This 1970 interview with Dru Harrison ran Surfing World, Volume 14 No. 6. No author credit is given, but it was likely written by either SW editor-publisher Bob Evans or editor John Hogan. The interview took place during the 1970 world championships, which were held in Victoria; Harrison was 20 years old.

What was your first impression of Australia?

I got picked up at the airport by Snow McAllister, who is just a beautiful person; he just kept talking and pointing things out during the drive from the airport to the beach. Snow took me North Narrabeen for a surf. My first impression of the people was that I didn't like them at all—I really got bad vibes from everybody. Then I realized I’d paddled out right in the middle of an inter-club surf contest.

I took off on a few waves, and then Terry Fitzgerald took off behind me, and I heard this voice, "Get outta my way," but I couldn't understand because he said it so fast. Then he paddled up to me and really showed some bad vibrations by yelling at me. But I could see his reason for feeling uptight. I know that if I was out there in a contest and someone took off in front of me who wasn't in the contest, I get pissed off too. But I don’t think I'd yell at the person. I’d just say, "Hey man, this is a surf contest, and would you kindly get your ass outta here?"

Do you think surfers here are more uptight in contests than American or Hawaiian surfers?

They're more out to win here than we are in the States. They're a lot more aggressive during a contest.

It means a lot more over here to win a contest. In California, people don't care if they win or lose anymore. It's just not that big a thing, because so many of the good surfers have dropped out of competition.

Look, we all love surfing. Anyone who surfs loves surfing. I would just say that the Californians believe surfing is an art, and a beautiful thing, and it shouldn't be done the same as someone else. I’m not getting down on any of the surfers here, I really like the way that some of the guys surf. But it's depressing to sit there and watch wave after wave after wave being ridden exactly the same way. It's a shame.


How important is Hawaii to California surfers?

There are top surfers in California who travel to Hawaii maybe four or five times a year. They'll go to Hawaii and stay two or three months, get themselves tuned in and juiced up, then shoot back to the Mainland. And then they'll surf until they start to lose the juice. It's as if Hawaii was electricity. Surfers in California live in a cement world, you know? They never see beauty unless they go to Hawaii or up North or down into Mexico.

It’s great! If you want to go surfing you can get out of your car, take off your clothes, stand there stark naked and watch the surf for a little while. You don't have to worry about someone coming along and saying you're indecent. The Mexicans don't care, that's for sure.

So that’s a big part of surfing in California? Escaping from it?

It's not escaping, I wouldn't say that. It's just letting off steam. There are so many surfers in California now that you have to travel. Especially during summer, you have to get out, go somewhere. And when you drive from California to Mexico and pull up at a beach, everyone else down there is on that beach for the same reason. To let off steam. To cut loose. Because there're no laws. You just get drunk, go surfing, get naked, do anything you want. It's good. People don't shave, don't take a bath. Everyone gets grubby and dirty, and they smell, and they dig it. Who cares? Roll around in the dirt, it's outtasight! You can't do it in California.

You had a heat at Bells recently with Nat Young. How did that go?

I sat in the water with Nat and listened to him complain about how he was swimming more than he was surfing. I said, man, you ought to get a longer board, and then I showed him what a longer board could do right in front of his face. I don't know if he learned. I know I beat him.

In some of the articles on Wayne that I’ve read, he talks about different arcs and different areas on the wave and things like that. But he’s not finding any different arcs or any different areas waves. He's been surfing the same way for the last three years, doing the same things. I'm not saying that just from what I saw, that's the reaction I've got from the surfers here themselves, from Australians. They're calling BS on their own guy. And then, when he got last in his heat, he just flipped!

Are Australian surfers unfriendly in general?

There were a few guys who were great to me before the contest. Baddy Treloar, for example. But then during the event I couldn't get Baddy to say more than two words to me. It was a contest, and he was for Australia and that was it. I mean, everyone's here to win. I'm here to win But I want to have a good time too. If I win, outtasight. Great! That's what I came here for. But if I lose, I lose. And if I lose I still want to have a good time just as much as if I’d won, probably more so. I want to get to know people, tell dirty jokes, make them laugh, make them cry, whatever. Just be outtasight!


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