks in the door for this giant.
00;45;22;17 - 00;45;22;25
Paul
You know.
00;45;22;26 - 00;45;24;19
Speaker 3
Full on look, you know.
00;45;24;21 - 00;45;42;22
Paul
He's broad under his arm and he's got it's like someone had, like, a spoon, a teaspoon that was rise a sharp and took chunks out of him. He had he had all chunks out of him. And what had happened is, is but he was still he had a he had a smile on his face. Oh, that's all it was.
00;45;42;22 - 00;46;01;22
Paul
Laughter because he was pretty indestructible. All kanga. Yeah. And, Yeah, he he I stood there all forlorn and he sat to explain what happened, and he said it just got taken over on to the on onto the north peak. I remember the shallows part of the reef quarter where I've just got smashed, dragged over the reef and the whole.
00;46;01;25 - 00;46;06;10
Paul
Oh, just he was just cut the big bloody gashes out of him.
00;46;06;13 - 00;46;07;21
Tappa
But he got in a lifetime.
00;46;07;21 - 00;46;08;17
Paul
But he got in a lot.
00;46;08;18 - 00;46;15;05
Tappa
Because that's a lot of the thing. It's I tell me at sunset, as well, when it's big like that, it's actually getting in. It's really hard, particularly if you lose your board.
00;46;15;05 - 00;46;32;26
Paul
Well, you know, because you got a false reef on the inside, you know, you've got to dodge that. And anyway, the dodge it on the fire, like looking at the surf on the far right of that or you dodge it on the left of that, but dodging it on the left, coming in through the rip. If it's really big, that rip is big and strong.
00;46;32;29 - 00;46;49;23
Paul
And and the waves on that shore bright can be overhead. You know, they're not, they're not. It's not why I'm here. Sure. Bright. Yeah. But it it can be overhead and it can smash you. You know, you've seen I'm sure you've seen film of guys trying to get off the beach and. Oh and that's of course, where all the tourists just get the sand on the beach.
00;46;49;24 - 00;46;50;11
Paul
Next minute they're.
00;46;50;11 - 00;46;52;00
Tappa
Gone and they're washed out to sea, and.
00;46;52;00 - 00;47;07;16
Paul
They're washed out to sea. And, in one of the early events, I lost a surfboard. Was during the event. But the the boat wouldn't get it because I had the film crew aboard and I'm screaming out, give them a board, grab me! Because I had swum in and not realized that my board was in the rip and going out.
00;47;07;18 - 00;47;09;20
Tappa
Oh, it it it would have ended up in Malaysia.
00;47;09;20 - 00;47;27;18
Paul
Why wouldn't it ended up somewhere? I don't know where, but it was Hackman's board. It was one of Hackman's boards and it was the favorite board. And we were we were kind of sharing it and I lost it. And I've, you know, he's forgiven me since. But but yeah, I haven't forgiven myself because it was such a fantastic board.
00;47;27;20 - 00;47;48;09
Tappa
And then and then not long after that. This is something I want to talk about, that I'm you good, mate. Mouch, I'm a story about busting down the door in Rab. Seeing it was all this evil stuff going on between the Hawaiians and Australians. You know, Boggs came in, and he's, you know, Muhammad Ali. Look, with the boxing gloves and, you know, and and there was a bit going on in Hawaii then on that.
00;47;48;09 - 00;47;54;03
Tappa
It was pretty hectic. Like Sean Thompson signing was sleeping and sleeping with a gun under his pillow and all that sort of.
00;47;54;03 - 00;48;17;02
Paul
Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, I guess I was there just those few years before and had had formed relationships with, with, with the like House and, and others, Ricky, Greg and so on. And we when we first went there, we lived we lived on I not not the first time I went, but we lived in a group who illustrates how we sort of made friends with the locals around.
00;48;17;02 - 00;48;18;27
Paul
There was a sort of LG land all the time.
00;48;19;04 - 00;48;20;23
Tappa
And fantasy land was pretty heavy back then.
00;48;20;23 - 00;48;47;25
Paul
One building I was heavy with very can I puny surf there? All right. And so and so. I knew Barry well and, you know, it surfed with him in the event and and so, you know, I knew him prior to the product, you know, those early through him from those early sessions, you know, I knew him and knew the icons and and so I never had a problem, you know, with, with that whole thing, but simply because I was there in those, those couple of years before that.
00;48;47;27 - 00;49;09;07
Paul
But pretty much what, what happened was, right after, right after sort of the, the 72 period 73 and so on. You know, I'd go back to sunset and you'd go there and you go, man, I man, what's happened? There was like 100 Australians in the water, you know, like it was like Maroubra had just hit the North Shore.
00;49;09;07 - 00;49;11;20
Tappa
So every Aussie worth its salt said, I'm gonna lie.
00;49;11;21 - 00;49;33;22
Paul
Yeah. It just kind to Hawaii. It sort of hit that that next generation and every everyone was going and so you know and and I guess you kind of you know there's there's not a lot of understanding of aloha spirit. There's not a lot of aloha going on. And so, there's not a lot of aloha giving back.
00;49;33;24 - 00;49;34;24
Speaker 3
And
00;49;34;26 - 00;49;46;01
Paul
And so, you know, yeah. Well, you know, all during that furor and that, you know, Eddie came around to the unit one night where we were staying at the Eddie Ark.
00;49;46;02 - 00;49;46;09
Tappa
Out.
00;49;46;09 - 00;50;04;20
Paul
Yeah, the Curry Lima, and knocked on the door and said, you know, it's pool air. And, you know, I came out and said, like, we've got to stop, you know, we've got to stop all this. It's getting, you know, very, very serious. And so, so yeah, it was sort of a thing that, you know, it wasn't the ikos, you know, that that was sort of saying that, you know, now we.
00;50;04;25 - 00;50;25;12
Paul
Yeah, you know, we're not doing this. We're not, you know, here's just signing me. It's going on, and you need to be careful, but, you know, it's you had to tell these people that they can't just be out there dropping in and taking wives and, you know, etcetera, etcetera, show respect by saying, yeah, yeah, show respect and and, yeah.
00;50;25;12 - 00;50;28;25
Tappa
So that's and your dad was a made a video across dad as well.
00;50;28;27 - 00;50;29;14
Paul
That's. Yeah.
00;50;29;14 - 00;50;31;07
Tappa
They went to Hawaii with you tell you all man.
00;50;31;09 - 00;50;50;18
Paul
Well yeah. The year after one, after I won the Smirnoff my father came, my mother came, and, we all, you know, stayed out there on that. Well, my mother was coming. Shaking. She came a bit lighter. My father stayed in town with her, but yeah, the first year my father came just on his own, and, and we stayed at the North Shore there.
00;50;50;18 - 00;51;20;03
Paul
Right. Right there where Bernie Baker's house was. We had a house right next door to Ricky. Greg. And, it was smack bang there, just on the beach at sunset. Back where all the houses start as you as you head back towards back doors and bells, you land and, Yeah. You know, we used to drink beers in the yard in the afternoon with the cows, and we go off into town into Punch Punchbowl and and go and say, you know, all Sol and, mama, I cow.
00;51;20;03 - 00;51;28;00
Paul
And they'd be playing guitars and trying to feed us their, you know, their cocktail, which was called swipe.
00;51;28;02 - 00;51;31;13
Tappa
Oh, man. Which is how many swipe is a deadly.
00;51;31;16 - 00;51;54;00
Paul
Well yeah. It's pretty. Pretty whatever it is I don't know. But it's pretty. But it's pretty pretty deadly. Yeah. So so yeah. So, we had sort of this, from that time on because, because my father was there where this sort of family relationship with the orcas. And so, so that kind of made, made a different, you know, in some way, you know, they sort of get that and, yeah.
00;51;54;07 - 00;52;14;10
Paul
So as I say, I never sort of ran into those problems, but I was just there that that year or two prior, you know, and the generation before me was sort of that midget. Yeah. Because I remember one every Aussie, I'm sure I'm sure I saw a midget walking up the beach from from pipeline. And, he has to go there and February as well, because that was kind of the best month.
00;52;14;12 - 00;52;17;29
Paul
You get the best stuff. Everyone had had a gut full of surf. Everyone's a bit.
00;52;17;29 - 00;52;22;22
Tappa
Taller. Yeah, that's what everyone says. Never got a Hawaiian van because everybody's angry. Everybody wants a why.
00;52;22;23 - 00;52;23;14
Paul
They're too hungry.
00;52;23;14 - 00;52;26;22
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;52;26;24 - 00;52;32;28
Tappa
I so that that's a so basically you were you and your families kind of broke at some pace with that. Well.
00;52;33;01 - 00;52;54;13
Paul
Yeah. Yeah. In that, in that in that early stages of it and yeah. But I kind of pull back from it from then because, you know, it was, it wasn't really my war, you know. Yeah, it was and it wasn't really the icons as well. It was sort of a that next generation and I never had any problems there.
00;52;54;13 - 00;52;59;13
Paul
And so, yeah, we just sort of let it roll. And I started sort of back out of a war a bit that anyway.
00;52;59;15 - 00;53;10;01
Tappa
Yeah. And of course by then, the Brothers Nelson is, is, the shots and everything, a firing effort. I actually, your first shot was in surfers Paradise, wasn't it?
00;53;10;01 - 00;53;11;24
Paul
Yeah. That's right. Yeah, in the center arcade and.
00;53;11;24 - 00;53;14;12
Tappa
Surfers, $0.25 for a block of wax for.
00;53;14;14 - 00;53;15;11
Paul
$0.24.
00;53;15;11 - 00;53;16;14
Tappa
$0.24?
00;53;16;20 - 00;53;32;02
Paul
$0.24, I believe we still have a block in the. Karen's got a block in collection there. It was called surf Research. Out of out of California. Doesn't look very good near a block of wax. That's. You know what's that? 50, 60 years old.
00;53;32;04 - 00;53;37;10
Tappa
You know, that's it's great to have stuff like that. Yeah. And my, my, my some of the claws and so.
00;53;37;10 - 00;53;38;15
Paul
Yeah. Yeah. My full.
00;53;38;15 - 00;53;39;10
Tappa
Family business.
00;53;39;10 - 00;53;47;14
Paul
Yeah. She is to my boardshorts because there was no one making boardshorts back in those early days. And also to start, I did not those few years after that.
00;53;47;22 - 00;53;55;14
Tappa
You know what's funny? I find like you were the chippy and Rick was the bricklayer. Yeah. Normally expect the bloke who'd be shaven would be the chippy.
00;53;55;19 - 00;53;56;08
Paul
Yeah, yeah.
00;53;56;09 - 00;53;57;29
Tappa
And you ended up down the other way.
00;53;57;29 - 00;54;00;25
Paul
Well, it was because Rick was shaping with to see when I.
00;54;00;25 - 00;54;02;08
Tappa
Was, right when he was still. Yeah.
00;54;02;08 - 00;54;09;29
Paul
Yeah. Because he had finished his apprenticeship and he had gone to work with Hennessy. So. So that was where he learned to shave.
00;54;10;02 - 00;54;24;23
Tappa
That's cool. And. Yeah, yeah, yeah, those boards in the shop were iconic for so long, right? It it was, I just did that with Surfers Paradise. They, you know, that's it's like actually Surfers Paradise. You had a shop in Surfers Paradise that was, you know.
00;54;24;23 - 00;54;30;11
Paul
Yeah. Well, we used to sell boards wholesale. Of course, we used to sell them to to Mark Rich's dad, Ray.
00;54;30;17 - 00;54;31;14
Tappa
All right. Down the cut.
00;54;31;18 - 00;54;37;18
Paul
Yeah, yeah. We used to do drives every Friday. Every Friday night we drive to Newcastle, surf. On the way back, drop.
00;54;37;21 - 00;54;38;02
Tappa
How many.
00;54;38;02 - 00;54;40;23
Paul
Boards? Oh, we drop ten boards off a week to him. Wow.
00;54;40;25 - 00;54;41;23
Tappa
And still on the roof.
00;54;41;26 - 00;54;57;16
Paul
Yeah. Just take them all on the roof or the back and come by vans, you know, whatever whatever it was we had and we'd drive down there, drop the boards off, maybe have a surf there in the morning and then head back and surf and Gary and so on, and then be back at work on Monday. Pretty, pretty sort of brutal.
00;54;57;23 - 00;55;11;13
Tappa
Well, my Rick had a pretty good blocking yourself. That was a as I, test pilot to, to actually to tell you about tell him about the boards as well. So yeah. Did you it probably had a lot of discussions about how boards went and what you could do.
00;55;11;16 - 00;55;32;04
Paul
Yeah. Of course. And, and and as you know, you know, not every board is that magic board or that, you know, an excellent board. And so if we're ever trying to find, you know, the right, the right thing. And so, you know, that whole surfboard revolution in the late 60s and early 70s and even through the 70s up until when, when the thruster, came out.
00;55;32;10 - 00;55;52;28
Paul
Yeah. You know, I remember Jimmy Blaze had come out for the world titles in bells in 1970, and, he, he'd come up to the Gold Coast and stayed up the Gold Coast as it is, like Lopez and Corky Carroll and a bunch of others had come up to the Gold Coast after they were in Victoria, the with the World titles.
00;55;53;00 - 00;56;16;25
Paul
And, Jimmy went back to a war and we'd become friends and we'd cos we'd been going to war and we knew, knew him from Makaha, from the world titles, from Stein at our place. Lord tally, how pleased was his dad? And so we sort of, you know, along with the Bensons, you remember, remember, Colonel Benson, who was a photographer and had the daughters.
00;56;16;28 - 00;56;18;19
Paul
Oh, Becky.
00;56;18;22 - 00;56;20;09
Tappa
Before my time maybe.
00;56;20;09 - 00;56;20;16
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;56;20;16 - 00;56;29;04
Paul
Well, well, you know, he had he had the surfing daughters. Yeah. Becky and. Oh, jeez. I'm going to get killed for this. You're not. Remember?
00;56;29;07 - 00;56;30;14
Tappa
I'm doing pretty well.
00;56;30;14 - 00;56;33;10
Paul
And. Yeah, you wonder about your memories.
00;56;33;10 - 00;56;34;15
Speaker 3
00;56;34;24 - 00;56;38;01
Tappa
But I don't know what happened last week.
00;56;38;04 - 00;56;41;06
Paul
That's a. Yeah, well, that's. We all get that now. Yeah.
00;56;41;08 - 00;56;54;14
Tappa
But but, yeah, my dad sounded like it was an exciting time for. For brothers. Yes. Well, exciting time for you, because, then that then you had the stop as well going on. But you are you retired at, at the, at the 78 stoppage. Was it.
00;56;54;21 - 00;57;18;15
Paul
Well, I, I'd sort of been, you know, because I, I competed sort of late 60s, early 70s had the success in the early 70s and then and then the stubbies, are still competing sort of only in the main events, because you still had to work. There was no, you know, yeah. I was getting, some sponsorship dollars, but nothing like, you know, enough to and of course, we'd started our business back in 70 and.
00;57;18;15 - 00;57;19;29
Tappa
You got to be there at the business as well.
00;57;19;29 - 00;57;41;15
Paul
I had to be there at the business and still wanted to go to a Y and so on. And then of course, the movie thing came out, the band on the run with Harry and we sort of traveled a bit in the opposite direction. And that was right when the world tour started. And so even though rabbit was on the tour with us, he, he kept leaving to go to Brazil or to go here, to go there to surfing events because he was trying to win.
00;57;41;17 - 00;57;59;10
Paul
He was trying to win it, whereas I was, sort of, you know, I sort of past that. I'd sort of moved on. But, but then of course, the stubbies came in 77. And so, so, you know, that was, you know, it's all in the beginning of the proper professional surfing.
00;57;59;12 - 00;58;17;22
Tappa
Well, pay to join my I got to say, Peter Jones is the most underrated and not recognized surfer and surf, you know, like, you know, creator, innovator. Like, it's a shame with Pete that he's not recognized for what he's done because he basically revolutionized pro surfing.
00;58;17;24 - 00;58;39;10
Paul
Well, that's exactly right. And I mean, you know, that whole man on man system that they still use to this day has not been changed, really, at all, you know, other than other than, you know what what Peter designed in the beginning and, Peter and I surfed one day to do some promotional film for the event, the first 77 event.
00;58;39;13 - 00;58;47;07
Paul
And what he had was he had a rule in it which was called effective trading, an ineffective chain.
00;58;47;09 - 00;58;49;09
Tappa
That sense right out of the book, a drawing.
00;58;49;10 - 00;59;05;20
Paul
Well, well, it is and so, so effective trading was that, you know, imagine, imagine, you know, you've caught a wave at Burley and and I'm on the outside, but I wait till you get around the bottom and then I drop in and take off. You've had it happen. I've had it happen.
00;59;05;27 - 00;59;06;27
Tappa
Snaking by saying.
00;59;06;28 - 00;59;15;18
Paul
Well, it's sort of snaking, but it's not that there on your inside to begin with. They've they've waited till you gone past, then they've, then they've snaked. So it's, it's kind of a snake but yeah.
00;59;15;20 - 00;59;17;03
Tappa
But that that's effective.
00;59;17;06 - 00;59;40;05
Paul
And that would be effective trading because, because you know the guys let you in you know, whereas ineffective trading would just be a blank slate and drop in, you know. Yeah dropping in the outside. And so so I had these these rules. And of course if you've effectively cheated and you can sort of out control the wide from the guy on the outside, well then you get, you know, you get more points that didn't stand the test of time.
00;59;40;07 - 00;59;49;05
Paul
But because, you know, no one wanted drop ins or anything like that. They wanted they wanted to have sort of, you know, we just have our lives and that's it.
00;59;49;05 - 00;59;55;11
Tappa
And that's how I remember reading the paper when I was a kid, that he wanted to get a bit of fire going on in the heats as well.
00;59;55;13 - 00;59;59;10
Paul
Well, yeah, not really beside, but he but he what it was with the.
00;59;59;15 - 01;00;00;04
Tappa
Aggression.
01;00;00;04 - 01;00;05;19
Paul
Was that if there was. Yeah if there was an effect of cheating going on you could push bam. You know.
01;00;05;21 - 01;00;09;07
Speaker 3
He was
01;00;09;10 - 01;00;15;19
Tappa
right. And you got third in the 78 stop. I said, did you retire straight after that or did you just wait till,
01;00;15;22 - 01;00;35;21
Paul
No, no, because I, I had a a good year in, in 78 because the World Cup was in, was in a war that year and and it was at how ever again and so, so I'd made the final in that and, and it was 76 or 78, I can't oh, jeez. There. Now the memories down a bit.
01;00;35;22 - 01;00;56;20
Paul
Yeah, yeah. But I'd made the final of the 78 World Cup and, and then done well in the stubbies got third in the stubbies as well. And it kind of by then. And then the following year I got married and so and so, things just started to be start a family. We were still doing, you know, a bit of the movie stuff was still kind of dragging on.
01;00;56;23 - 01;00;58;25
Tappa
That band on the rounds. A great movie to.
01;00;58;25 - 01;01;09;11
Paul
Well, Harry tells me I haven't heard from Kelly yet, but Harry tells me that it's Kelly's favorite, favorite movie. So. But I'm not Robin Kelly and I'm just sad.
01;01;09;18 - 01;01;10;17
Speaker 3
Harry tells me that.
01;01;10;24 - 01;01;17;25
Tappa
And, Oh, well, that's like how Paul McCartney let him use band on the Rani song from Paul McCartney. Wings. That's incredible.
01;01;17;25 - 01;01;20;22
Paul
Yeah, it's it's an amazing it's an amazing thing.
01;01;20;25 - 01;01;31;23
Tappa
And I love at the start of the movie, it's at Kyra and the an in band on the run. It's got and the rabbits on the run and rabbits in this barrel. Yeah, it was just like that. It was like, yeah.
01;01;31;25 - 01;02;07;10
Paul
Now that was a great that was a great. And of course we, you know, well, certainly I, you know, we got to go to places that, that I probably never would have gone like South Africa and, and so on. And Indonesia, I, I'd been focused on a while, I hadn't spent a lot of time in Indonesia, and we and we, we went to Indonesia to, to film some of the final sequences and etc. and so and then very fortunately, later in life, right from the, you know, from the, oh, from the 90s, from the 90s on, you know, I started traveling a lot on boat trips with granny, the like,
01;02;07;12 - 01;02;30;09
Paul
Allan Grain and, started traveling on boat trips. And we had some fantastic times and, and, and sort of in the 2000 or so thereabouts, you know, you got the boat, you bought the Indies try to fool. And we did a ton of trips on that and surfed all the way from right up. I, you know, in West in the mental was to all the way across.
01;02;30;15 - 01;02;52;16
Paul
Well in another boat I surfed all the way out to Papua New Guinea, but but we, we surfed all the way to sarong, which is, West Papua. And all along the, the north coast of West Papua. And there's the problem. There's there's no mooring spots, but, but the surf is is magic. There's there's so much magic surf there.
01;02;52;16 - 01;03;02;00
Paul
I mean, Doris knows. Yeah, Doris knows and and Doris knows all about this and and, but he knows the the, the GPS points it.
01;03;02;04 - 01;03;05;20
Tappa
Doris. But is it true that you gave him the nickname Doris?
01;03;05;22 - 01;03;18;10
Paul
I don't believe so. I might have, I might have, I might have because. Because if you look at some old photos of, of Tony, you know, he's the spitting image of Doris.
01;03;18;16 - 01;03;21;04
Tappa
That's what Mount Sherman said to.
01;03;21;06 - 01;03;24;28
Paul
Yeah, I I'm not sure. I mean, I might have, I don't know, but.
01;03;24;28 - 01;03;26;04
Speaker 3
Yeah.
01;03;26;06 - 01;03;44;06
Tappa
That, that I sound like great guys doing all that travel on that side might say the the the shops going, going and you've got all the snails and stuff and then you've got the surf events. But then I think I'm not sure what year that was, but you, you, you became a coach. You're Australia's first coach.
01;03;44;06 - 01;04;02;02
Tappa
But I got a little story to tell you. He coached me to probably my greatest heat whenever I was in Miami, Boardriders. I was 17 years of age and and Paul was training the whole team, the Miami Boardriders team. And it was the Northern Beaches team's challenge at Berkeley. And, and I'm I'm I'm. Yeah. I'm just this little girl.
01;04;02;02 - 01;04;14;29
Tappa
I'm, I'm about four foot ten and drive. Oh. I hadn't wasn't driving a car yet, but I was four foot ten. I was really tiny and and I've got this height and light poles tell us, you know, you got to get you trip three waves back. Then you go to three wives, you know what to do, blah, blah, blah.
01;04;15;02 - 01;04;35;01
Tappa
And then it's kind of the hate drawn. Here's a hate drawn I've got. Oh, Chris, you're going, oh, bacon Chris once he's about five six years old. Then me on my Ben and Peter Lawrence Australian junior champion on And then two weeks before some black name Joe Angle had won bells. And so I was two weeks after John Hogan, Joe Angel.
01;04;35;01 - 01;04;50;12
Tappa
And I remember he got into my head saying, well, you just went to me, I wasn't. Who are you guys? Do you think they're worried about who you are? Have you got nothing to worry about? Matt? You've got nothing to lose. You just go out there, you get your wives. And I was I switched, you had me switched on.
01;04;50;12 - 01;05;07;04
Tappa
And I think first wife, I got a back door barrel and came at it and it was ugly old iron for that hate. It went glossy. But, you know, the thing was, I was the next eight. I had Tiny Dempsey and tiny was probably. And he's 30. He said, oh, I'm getting on the market. Find out. Down. Get out of your wheelchair.
01;05;07;04 - 01;05;19;23
Tappa
Oh, man. And and tiny did me like a dinner. Oh, I was just like a totally lost all you tell me. But, mate, you're a great coach. And I remember, just for my experience, mate, how did that all come about? Becoming a coach?
01;05;19;26 - 01;05;44;12
Paul
Well, I sort of moved on from professional surfing, by and large. I was 1982 and I'd been talking to Alan Atkins and Rod Brooks and that Alan approached me and, and said, look, we've got the 1982 world titles coming up. We'd like to consider you as coach. And it was the first time that coaches had been had been appointed.
01;05;44;15 - 01;06;24;01
Paul
And, you know, for the team. And so, so I, you know, I said, yeah, that'll be that'd be great. You know, the an honor. And so the, you know, the the event was in, was in Australia was on the Gold Coast and, we had had the likes of, of Tom Curran was coming from the United States team to represent the juniors and serve in the men's and the juniors, and we had Dougal Walker, who, who, you know, and, Bryce Ellis and, other other, you know, randoms from the Sunshine Coast like Wolfie and Robbie Wolf.
01;06;24;01 - 01;06;25;17
Tappa
Do you know. Yeah, yeah. Remember Rob, he was.
01;06;25;21 - 01;06;28;17
Paul
Yes, he was the wall, you know, goofy footer. Yeah.
01;06;28;17 - 01;06;29;25
Tappa
Any good surfer.
01;06;29;28 - 01;07;07;04
Paul
And so, so we, we sort of, you know, bedded down at the tell a budget of fitness camp and, and we'd sort of started a week or so earlier over at more on a park motel over there. And, you know, we were in there and, you know, working with the guys and, you know, to my amazement, you know, after sort of a life of, of, competitive surfing, I was sort of gobsmacked with how much they weren't applying themselves to some of the basic things, you know, you know, like, you know, like the heat times and the and the, you know, what is it exactly you're trying to do here, you know.
01;07;07;07 - 01;07;27;16
Paul
Yeah. You know, how many wives you've got to get, you know, rather than just sort of going out and just gone random all over the place, you know what I mean? Just trying to write anything and everything and, and so on. And so we started that by doing a number of very, you know, simple exercises like, you know, I just need to show you that you don't have to have your heart rate going so fast.
01;07;27;18 - 01;07;46;21
Paul
You know, you just, you know, so we do five minutes, you know, of where where I say, like, you know, go out for five minutes and see if you can get, you know, three wives, see if can get one. And and what it was all about was just, you know, pulling down so they realize that, you know, when they're sitting in a heat with 20 minutes to go, it's not the end.
01;07;46;24 - 01;07;51;23
Paul
Yeah. There's a lot of a lot of wives are going to come back to it anyway. It's Yeah. Yeah. No going.
01;07;52;00 - 01;08;06;02
Tappa
Either. Right. Yeah. Well let's did you like. So you've taken this coaching thing because you'd never had any training as a coach? No, no. So is that from all your own experience. So when you were surfing, were you sort of coaching yourself sort of thing to.
01;08;06;05 - 01;08;26;16
Paul
Well, you pretty much pretty much had to, you know, by then I'd had some business experience in some, you know, different sessions and different things and yeah. And, and plus, you know, I, I sort of ran a little bit about it, you know, before it started, because I did take it very much as an honor. And I to this day, it's been an honor.
01;08;26;19 - 01;08;55;14
Paul
But yeah, we started with the team in 1982, and, and we won that, that will title, we went on for a, like a teams event in 1983, in California with just a team. We went back in 1984 with, with, you know, for the world titles in that stroke, you know, world titles went back to England in 1986, which is where Kelly Slater first appeared as a as a little grommet and, and then in 1988, we went to Puerto Rico.
01;08;55;16 - 01;09;18;12
Paul
In 90, we went to Japan. And that was, that was where, high fairytale Tahiti won the world title. He was the Tahiti. And, you know, you know, winners that just came out of the blue and blew everyone out of the water. And Shane Bevan won the juniors, and, Wayne Dean won the longboards. So, so, you know, there was a few, a few, that's.
01;09;18;12 - 01;09;20;22
Tappa
A that's a lot of years. You you're coaching for mine.
01;09;20;23 - 01;09;43;23
Paul
Yeah. Well, I went right through until 98 and I missed only missed one, which was the I think it was the Lac. And I won in 96 because we went to Brazil, we went 88 Puerto Rico, which was a mammoth, huge, huge event, huge event. And, and MacKinnon won the one the long longboards and a Brazilian good that I did.
01;09;43;23 - 01;09;44;22
Paul
I,
01;09;44;25 - 01;09;45;15
Tappa
So I'll be I'll give up.
01;09;45;22 - 01;10;06;27
Paul
I'll be, I'll give I won that one. That. Yeah. His son is now on the on the pro tour saying goodbye. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, Yeah, Fabio won the one the world's world title there, and, we won the teams. We had enough. We won. Must have won the juniors and the girls, of course. And, and then we went from 8890.
01;10;06;27 - 01;10;14;14
Paul
We went to, Japan. I said, yeah, and then 92 was Brazil. I think 94.
01;10;14;14 - 01;10;14;26
Speaker 3
Wow.
01;10;14;29 - 01;10;37;05
Tappa
What a lot. That's a that's a lot of history, mate, to coach that long course that one year in the Hall of Fame. That's right up the front with all the other Hall of Famers out there. The other night, it was a, a magnificent night. But I can say, mate, because I know that when you coached me, which was when your early days in any catch, probably first year, but you were very analytical.
01;10;37;05 - 01;10;45;03
Tappa
You know, you broke it down and made it simple for me. I was only seven, eight. But you made it simple. Like, you know, here's what you to do.
01;10;45;10 - 01;11;06;15
Paul
Yeah, well, our God, by the name of George. Someone came into our shop in Surfers Paradise in, Must have been 1972, 73. And, he was an older guy. I don't know exactly how old, but he was, you know, he he came in, he said, look, you know, I'm a good snow skier on this on that, you know, I'm athletic enough.
01;11;06;15 - 01;11;26;00
Paul
I want to learn to surf, you know, kind of like him. He said, well, you know, I need you to give me surf lessons. He said, you know, he'd come from a ski instructing, you know, something. And, and and he kind of took me through it and, and said, well, I want to learn to surf. You know, you've got to coach me.
01;11;26;00 - 01;11;46;12
Paul
This is, you know, you've got to figure this out because this, you know, this this is a business that you can develop. And, so so I took him down the beach and we and I started, you know, giving him surf lessons. It was a bit hot. He was a bit old. You know, it was how it was, you know, because that getting up, if you haven't done that.
01;11;46;12 - 01;11;53;28
Paul
Yeah. Skiing is is completely different. I took the grandkids skiing just this year, and I hadn't skated in I reckon 40 years.
01;11;54;00 - 01;11;54;16
Speaker 3
Wow.
01;11;54;17 - 01;12;08;16
Paul
You know, and, yeah, I reckon it been 40, 30 or 40 years since I hadn't, since I'd skied and, I took the grandkids and of course, I was really, really careful. Had an incident in the lift line. It fell off with me.
01;12;08;19 - 01;12;10;17
Speaker 3
Oh, I was I all.
01;12;10;17 - 01;12;11;22
Paul
Started screaming, get out!
01;12;11;22 - 01;12;12;12
Speaker 3
Get him!
01;12;12;14 - 01;12;13;17
Tappa
He's gone out. And that's like with.
01;12;13;17 - 01;12;32;19
Paul
But but but but you know once I got on the mountain I started to go all right. And you know, I was only on that little slope. Yeah. But it was a great, I won't want to go again because it wasn't as hot as I thought. But anyway, he he tried surfing. We tried our best, but that's that's when I started, you know, beginner's lessons and,
01;12;32;22 - 01;12;35;08
Tappa
You started surf coaching before surf coaching.
01;12;35;10 - 01;12;39;21
Paul
Started surf coaching and surf schools before surf coaching and surf schools. Yeah. Wow.
01;12;39;21 - 01;12;41;10
Tappa
So that's an amazing innovation.
01;12;41;13 - 01;12;47;15
Paul
That was it. That was in the 70s. I used to run classes along out of the shop. A long service Paradise. Perfect. Yeah.
01;12;47;17 - 01;12;48;19
Speaker 3
Yeah. Wow.
01;12;48;21 - 01;12;59;09
Tappa
Let's go. Another one. That's surprise. I never knew that one that just started surf coaching. Like and like there's always people say, oh, you learn to surf. But that's that's proper like from that skiing on that guy with that.
01;12;59;09 - 01;13;14;12
Paul
Yeah. Yeah. He was, it was just, you know, it was something that surfing didn't do. Yeah. There were, there was no one doing surf lessons or I mean I did it in a Y. Yeah. You know, it wasn't as how was sort of brand, but that was a different sort of thing because, you know, you've been to Waikiki.
01;13;14;12 - 01;13;24;03
Paul
Yeah. They just push. It's just perfect every day for it. And they've got, you know, ten, 12ft boards. If you've never surf before, you'll be surfing within an hour. You know. Yeah.
01;13;24;09 - 01;13;25;23
Tappa
And it's just a nice smooth.
01;13;25;28 - 01;13;35;16
Paul
It's just a nice smooth. If you can get on a big board, you know, you can easily ride that ride a slapping wife. You know out here you got. Yeah, sure. Race like today does a lot.
01;13;35;17 - 01;13;36;01
Tappa
All this.
01;13;36;01 - 01;13;37;25
Speaker 3
Morning. Yeah. Yeah.
01;13;38;01 - 01;13;39;23
Paul
Well the last couple of months actually.
01;13;39;23 - 01;14;00;06
Tappa
Yeah. There's a couple good little bikes around I. But it's my, that's, that's a crazy thing that like surf coaching as well. As well as that. Right. The brothers Nelson brand, you've had some great cyclists through through brothers Nelson as well. Of course, your brother Rick, Phil Meyers, Oh, you neither more than me, but. And some great sponsored surfers.
01;14;00;09 - 01;14;06;25
Paul
Yeah. Well, well, Karen said to me, she said, oh, you got to remember to talk, you know, about the events that we sponsored.
01;14;06;25 - 01;14;09;19
Tappa
Or on the events to the parents, Nelson Junior.
01;14;09;23 - 01;14;12;05
Paul
The brothers Nelson Junior, where we had McFadden.
01;14;12;05 - 01;14;26;11
Tappa
And you got the last very last year of real Kiera for that event. I'm not sure what before they say in popping they they done a bit of thing that I hadn't done the super vague and it was very simple things. But yeah, yeah I think look man I want that. Yeah.
01;14;26;13 - 01;14;27;02
Paul
Yeah maybe.
01;14;27;02 - 01;14;42;23
Tappa
Yeah. And it was like it was the last time because I think that might have been hard at night and was bad. So I would have been 97 maybe, maybe 97. But but that you got the last, last year of real Kiera. That was when I did a bit of partying and it was like real Kiera.
01;14;42;25 - 01;15;01;16
Paul
Yeah. Yeah, I recall, you know, we ran the event for a long time and we had notable winners, as I say, McFadden we had, but, you know, until, the Brazilian kid, you know, he's just he was that he just won, the event at Berkeley.
01;15;01;18 - 01;15;02;09
Tappa
Oh, Philippe.
01;15;02;14 - 01;15;02;27
Paul
Philippe.
01;15;03;04 - 01;15;06;23
Tappa
I surfed in the brothers Nelson Pryor. Junior. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
01;15;06;26 - 01;15;08;12
Paul
No, no, no.
01;15;08;14 - 01;15;10;15
Tappa
Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, Gabby not.
01;15;10;17 - 01;15;18;08
Paul
You know, now, I was a kid before. It was the one before him. I'd be, Yeah.
01;15;18;11 - 01;15;25;27
Tappa
But my the number of competitors you've had go through that and the the so up Barton Lynch was on your team. Yeah. Yeah. Well Shane Beavan.
01;15;25;27 - 01;15;30;28
Paul
Yeah we had shine and Jai Jai Jai Phillips of course. Yep.
01;15;31;00 - 01;15;32;09
Tappa
Yeah. That was iconic.
01;15;32;12 - 01;15;35;15
Paul
Yeah it was, it was and and
01;15;35;18 - 01;15;50;23
Tappa
And that event I remember like, you know, I think I might have got to come and tied it maybe once. I think that might have been that that year, but it's like, might it was, it was all the kids. It was that like was before like was the prior journey as was sort of him. But that was one of the iconic one.
01;15;50;23 - 01;15;55;17
Tappa
And that's you started that. When did you start The Brothers Nelson probably genealogies. You probably say, oh yeah, probably.
01;15;55;21 - 01;15;59;18
Speaker 3
Hey, I'll come, I got, I got, I won't get it, but.
01;15;59;20 - 01;16;03;09
Paul
I can't even think of one of the winners. I've lost his name too. So.
01;16;03;10 - 01;16;21;23
Tappa
But my that's the, that's, that's a great thing because that is did put into the community and and brothers Nelson was a part of the community you know like it's it's it's funny Ziggy a producer right. He knows suede I about surfing, but I said, oh, I've got four comedy from brothers, guys. I've heard of brothers Nelson.
01;16;21;25 - 01;16;40;22
Tappa
And he's like, I think he's only he's 20. Like, how should I know? Yeah. You know, I mean right. That's right. It's an iconic brand and iconic thing on the Gold Coast, you know, and that that sticker that, you know that that that light guy that's behind you there, you know, surfers Paradise. Yeah. You know, it was it was definitely part of the whole Surfers Paradise iconic thing.
01;16;40;22 - 01;16;58;28
Tappa
It was in the dye mate. It's a a great thing. And you've you've done a hell of a lot. I've this this career and life might and and to say you still at at building surf and sunset at 70. God I only out of the black eye that that's the light for like Paloma or whatever. He's he's still surfing 24 at 82, 80.
01;16;58;28 - 01;16;59;27
Tappa
Matt tells me it's.
01;16;59;27 - 01;17;01;02
Paul
Like sleep I promo.
01;17;01;08 - 01;17;01;20
Tappa
Timer.
01;17;01;22 - 01;17;08;00
Paul
Yeah, yeah, he's up in, he's up in West Timor and, I think they're doing stand up at stand up.
01;17;08;00 - 01;17;12;13
Tappa
So stand up. I don't believe you're not you're not stand. You're you'll get getting their fight, mate.
01;17;12;13 - 01;17;18;18
Paul
You know, I think I'm yeah I'm, I think I think the next level is a boogie board. It's not actually.
01;17;18;20 - 01;17;19;05
Speaker 3
You're gonna.
01;17;19;10 - 01;17;21;06
Tappa
You're not going to be a meerkat. Might stand.
01;17;21;07 - 01;17;24;10
Speaker 3
Oh nice for us I think it's I think it's.
01;17;24;10 - 01;17;26;00
Paul
Too much gear to count down the beach.
01;17;26;01 - 01;17;32;16
Tappa
Well, I reckon too, and too much like, can I get like guy side. I can get barrel on them. I wouldn't want to get barreled with the paddle and all that.
01;17;32;22 - 01;17;35;11
Speaker 3
A whole lot of it. Yeah. That's right. You know it's.
01;17;35;11 - 01;17;35;22
Paul
All about.
01;17;35;22 - 01;17;51;17
Tappa
Gear and mate. You're still out there when it's solid and and Mal Chalmers too much use. Bikes are like inspirational. I side them out all when I grow up. I want to be like you, man. I've been growing up yet, but my yeast guys like, you know, I still haven't a crack and you're in your 70s are like sunset at 70.
01;17;51;19 - 01;18;06;04
Tappa
What the fuck and what? And, you know, like mine. It's really good. And I'm so honored to have you here on the Great man. But I'm so honored to have known you all these years, Paul. It's always been a pleasure. Even though you tell me that my skinny jeans did make a comeback one day. They did.
01;18;06;06 - 01;18;08;16
Paul
Thanks to have you on his life. Thank you.
01;18;08;17 - 01;18;09;25
Tappa
Hey, Paul. Nelson ledge.
01;18;09;26 - 01;18;10;25
Speaker 3
Thank you.
01;18;10;28 - 01;18;27;27
Tappa
Thanks for tuning into the green room. Hey. Thanks. Would you like to get your name in the Green Room podcast? Well, we are looking for sponsors, so if you want to get a sponsorship, check it out at Pod Fire. Lots of people can hear about your product on one of the best podcasts around the green room. So, check it out.
01;18;27;27 - 01;18;46;14
Tappa
Pod fire. Thanks for tuning into the green Room. A big thank you to our guests for sharing their stories and insights and Pod Fire for bringing this podcast to life. Don't forget to subscribe, like, leave a review and share the green room with your friends. We'll catch you next time for more conversations with the Legends of Surf and beyond.
01;18;46;18 - 01;18;48;19
Tappa
Until then, catch you in the waves.