An Interview with Wayne Lynch

Are you happy living in Victoria?

Yes.

Why?

I just grew up there and I guess I like it for that. Probably because it's far away from the "Where it's happening" type of thing. It's a place where there is time to think, time to act and beautiful waves to have. You surf Bells or anywhere in that area through the week and there is only four guys on the whole coast, you surf till you're completely shattered. Wave after perfect wave as the sun sets and those bold cliffs melt into the sunset. I suppose that's why, couldn't be much else.

Why would living elsewhere restrict you?

I guess — the race, yeah! That tempo that comes from surfing in crowds. It's a competitive thing. I dislike its meaning. And there are no scenes, no bulldust, just surfers.

Are you scared of scenes?

No. Not really, only when those people in them can't see out of 'em. Can't see beyond it.

How important is surfing to you in framing your basic attitude to living? What part does it play?

I guess it's most of it. It plays most of it but I don't think I'm dependent upon it or anything like that. It's just something I love doing, I have a love for the sea. And that is all you need. I always have. I just don't remember when I didn't play in the sea. If I didn't surf, I fished. But it isn't everything.

Do you have a philosophy of living as such?

Yeah! I guess so, but I couldn't just roll it off. I couldn't sit here and say, well, this is my philosophy and put it in a little square box and say, that's it, there it is. It's not something like that, it's how I live, what I live—my actions are me.

What's it tied up with?

As I flow along with design and places to go on waves, I find you must be aware of the things around you. What we are, realizing my own ego. Seeing beyond what you have. You become aware of your own actions, that way you can understand greater things on design and waves and yourself.

Are you a religious person?

I believe in a life after death, merely a continuation, not a thing where we are all walking around on clouds and talking to each other. It's all in our own heads, we've just got to solve it. We are of infinity, which is never ending. Jesus Christ laid it all down for us.

Have you ever thought of what you might have been if you hadn't been a surfer, apart from a fisherman?

No. Too hypothetical, sort of negative attitude.

Do you see surfing as an escape?

There is nothing to escape from, I tried it. The only thing you run from is yourself and you've just got to face it.

What do you get out of surfing?

It's only love, how do you explain it? Just being involved with it. Doing it is greater than philosophizing about something. It's something where you never know what's coming next, never know what you will find.

What about contests and the commercial side of surfing?

I could be getting right out of contests very soon, I did once for five months, it's pretty phony, a false evaluation of each other. I hate the plastic scene. Sensationalism and that phoney stuff. Things like "Wayne Lynch, the International Boy Heading towards the International Man!" What crap! It's just not real, people used to publicize [me] and say how I could be the next world champion—I never even wanted to be, I never cared. The overwritten crap is gonna drag surfing apart if we don't stop and think and realize what we really have got at our fingertips — waves, sun, life itself.

I have to live, so I have to sell something, so I design and shape boards. But I keep it at the minimum. I had a really good look at the plastic thing when travelling overseas, there is nothing it it I want.

What about travelling?

I love it. I love to see friends, make new ones, ride new tubes. Learn from others about design and tricks. See the world while I'm doing it. Just seeing and solving.

If you do stop travelling, and presumably sooner or later you will, will [you settle] in Australia?

Yeah! I think so unless it's totally screwed.

Is it heading that way?

I don't really know. It always seems that way, but I think . . . it just can't. It just can't be totally screwed. I mean, something's got to help it. I see bad things creeping in, the way cops treat kids, especially on the Gold Coast. If you're a surfer and you've got long hair, you're not welcome. They'll lock you up for vagrancy, too. One thing, we [Australia] never built no atomic bomb.

Do you see the future with some hope then?

Yeah, for sure.

With some despair?

It saddens me to see these people being nasty, like cops, and the rutile miners, raping nature. The world is ours to hold not destroy. We could really have a wonderful thing if everyone got behind it. Maybe that's a dream, that's why I don't let it worry me. But that's my aim, to get everyone behind it.

Do you believe in fate?

Oh yeah.

Pre-destiny?

Yeah, I think that we create our own future. Like it's there for us to create, so we create it. But no matter what we end up doing, it's how it was meant to be.

Why are you a vegetarian?

Okay, I guess—all things that are living have a consciousness to some degree. All animals can feel pain, life and death, they know. They don't have powers to reason like us. But they feel pain. I feel they have the right to live, the same as us. But fruit and vegetables are just sort of sitting there saying "eat me." They know nothing of their surroundings. I eat all health foods, try to put my body in perfect shape to get the most out of it, as well as my mind.

What is your attitude to drugs?

Well, the Bible calls grass "Devil's Weed," if that means anything? Perhaps it's something that we are meant to experience, who knows. It seems to create a too personal attitude to life, a drawing away from other people. Sort of takes away the essence of living.

And what's that?

I dunno, really. But I guess it's an appreciation of just existing. You like, like seeing people, travelling to understand your approach to waves, or something.

Do you worry about other people?

Yeah. I mean, my friends are my life, sort of. You know, I'm always with someone, and I want to help them because I care.

What sort of contribution to you think you're making to surfing?

All I can do is live my life to its fullest capabilities, and by just doing what I believe, I am showing others different things; they can pick up on things they like, or not worry about it. I mean—I'm going to go out in the water and push my surfing, see where I can go, sort of create an enthusiastic atmosphere. That way I'm not taking them to the plastic world of surf heroes. Keeping it to the basics.

To draw attention to that aspect of surfing?

Yeah, that's where it counts, that's what the water test is all about. Not who can win the SURFER Poll

What about your contribution to society in general?

Well, I've sort of said it, you know, it's like this, I could sit and prophesize about nature and beauty and stuff. But by going out and doing it I'm showing them by example. They can take it or leave it. I'm not helping to make bombs and things like that. I see another way to exist, so I show it. For I disagree with so much of what we are conditioned to believe in—like bloody national loyalties, the Queen, the King, and all that that sort of thing. Like school, you can't put down a thought unless it's through the teacher. Everyone is an individual and must find their own way. I still think I'm part of society. If you think you're separate, that's all it is. You just think you're separate. Like, there's no other side.

Do you see surfing as your method of communication?

Yes, definitely.

Do you enjoy writing?

Yeah! It's something like surfing, you just let your mind run and write what comes, instant thought.

Basically, are you a confused person?

I don't know because I never try and sum myself up. I believe in simplicity in everything, though, like board design and tracks on waves.

How do you react to public criticism?

I really do think about it, [and] try and understand if what someone has said is true. It doesn't worry me; perhaps helps.

Do you worry about the sort of person you are?

What I believe in and [who] I am.

Are you happy enough with yourself?

Yeah! The way I'm going now.

Do you have sort of a public image?

What's this public image stuff?

Do you have a public image?

I guess you'd have to ask the public about that. I don't try to create one.

Well, your public image; how does it correspond to how you see yourself?

What I see around me is a project of myself. As for that public image stuff, I couldn't attempt to think about it, it just doesn't matter.

Is there nothing consciously deliberate about the way you live?

I guess not.

Your long hair?

It grows that way, so natural, and I love the look of it for that reason.

But it could be just cut?

Yeah, I used to do that.

What is the most important thing in the world?

I suppose mankind and his future.

What part has surfing got in man's future?

I guess it's one way of many to try and guide him into better things. There are others, like music; [it's] all personal expression and communication other than words, and a very broad bringing together of different people and personalities.

Do you see surfing being successful at doing this?

Yeah, it's laid out for anyone to comprehend—the important thing is if they are going to accept it or not.

Do you see such a thing as Australian Surfing?

Yes, because Australia is a different country with different

waves, [so] we are a product of this environment. [It is] a much freer sort of attitude, you know. Like in America, there seems to be so much effort placed on just getting a wave to yourself there is not much time for anything else.

What about the super commercialism in California, are we heading in this direction?

What a terrible thing that plastic part of surfing is, you know? It's sort of like a big game to see who can be the biggest statue with the most bronze. I see Australia on it's way there, it's time to stop before we can't.

What are the good things about Australian surfing?

Lots of waves, lots of time, people behind their surfing.

What are the bad things?

Not many waves. And people who won't let you do it.

Is there anything distinctive about Australian surfing?

It's something I can see and feel, [but] it's something that really can't be put into words, you know? It's just a thing we are a part of.

What are you trying to do in your surfing?

Get that rhythm with the wave, get the whole thing exploding inside yourself, seeking the power in the most angry spots of waves and going to and from them. It's all feeling, you know. You can really feel a part of nature some days, you just feel like you are within each other. Which we are.

What about surfboard design, what are you trying to do?

I can feel a board when it's fitting in a wave, you're right in there, right where the action is; other boards don't feel like this—they feel like I'm standing on a board which is on a wave, no real flow, I'm trying to get a board that's got power, just got that sock, that hard drive, to let you lay way out over the water and hit up into that cavity, but it's still got to fit into the wave, and that's the difficult thing.

How does your particular experience help the kids who buy your surfboards?

The thing is that I'd like to talk to every person who got a board, a model or a personally shaped one—because every one of us is an individual version of the same thing. Everyone has an approach and all I can hope to do is get them going on their way. Like, I'd never put a guy on one of my own boards because I know he'd be totally out of control, because it's all of me for me. But boards I make for others have just as much of me in them as my own, just translated to suit [their style].

Do you find yourself making value judgements?

I don't, really. Like anything material, I don't worry much about, I don't just write them off, but I don't sort of turn them into life's necessities. I'm changing the whole time; people I know often remark about how quickly I [change], so I never create some sort of barrier with values, you've got to keep open-minded to the whole deal.

What is reality?

Go ask a realist, he'll tell you.

I can't.

It doesn't really exist, we all see everything differently, so how can there be such a thing as a reality? I mean, I guess we've got to be pretty practical and apply most things we dream to our lives.

What about fantasy? Do you dream?

Yeah! Of waves, design, and what we are. I sort of think-dream, let my subconscious go free, follow it and see what I can find, just to see what is there. But that isn't fantasy.

What about love?

Ha! What's love?

Love is a lot of like!

Ha, yeah! Okay.

Do you love people?

I see love as a feeling of beauty, totality, we must love, for love is the essence of existence, you know. You're so unselfish when you feel love. Like surfing; floating on waves, running all over them, it's love. Love just is, and will always be. It's just all there can be. It's God.

What about fear? What are you scared of?

We are afraid of nothing but fear itself. I love to feel scared, not terrified. You know that adrenalin, that pumping [feeling], you raise your concentration [and] just keep going, and it all falls apart and it's so beautiful, which means you used everything you had; [you have] the powers to reason, and you realized it, and used it so good. Bells at 12' to 15' is this.

What about fun?

I guess everything is fun.

Is fun important?

Life, making all you do fun, isn't escaping, it's something you must learn, it's a part of existing.

Who do you admire?

The first to mind [is] George [Greenough], you know, he is so real, he is so involved in his surfing, so behind it. It's refreshing just to sit and listen to him talk about where he's been, where he wants to go, and how. No plastic world of big-time heroes, just George.

Ah! The Beatles, John is incredible. Yoko, too, yes! Just people who see another way, a beautiful existence, not scared about what people are gona say, just solving their own heads to benefit thte rest of us.

Ted Spencer, he is just dedication, everything he says or does he tries to follow up. Richard Harvey, what can I say, you've just got to know him. Bob McTavish, he has been the thing behind our boards and basic technique of today, he has so much experience at design; just knows so bloody much, and it really tryhing to help others. These are all good people, friendly, loving people, good to be with. There are so many others just too many for me to continue.

Are you honest?

I don't sum myself up. I see honesty as part of the essence to love, to surf, to live.

Are you interested in money?

No! Not at all, but I've got to live. That's the way it's always gonna be, no big time.

You're not going to be a big capitalist?

No, just a little one, the tinier the better.

Do you believe that restraint in necessary?

I suppose so. Control with suppression.

Do you draw on other people, or depend pretty much on yourself?

I do a fair bit, you know. I just want to know what I'm doing so I don't make it an ego-kick thing where I want to be the best surfer and have the best board. I just want to find these things out, and the peopele I live with are pretty similar, you know? We've got nothing to hide from each other, it's sort of like a family. So we draw from each other, give and take, you know, it's like when I listen to Dylan, he lays it down and we just interpret—that guy is so fantastic. That's what guys like Ted, McTavish, Dick, and most people are doing nowadays.

Do you consciously try to do things individually?

No, the only way you can be an individual is to do or say what you feel, no matter if some freak on Mars has said it before.

Do you believe in principles?

Probably not. In some cases I guess I might, but nothing that is going to restrict my own thoughts and actions.

Do you see yourself as a city person or a country person?

Country, couldn't even consider the city, peak hour, rush fuss and all that, you know all the people seem to be rushing to go nowhere, always in a hurry.

What about city surfing, Sydney?

It's still pretty well the same, it's the only taste of freedom most kids seem to have.