What a delight it was to see Paul Morgan front and centre on the last Cloudbreak swell! The affable chap from Ulladulla made his name in waves of consequence, first by whipping into barely wet ledges behind a ski and then by leading the charge when the paddle revolution hit our shores. Whatever the method Morgs had a go and he did it without ego or bluster.

..but then he dropped of the radar for a few years and only reappeared this week. There he was steaming through big, blue Fijian barrels on a plain white gun.

Swellnet spoke to Morgs, who turned 30 today - he was celebrating with his family when we rang - about his time out of the sun and his grand reappearance at Cloudbreak.

Swellnet: The last time I remember seeing footage of you was in Storm Surfers, but you seem to have gone AWOL since then. Any backstory to your disappearance?
Paul Morgan: I broke my foot and had a good year out of the water.

Bet it wasn't that good of a year.
No...

How'd you break it?
I broke it running. I fell in a pothole and pretty much snapped my foot.

So it wasn't even a surfing injury then?
Nah, it wasn't. I was running back to the car, chasing a mate [inaudible] shotgun.

Chasing a mate with a shotgun...?
Nah, ha ha...chasing a mate for shotgun - for the front seat of the car. It was dark and I didn't see this little hole and I fell down it. Twisted my foot really bad. It was pretty heavy. I had to have a year out of the water, and then it took a bit longer than that just to get better. Plus a lot of that time I had to keep busy working.

When did you make the decision to head over to Fiji?
I'd been looking at it for five days and then I spoke to Ben Matson. He just said go, it's gonna be on. I had some free time and I wanted some waves, so that was about it.

How big was it out there?
The big day was between 10 to 15 I thought. There were a few 15 foot sets. Ben said it was gonna be 10-12 with the odd bigger one so that's what I was expecting when I flew over. It was a bit breezy, a bit windy and stuff. That made it a little harder, though there was an hour and a half window in the morning without the wind and it was kinda clean. That's when I got a few of my good ones.

Who was surfing well?
Rasta. He's an amazing surfer. It was a bit of a surprise to see him out there. He's one of the best surfers in the world I reckon. A freak, he can ride anything. He's dialled in and he's got a great connection with it all. Plus he's so mellow in the lineup, you know. He just doesn't force anything.

What did you have under your feet?
A 9'0”, Kirk Bierke. Amazing board, so good!

Quad or thruster?
Quaddie. It felt amazing. 9'0” was a great size. I had a couple of late drops where I couldn't go straight down them. I had to slip down them sort of sideways, you know?

Err...yep, I know.
Yeah, like sometimes the outside rail catches in those situations but that didn't happen. It handled those drops just fine and it felt beautiful.

You had some sponsorship back in the day but were riding a logo free stick on Monday
Yeah, I dunno...[pause]...to be honest I'm just doing it for myself now. And I'm happy just doing it for myself. Since I had that injury I've really simplified my life, I just want to surf for myself, hang with my family, and chase a few waves. Just keep it simple really.

Had you surfed big Cloudbreak before?
No, I'd never been there. It was a bit of a dream to go there. I'd missed the last two swells and I'd been thinking about going there ever since.

So you got plans for anymore trips?
Yeah, I think I just wanna go back there. Ha ha...yeah, I think I'm gonna hunt there. I'm not really sure what other trips I'll be doing but I really want to go back there.

Thanks for your time Morgs, and happy birthday for today.
Cheers.

Click to see a sequnce of Paul Morgan at Cloudbreak on Monday
And check Morgs' profile from Storm Surfers.