"Conversations: Robbie Page and Sam George" ran in the June 1988 issue of Surfing magazine. This version has been slightly edited. 

How come we haven’t seen more of you in the American surfing magazines?

Probably 'cause if all the chicks see me, they’d go mad and try to rip Surfing down. 

Have you had a chance to see more of California than just Huntington Beach?

I usually stay in the Carlsbad area. I like it down there. I’ve got a lot of nice friends who live there. It’s a pretty cool place. Like, I don’t dig Huntington —there’s too many maniacs around here.

Have you ever caught good waves while you’ve been in California?

Never. Well, once I had good waves in Carlsbad at a place called Warm Water Jetties. Besides that, the only other good waves I’ve had were up in Santa Cruz. I think Santa Cruz kills this place. It’s so much prettier—there’s none of the brown shit in the air. It’s like the area where I grew up.

It must be hard to leave your South Coast home—there’s so much surf there.

I miss it, but in a way it’s good for me because I know when I retire from surfing, when I finish touring, I’ll go home and surf unreal waves. I’ve got a bit of a name for myself in Woolongong. There’s just me and Terry Richardson, we’re the only really well-known guys from my area all the way to the Victorian border. And since neither one of us is too big-headed about it, we’re local nearly anywhere we want to go.

You had a strong reputation as a junior amateur; how did that come about?

I won the 1984 State Titles in New South Wales when I was 17 and went to the Australian Tides. I was a big-time party animal in those days. I maybe party a bit now, but back then I was just a maniac. So I went up there, myself and Rod Kerr and—well, you know how wild the Aussies are. We finished fourth and fifth, me and Rod, and they only took two for the World Amateur Contest. Damien Hardman and Mark Sainsbury got the slots. So I missed out on the world titles. 

Op Australia put me on pro tour right away, yeah. I could surf good, but I had no contest experience at that level. So I went on tour with something like $250 to pay entry fees, accommodations, food, everything. I got malaria or something in South Africa, on account of having no money. I was eating baked beans on toast every day. Found myself one morning laying in a sweat puddle in me hotel room, and before I knew it, Simon Anderson carried me out, put me in a car, took me to the doctors, got me fixed up and said, “Rob, you’ve got to win some money, ’cause you’re going to die.” So that was my first year, and I finished 47th. The next year, I had $500 to start off with.

I remember at one stage, sitting there moaning and groaning and wanting to throw it all away, then the next minute going, “Wait a second. Look where I am! I’m sitting in Japan. Who am I kidding? This is great, I’m not missing a thing!” So I decided right then I was going to be a successful pro. But along with surfing, I was gonna sell myself as a personality, too, because I think personality sells product. There’s a lot of guys on the tour who surf great, but they’re not going to get much money or do much for the sport because they’re too quiet;  they can’t get up and say anything. 

Whereas, you have the surfing, the personality—and the looks! 

I am probably one of the better-looking blokes on the tour at the moment, yeah! [laughs].

 producers picked you to be in their movie?

That and just because I’m mad, you know. They needed someone to dress up as a ballerina and dance up on stage with a stripper and carry on.

How did they find you when casting that little part? 

Big part. Sixth-biggest part in the film, thank you very much, and I was really good, too.

This guy named Tim Bonython makes surfing movies in Australia, and he was staying at Gerry Lopez’s house when the guy who was directing the movie—Bill Phelps—went over to see Gerry and talk about the movie. He said he needed some Australians to surf in the movie, so Tim came around and told me. This was right at the end of when they were signing people on. I got Phelps' number and rang him up. “What’s the story here? I heard you want some actors. I’m not much of an actor, but I’ll give it a go. When do you want to meet ?” He told me to come right over, and I told him I’d bring me mate, Occy. I went down and got Occy—he was playing pool at his house while Sunset’s pumping—and I walk in and says, “We’re going to be movie stars. Come on.”

During the filming, were you ever scared or self-conscious? 

The scariest bit was the first time I had to do a line. They stuck those big cameras on me, everybody’s looking, all these people watching, and I thought, “Whoa, this is Robbie Page from Housing Commission City, Bellambi—not some movie star.” You know, Bellambi, where I live in Woolongong, the people don’t have much money.

I came back to me hometown a movie star! 

Yeah. I’d come up to the theater in Laguna Beach with my girlfriend and this guy recognizes me and says, “You’ve got to go ’round back.” So we walk around they've got this old woody they’re using to drop off all the stars out front. They throw me in the woody and I thought, “Here we go, Hollywood Rob, he’s into it. Watch out Eastwood, look out Sylvester, I’m coming through. I can’t act for shit, but I’m coming through!” 

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos