Craig Griffin: Charting Wayne Lynch's Personal History
Craig Griffin is a Melbourne-based film director. His latest work, which he finished mere hours before this interview took place, is a documentary on Wayne Lynch. Uncharted Waters: A Personal History of Wayne Lynch is a study of the enigmatic Victorian, once the greatest surfer of his generation and a person whose politics and opinions thrust him into the spotlight as Australia underwent sweeping social changes. Forty years on, with his integrity still intact, Wayne's story is finally being told on film.
Swellnet: I believe this is the fourth film you've been involved in and first one about surfing. What were your previous films? Craig Griffin: The first one I produced was a documentary called Not Quite Hollywood, a feature length documentary about genre filmmaking in Australia, it won an AFI for best feature length doco in 2008. Then I produced Such Is Life, a documentary about Ben Cousins, the footballer. Then came First Love, the surfing film made by Clare (Plueckhahn), Clair (Gorman) and Fran (Derham), so it's a little white lie to say this is my first surfing film as that one was about three girls and their passion for surfing. This film is my first as director and it's my first with a very strong surfing theme.
Wayne is a notable media recluse, how did you convince him of the project? It was kind of a long process getting him on board because he didn't really want to do it. I think the reason Wayne agreed to let me make the film was the fact that I've never been part of the surf industry, so that was an attractive quality that I had - probably one of the few. So he agreed to the film because I come from a completely different background, right outside the world of surfing.
And why was it you chose Wayne? Well that goes back a long, long, long way. I grew up in Preston, Melbourne, which is a long way from the beach. I started surfing in 1974 when I was 14 or 15. I came from a world that was skinheads and toughies on the street and surfing was a lifeline for me – a way to get out of there. Pretty much from the first day I got a surfboard I totally bought into the surf culture of the time, I was an avid reader of Tracks, and the name that kept popping up was Wayne Lynch. I guess an interesting thing for me at that stage was Wayne was from Victoria and there were no famous surfers from Victoria apart from Wayne.
The thing about Wayne isn't just that he was famous but he was more like a legend. When I started surfing if you were on the west coast from about Lorne and going all the way through to Port Fairy there would always be talk or discussion about Wayne Lynch. You might arrive at a place and people would say Wayne Lynch was here, and you'd ask where, and they'd say, he's already disappeared. It was kind of like a mythology, and if your were a surfer in Victoria you were brought up with it.
I had a fascination with Wayne for a long, long time so when Kent from Whitetag introduced me to him in 2009 I guess he was about as far from what I expected him to be as possible...
Why do you say that? Well, because he was so down to earth, and so self-deprecating, and the butt of his own humour, and I thought this is no way for a legend to behave! He was nothing like the myth that I'd grown up with, but you know the more I got to know him the more I saw those elements – those elusive, slightly reclusive qualities - and you could see how those myths developed.
I've read that you didn't want to make a surf film, what did you mean by that? I don't know if I said I didn't want to make a surf film, I guess what I was saying was I didn't want to make a straight ahead, typical surf movie with wall to wall surfing. This is a film, and it's a film about a surfer, and there's plenty of surfing in there, but the approach we took is the same approach as when we made the Ben Cousins film, which is to respect the story and to treat the subject – Wayne - with the respect I'd take if he were any other artist or sportsman.
And also I was interested in the social history and the times Wayne grew up in and the effect that had on him. So I wanted to broaden it out and talking to Wayne we both agreed we didn't want it to be some hero worship of Wayne surfing. We try to look at a whole lot of other areas.
But there is surfing in the film..? Yes. I don't want people to make the mistake and think there's no surfing in the film. I've got footage from Paul Witzig's Sea of Joy and Evolution, Jack McCoy has come on board and we've got footage from A Day in the Life and also Storm Riders. I think the footage of Wayne surfing in Storm Riders is amongst the very best footage of Wayne ever captured on film.
The big lefthander? Correct! It's amazing. And there's some stuff in Sea of Joy at Tamarin Bay that, just for sheer beauty, is probably the best I've seen - just perfect. All that is in the film. There's definetly some really great surfing but we're trying to do it in a poetic way so it fits with the overall story.
Do you think it's a film that might have appeal beyond the surfing audience? Yes I do. Obviously the primary audience are surfers and people of my generation who've grown up with Wayne. I do believe the film can go a bit wider than that. I've already had the response from people outside of the surf industry who've watched the film and got a lot of it. They're very intrigued by it. They gained an insight into a world they thought they knew but really didn't.
You mentioned the social issues, I guess you're referring to Wayne and avoiding conscription to Vietnam? Yes. That's an important point because most people under about 40 have no idea that up until '71 or '72 you could be conscripted to go into the army and while the Vietnam War was on you could end up in Vietnam.
I think that's a really important part of his history and also Australian history. There's a commonality there because I can go and talk to surfers in America and they had exactly the same thing to deal with. One minute they're surfing and having a great time and then next they're being shipped off to Vietnam. This is a really big issue but it's kinda been lost in the mists of time.
So that's one social issue. I also think when Wayne went off into the desert and met with Aboriginals and started spending a lot of time with Aboriginal people and learning about indigenous culture, that's another area where Wayne was ahead of his time and another social issue we get into.
I guess another issue we touch upon is the corporation of surfing, kind of where Wayne stood in relation to that.
That's an interesting point, what many people admire about Wayne are his principles, yet he's equally pragmatic, he dipped his toe into the burgeoning professional surfing world... Yeah, in '75 he won Surfabout which was the richest professional surfing contest in the world at the time. That was his comeback, he had been out of surfing since catching malaria in '72 or '73 in Bali. He'd been out of surfing for 18 months and people thought he was finished but he came back for that Surfabout and he won. Wayne's idea of competition was captured in a great quote. There was a great 20 minute film by David Elfick about the '75 Surfabout and Wayne's interviewed in it, which we've got in our film.
Wayne is quite straightforward saying that he doesn't mind surfing contests: you go out, you earn it, you win the money, and you don't have to deal with the palaver of pleasing sponsors etcetera etcetera etcetera. So he's not against competition surfing as such. He had his troubles with some of the shenanigans of the corporate world and how some of the corporates took the direction of surfing. So he definitely surfed in professional events, and he did it quite well, but he's always had trouble reconciling his approach to surfing with corporate surfing. That's been one of the great conflicts of his life.
I think that's why Wayne has so much appeal amongst surfers: he's taken a stance and he's thought it through. People latch onto his strength of conviction. I wont pretend that making this film with Wayne has been a cakewalk. You know, we've butted heads many times. We're both strongly opinionated people and Wayne is also a very complex and intelligent person. For me he is so far away from the stereotype of a surfer its not funny.
The thing that gives him so much appeal is that he's always, always followed his own path for better or for worse - and sometimes it has been for worse. He's followed his own path and I guess that's why people find him heroic in the classic sense of the word. He marches to his own beat and he's not afraid to say what he thinks. I guess that's very refreshing.
When can we expect to see Uncharted Waters? There'll be an announcement about the Australian premiere in a couple of weeks. It'll be in Melbourne. Once that happens there'll be events screening around Australia and along the coast as we come into summer.
Uncharted Waters: The Personal History of Wayne Lynch was made with the assistance of Whitetag , The Director's Group, Patagonia and Film Victoria. Stay tuned to Swellnet for screening dates.
Comments
Dave Parmenter did a great interview with Wayne Lynch a few years ago for Surfer (or Surfing?) mag.
I can't quote verbatim but WL said that when he was doing contests and was winning was the time he was actually doing his worst surfing.
Nice piece Stu. I'm kinda bummed I'm missing out on all this good stuff coming out of Australia recently, Storm Surfers, Drift, Being Lara Bingle and now this. All the best with it Craig, hope it goes well.
He was definitely the most influential surfer of that era, bar none. The still photos and the footage in Evolution changed the way we thought about surfing. He was the first to get anywhere near vertical, the first to wrap past 180 in a cutback and all with that super smooth flowing style. I was on the beach when he won Surfabout and there was something tentative about his performance that day but he got he waves and was a clear winner.
His stance on conscription was also inspiring. It is too often forgotten how brutal those times were and how few had the courage of their convictions. His distancing himself from the corporations was also admirable when you consider the opportunities open to him to exploit his reputation. I think you call it integrity!
I surfed with Wayne in The Australian Titles May 1969 at Margaret River. The surf was big and breaking hard and precisely on the reef with a slight off shore wind. I can remember watching Wayne so far back in those huge tubes . His long hair would blow around as the wave caught up with him and became more intense. There will never be anyone as good as Lynch.
I surfed with Wayne in The Australian Titles May 1969 at Margaret River. The surf was big and breaking hard and precisely on the reef with a slight off shore wind. I can remember watching Wayne so far back in those huge tubes . His long hair would blow around as the wave caught up with him and became more intense. There will never be anyone as good as Lynch.
I surfed with Wayne in The Australian Titles May 1969 at Margaret River. The surf was big and breaking hard and precisely on the reef with a slight off shore wind. I can remember watching Wayne so far back in those huge tubes . His long hair would blow around as the wave caught up with him and became more intense. There will never be anyone as good as Lynch.
i think if Wayne had of been born 20/30 years later , that photo from Fiji last year of Mark Healeys board in the Lip , would have had WL cruising through below it just infront of the Huge Foamball .
The waves that he pioneered are still to be ridden properly to this day and in some cases barely been attempted . ( even when we think people are really pushing the Paddle In limits these days ) .
Not wanting to take anything away from Craig's work, these two short vids are worth a look.
A great surfer but more importantly, a great man. A worthy custodian of our wonderful pastime.
Respectfully.
Apostles. Fall into the sea.
Fact. Erosion is inevitable.
What's this, are we establishing a Pantheon of Godlike surfing immortals here ?
Most influential, his stance was inspiring, his integrity, there will never be anyone as good as Lynch, a great surfer, a great man.
A worthy custodian of our wonderful pastime.
Not my wonderful pastime matey .. and this is written from another planet.
Takes all kinds to make up the world, PB.
yeah I know Stu ... pedestals leave a man on full view though, don't they. This bloke makes Nat look good.
Hey Pete, I love your writing and am a regular visitor to your website.
Sure, he's a man, he eats, drinks, shits and one day will become sick and die as will you and I.
I still respect him though for the fact that he's more substance than ego. Kind of a rarity these days.
ZEN,again - I'd like to try putting this into a perspective that encompasses Zen. But that will put everybody to sleep, glad you come around mate.
We shouldn't forget that Wayne is also an extraordinary craftsman. I've been lucky enough to get a number of customs off him. His boards are pure magic - the most balanced fluid foils I've ever had. I've pestered him for years to get some more - but I think that's the point. He's not a factory. He puts a lot of knowledge and artistry into those boards and he isn't just going to pick up a planner just to make a quick buck.
I unknowingly bought one of his boards in Biarritz late 80s and it was one of the best boards Ive owned. It was a Frog model, an offshoot of Rip Curl I found out later, and very diff to the boards of the day. It was sleek, no flyers, roundtail and 6'5", a perfect board for a Euro winter when I'd be travelling in a van and a shortage of space required a small quiver. It felt good under my arm.
I was just expecting it to be a local shaper and didnt pay attention to the scrawl on the bottom so imagine my surprise when I got it home and saw it was shaped by Wayne Lynch! That board saw me through two happy years in Europe and was a very reluctant sale during a rough time in London. Don't even ask how much I sold it for, it rips at my guts to think about it now.
Thanks for those two important videos Zen. I really enjoyed them!!! What an amazing person !! You really had to be there in the sixties.
Trusting there is no cameras or surfing in this expose' on the Messiah of No Exposure. Surely not. ?
Fear not Sid, I'm sure the camera will be so focused on the man, every thing else will be blurred. I agree with Peterb, as with most reclusive legends who make a living out of being a reclusive legend, the general surfing population comes to the conclusion that these are great and wise men through well orchestrated and controlled PR videos "documentaries" portraying them as mystical, released from time to time. Great surfers don't necessarily make great men, but well managed PR can.
@Peterb, surely he could not be as bad as Nat, and that's that.
Wayne ... PR machine! Give me a break. He was pretty much invisible until Andrew Kidman did a segment on him in Litmus. Then he went underground again for the millionth time. It only been in the last few years with his work with Patagonia that he's been dragged back into a very pale lime light and from what ! could tell even then he didn't want to go there. So for him to participate in a film about him? The filmmaker must be very pesuasive.
He's certainly not Nat and that's that.
The Wayne Lynch PR Machine.
It certainly has an oxymoronic sound to it.
Most people, when they write a book about themselves, should be happy just seeing their name on the cover, Nat went to the hairdresser for his covershot, and that's that.
Personally I can't wait for uplift's autobiography!
Here you go gopatter
You can get one of his boards from here,www.surftechaustralia.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&i... apparently he makes regular trips to Taiwan to handshape boards.
When I run into a surfing legend, should I bow my head and not make I contact? Do I kiss there hand or their feet?
No mate, you sit on the beach and learn, some manners would be a good place to start.
I never really got to know Wayne personally. There were times when I just said hello! I just enjoyed watching him surf!! I had plenty of friends who knew him well. Apparently on one occasion he and about twelve other guys were in a resteraunt The menus were past around. ......Wayne ordered first . .....As soon as the crew saw what he ordered they all ordered exactly the same meal as he did.
That is gold wooody, absolute gold.
Always been a fan of Wayne and films that don't want to be 'surf films'
Please enter it in the American east coast surf film festivals in Nova Scotia and New York. They will surely eat this up. And, shamelessly, I'd get a chance to see it. Good luck.
Yeah, yeah Shaun - the guys pure evil.
Sorry gopatter,being basically illiterate, I am not real good at getting my point across, I am actually having a go at all the guys who think that all these legends walk on water, I am not really hanging shit on Wayne,Nat or whoever, if they can make a living from hero worship good luck to them. Nat had it down to a fine art, but stepped over the mark, Wayne seems to be taking it to a new level.
But seriously,that meal in the restaurant, it would have to have been vegetarian as sheep don't eat meat. Woodwork, you were taking the piss weren't you?
@abc-od: I had one of those frog model boards too! A 7'4" pintail. Never knew it was a Wayne Lynch until I read your post. It was a great board, I surfed it at solid Kirra through the mid nineties. It went sick in the barrel! I sold it to a mate who was going to Indo. Dunno what happened to it, I wonder if I could get it back? Probably on a scrap heap somewhere by now.
I got pissed with Wayne at the Port Elliot pub some years ago. He seemed like a jolly good fellow! It was only later I found out that he never drinks and had a shocking hangover the next day:)
@shaun,
"if they can make a living from hero worship good luck to them".
in my useless opinion, your observation is clearly the comment of the thread!
Na, Woody gets the gong from my point of view, not often do I get a belly laugh off the internet, thanks Woody.
Worlds best surfer. Wayne Lynch.!!!!! Wayne's Wayne and that's that !!!