Steve Cooney was the archetypal underground surfer of the early 70s. His surfing was fast, fluid and stylish. At an early age his free surfing around his northern beaches home attracted media attention, but his horizons expanded rapidly, first to the north coast points and ultimately to Bali where he became, at 14 years of age, the first person to surf Uluwatu. It is a story that has been told a few times but still intrigues. Given surfing's increasingly macho culture, the idea of a 14 year old being the first to venture out of that cave into unknown waters, now seems incongruous.

Blindboy: So tell me about that first trip to Bali.
Steve Cooney: That was an extension of going to the north coast with Albe. I had done numerous trips with him surfing the north coast points, then came back and won the NSW junior title at North Narrabeen. John Witzig was around too, so I was with both of them shooting and doing things. So when Albe said "Do you want to come?" I said, " Of course." So that was when Mum went and got me out of school.  She had to tell the headmaster that I was leaving school prior to my 15th birthday which, in those days, was the official leaving date. He wasn't happy about it because I was a good student. To me it seemed like an opportunity too good to miss. So we jumped on the plane. I was on the other side but Albe was watching the Bukit as we landed, so he had a suspicion that there were waves out there.

We surfed Kuta Reef for a while, which was great. There was no-one in the water, just Rusty [Miller] and me and Paul Hutchinson. That was great because it was gradually moving into a heavier situation. Coming from the north coast points was a good fitness thing, then surfing the lefts pretty consistently at Kuta Reef, edged me into what we found at Ulu. Albe and I went out there once and couldn't get in. We ended up in some village.  The next day Albe went out on his own and found his way in. He came back that night and told us "I think I've found something."  So as quickly as we could, the next day or the day after, we organised bemos and me, Paul Hutchinson, his brother Geoff, Albe, and maybe David Elfick, ended up getting in from the temple side of Ulu. We were walking in over that original track over the ridges, and you could see the back of Uluwatu. We got to the cave and sussed it out.

I remember it very clearly, there's one wave in the movie that was the first wave I rode, I highlight that in Ulu32 [Steve's film history of 32 years of surfing Indonesia]. It was a bit bumpy, half tide going down the inside.  I was taking off on the edge of the peak because the main peak was shorter and not linking up.  I went a bit wider and that was getting me down through the inside.  My first wave was a bit bumpy and I was nervous because I was the only one in the water and there was a lot of sea life around.  It was beautiful, I loved it, I wasn't scared, just nervous because I didn't know the place.  So I ended up picking off a really long  one that went all the way down.  The local people were screaming on the headland as I took off and screamed all the way through the wave until I pulled out, then went dead silent.  So I paddled back out in dead silence.

Cooney's first wave at Uluwatu, as far as he knows the very first wave ridden there

So why didn't anyone else go out?
Rusty didn't come with us that first time.  Paul was a shaper and not a highly accomplished surfer and Geoff was just along for the ride.  I stayed out for a while.  It was really enjoyable, picking your way through the reef with no leg rope, trying not to fall off, knowing that it was a bit of an issue and that you wouldn't find your board quickly with the water running down the reef.  There was no-one there to pick it up for you.  So I just tried to be careful and when I did fall off I would try to fall on my board or flat on my back so I didn't go too deep. The first couple of sessions were really memorable, the first wave particularly because after that all the tension in me settled down and I just started to enjoy the place.  I did lose my board a few times.  I tried to keep it to a minimum because Ulu doesn't let you out easily but I didn't lose much bark off.  Then there were the bigger days surfing with Rusty, which feature in the film.

Did you anticipate what it would become?
No, not at all.  I was just a 14 year old grommet, so I didn't anticipate the reaction at all.

What do you think of the changes?
Some people used to make me feel guilty about it, even though it was out of my control, I had nothing to do with it. I was just dragged along. I got over that. It was inevitable. The way surfing has gone, how were you going to keep the place quiet? It's one of the most unbelievable pockets of surf breaks within a few kilometres of each other, outside Hawaii.

What about other breaks? Did you get to any of them?
On a flat day we hiked from Jimbaran up past Belangun to where we could see Ulu. We would run into the odd farmer with a sickle looking at us going, "You idiots".

Did you surf the other side of the island at all?
We went to Sanur and paddled out. It was clean but peaky and short so we couldn't really see the potential there. It was low tide and we walked out on the reef. So it was all arse about. We were only there for a couple of hours and the bemo was waiting for us. After that we stuck to Ulu, surviving on warm 7 Up and peanuts!

//blindboy