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From Pipeline to Manly Interview With Barton Lynch & Luke Egan

What does the former world champion and 'best surfer never to win one' think about pro surfing? Their jobs? And that 1988 final at Pipeline? Hard to shoot two legends when the Tracks journo won't get out of the way.
What does the former world champion and ‘best surfer never to win one’ think about pro surfing? Their jobs? And that 1988 final at Pipeline?


Hard to shoot two legends when the Tracks journo won’t get out of the way. LE and BL. Pic: natesmithphoto.com

B
arton Lynch won one of the most spectacular world title races of all time. His come from behind, against all odds, miracle run, in the final event of the 1988 ASP calendar at gapping Pipeline saw him finally crowned king. His legacy was already large. His tonne of event wins aside, it was his ability to articulate surfing’s worth to the masses that still to this day cannot be measured with any real accuracy. Though on the surface his surfing appeared white-collar workman like at the time, history shows his was a path full of brimstone and fire. Luke Egan was a surfer’s surfer. His dogged, man-of-few-words persona and unbridled ability on a board, one that rattled opponents and garnered him respect around the globe – the fact he never won a world title is a riddle that will never be solved. 24 years ago these two stalwarts of surfing, with their own unique stories came together in the final of the AAA Billabong Pro. As it happened, surfing news at the time was a highly valued commodity and if you wanted the latest happenings you bought (the then paper backed) Tracks magazine. Nowadays the Internet has taken over current affairs but as a treat we, having heard Barton had never got his hands on his title winning edition of the Bible, dug up a copy from our archives and hand delivered it to him (and Luke) while they worked as a co-contest directors at the Australian Open Of Surfing presened by Hurley and Billabong at Manly Beach .

The interview that follows is an unedited piece of surfing history from two of the best, as they reflect on the past and comment on the future, as well as the current state of play in the world of professional surfing.

[On presenting the 1989 February edition of Tracks we asked]

Bring back some memories?

BL: [Head down ingrossed in memory lane and smiling with the stoke of a grommet] It does bring back some memories – that’s for sure.

There was a lot riding on the event, it was a big lead up for both of you?

BL: In that event [AAA Billabong Pro] I had to make the final (to win the world title). I had to beat Glenn Winton in the semi-final – that was the world title heat, so to speak. But it was a long day [BL said looking at Luke], we had to surf a lot of heats that day?

LE: Yeah.

BL: I had to surf against Sunny [Garcia], Curren [Tom], then Glenn. And then it was Luey and I in the final.

LE: I think I surfed five heats? And the second of those I had to beat Macaulay [Dave] to qualify for the first time. So I had that one heat to get through in the morning and I was over the line.

Did you feel the pressure was off after that Luke?

LE: Yeah, yeah, the rest of it I just was like, “let’s go surf perfect Pipe with no one out and enjoy it.”

Different for you BL, you had the sweats I’m sure with a title in the balance?

BL: In the semi I had slow start and he [Winton] had a couple early. Then I got a couple of bigger ones that just burgered… so it was, the funny thing was that was the year (1988) that seemed the least like mine. The year before, when Dooma [Damian Hardman] won (1987), felt like mine. And I fell apart at the back end and Dooma got momentum and beat me here at Manly on the last day. I thought that was my destiny. I thought I was going to win at Manly at home in front of my friends and family and that was the way it was meant to be – when that didn’t happen, I actually, I think in a lot of ways, surrendered all thoughts of winning world titles and was looking over my shoulder at what I’d blown over time. Then all of a sudden into the last day… [pondering for a moment] again, they were great world title races those few years, cause every time going into the last event there were six surfers with a chance to win.

Barton’s Tracks’s cover, cash and style in the pit at Pipe (helmet and all).

All the pins had to fall in your favour that day, right?

Oh, yeah. There was Curren, Carroll [Tom], Dooma, Pottz [Martin Potter], me and someone else? Maybe Elko [Gary Elkerton], might have been in there. There were heaps of people, not a man-on-man race, so all sorts of stuff had to happen to fall into place. That was Tom’s title to lose. If he didn’t get an interference he was going to win, because he had so much momentum it almost feel like it was inevitable. I wasn’t there when he got the interference – I came to the beach and was, “What? He’s out? What happened?” Then Occ [Mark Occhilupo] had Dooma, and he said to me, “I’m taking him out, BL, you watch!” Then Dooma was gone, I took down Curren and it was just that heat against Winton.

What’s it like surfing Pipe with the pressure of qualifications and world titles?

LE: For me with Pipeline there’s more anticipation on the beach. Once I paddled out into the water, I got away from that – it was always that way for me. Get into another space out there and say to myself, “Okay, It’s just me and I’m out here now.” Leave all that, “Oh, my God! Look at it!” All that stuff, you left on the beach. Once I got out there I never felt any of that.

BL: And I reckon, because of the consequence of the wave, the competing part of it pretty much becomes secondary. Because your focus has to be on the performance, making the drop, and surfing, the contest thing… on a beachie for example, there’s no consequence, no fear – at Pipe, the wave commands your attention and your opponent doesn’t.

LE: It’s the way it should always be – you’re worried about your own performance, rather than your opponent, especially cause there’s a bit more to deal with – the bottom [reef], the size of the wave…

BL: And it’s not always the biggest ones that are the best either. You look at the big ones that are going to barrel perfectly, but you also look at ones that may be a bit ugly…

Like the foamie ten point ride you got Luke against Derek in the semi that year, can you tell us about that wave?

LE: I was sitting next to Derek out the back, he had priority, I’d hadn’t surfed second reef Pipe much, maybe once or twice before. I remember thinking when I saw the wave coming ‘don’t show him that I want it’, and so I just sat there and looked at it – and then we got half way up it and I just spun. And when I actually went, I made it to the bottom and tried to bottom turn, but it was all foamie (as you said), I tried like three times, and couldn’t do it, so I just pulled up and almost stopped – I was going so slow in the barrel that if the wave didn’t spit as hard as it did I would never have come out. [Turning to BL, they both make growling noises and do their best spit impressions].

Like a lot of people around the world, Luke has a second job, coaching Joel Parkinson. Pic: Natsmithphoto.com

The progression of event locations has evolved so much over the last ten or fifteen years. Some of the best far-flung reef breaks of the world have become World Tour events and now, we’ve also returned to a degree, to popular beach break locations – have we found a happy medium?

BL: In the eighties they went hard at the city venues, grandstands and bums on seats – and it worked! It raised the profile, because if they had of gone the Dream Tour direction early surfing wouldn’t have got that popularity to carry it. Then they went Dream Tour, and now having these events again, there is a balance.

LE: You need events like this, at this level – I don’t think it would be fair to be deciding World Titles at spots like Manly, but I do think you want to inspire younger people, and allow them to touch and feel it as well as watch it on the internet and TV where it’s amazing. The kids in Hawaii are lucky because they get to touch it and feel it and the waves are high quality.

And these events young surfers can enter without actually qualifying, it’s not easy to get in, but it’s a lot easier than qualifying for the WT?

BL: I think that’s a good thing especially when you have the local trials too, like they do at Pipe. The local guys challenge the hell out of the top guys there, same here; Beauy Mitchell (who won the trials here) will give them a shake. I suppose these events are from a long culmination of learning, over the years there’s been so much experimentation with event types and so forth – now pro surfing’s a well-oiled machine.

So a good balance has been met?

BL: I think we have. The Australian Open isn’t a World tour event, but it is a highly rated W.Q.S. And that’s the way it should be.

It was dog-eat-dog back in your day, more so than today, but here you guys are co-directing an event?

BL: It’s funny. It’s like we were never apart. You’ve kinda gone though so much together that you understand each other and the friendships last.

LE: Every one was professional back then too, but maybe it was tougher, we were at each other’s throats in the water! But once we got on the beach we shook hands. Look, you tried to put on good performance for everyone… that’s what I enjoyed over the years. Now, being here and being part of putting on something like the Open at Manly, you don’t realise how much information and how much experience you draw on to help run this event. We’re not tied to any one task, you just kind of roam and make sure every single aspect of the events happening – and it’s a nice surprise to find that your twenty odd years or whatever travelling to these things means you know how they run inside and out. It comes too easy, thanks to that experience, and it’s nice to be able to sit here and draw on that and still be a part of surfing.

luke_mundaka_660

Luke’s cut backs could scare the algae of the hull of a boat. Pic: ASP

Hurley and Billabong working together is pretty crazy? Not since Quiksilver sponsored the trials event at Rip Curl’s Bells has two big companies worked as one for the benefit of surfing?

BL: Exactly. That’s what I like about it. On the webcast I get to work with Joe Trupel, Ronnie Blakey, who ordinarily, I’d never get the chance to work with because it’s been divided down corporate lines.

There is the thought that the ASP need a blanket media plan for all events, the same commentary team, the same content delivery, or do you think it works the way it is now with each event sponsor controlling their events autocratically?

LE: Wow, you’ve opened a massive can of worms there. Look, the sport needs to identify itself, the ASP always seems to be financially struggling, and it shouldn’t? But that’s the governing body of our sport – it used to be governing but nowadays the better word is administrative. They need some more ownership over our sport so that they can sell it as a whole and distribute it evenly for everyone’s benefit.

Do we want to lose that eclectic surfing identity though and have that talking head lead anchorman like other sports do?

BL: I don’t think we’ll ever lose it. Surfers are too individual.

LE: The way it’s structured right now, the surfer’s still own 50 percent of the ASP. So they’re in business with them. Any one that competes and pays membership to the ASP is part of that 50 percent ownership. So they gotta remember that, and to me a lot of those surfers don’t give enough. There are a lot of guys with experience that don’t get in there and have their say and push through their opinions as the majority.

Who’s watching who? Skateboarding and surfing collide (at last) at Manly. pic: natesmithphoto.com

There have been instances when a decision has been made and guys that didn’t roll into the meetings and make their vote count then complained about the outcome?

LE: Well the guys that go into the meetings are putting their own time in – take Kieren Perrow for example, right now, the amount of time he’s put into the sport and actually put his own head on the chopping block is astounding. In general they’re not too bad – but I personally think it’s not good enough. They gotta to be more united and represent in the meetings.

BL: And it’s that selfish nature of surfing where it is an individual thing in general, people are out for themselves and in the sports interest they’ve gotta realise that their moment is just a moment in time. Just a miniscule moment compared to the big picture of the sport. Luey and I have always had respect for that. People that gave us the opportunity to be where we are, and I think a lot of the kids today, if you asked them who Larry Bertlemann is, I guarantee you nine-out-of-ten kids wouldn’t have a clue who Larry is… When I grew up I wanted to understand my sport, and where it came from, I wanted to know who were the founding fathers, and respect them and talk to them and hang out. I think nowadays they live in an environment where every think is so instant, Facebook, Twitter, if you need to know anything? Goggle it! You need to make a call? Pick up your phone – it’s all instant gratification. And so that forces you into your own little world more and more and you get consumed in its importance rather than appreciate there’s a bigger picture involved.

When the kids do hear some of the cool old stories it blows them away?

BL: People don’t see beyond Kelly Slater almost, cause he’s been so dominant for so long!

And he appreciates where he is and gives a lot back, working on new contest formats etc?

LE: He enjoys that sort of thing, he gets real involved, that cross over heat system for example was his idea.

Cool guys thank you so much. Now you can get back to work.

Note: Larry Beartlemann (defying sub standard boards (of he time) to shine).

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