Michael Peterson
CARVE no. ?
MP, master of his universe

They say the brightest flame burns the briefest, and that saying was never truer than of Michael Peterson. MP, the King Of Kirra in the '70s, was arguably the greatest surfing talent Australia has ever produced, a human cannonball who surfed fast and lived even faster. But he couldn't go on forever living at that pace, something had to give. A combination of drugs and paranoid schizophrenia unhinged him and drove him away from everything good in life. He gave away surfing and bounced between jail and psychiatric institutions for years. Today, almost 30 years after his heyday, he lives simply, alone with his mother in Tweed Heads. His tell-all biography has shed some light on the man behind the myth, the soul behind the shadow. Sean Doherty, author of the bio and editor of Tracks, was lucky enough to get 30 minutes of MP's time for only his third magazine interview in 25 years.

In his day MP was the master of the section of coast now known as the Superbank. Back then Snapper Rocks, Rainbow Bay and Kirra were all seperate waves, the Kirra section being a lot longer than it is now. The "Cooly kids" (including Pete Townsend and Rabbit Bartholomew) were, much as they are now, at the forefront of modernising the way people rode surfboards. But MP was so fit and intense no one could touch him and his tube riding revolutionised the way people thought about waveriding. When MP paddled out at Kirra people got out to watch.

MP's beloved Gold Coast, oddly empty for once.

MP: We're away, uh? (Pointing at the tape recorder)
Tracks: So Mick, all this talk about the "Superbank" at Snapper, is it as good today as it was when you guys surfed it?
MP: We're on, ay? (Pointing again at the tape recorder) Nah, nah, we had it way better than that. We had the sand heaps better than that. We had the sand going right around the back of the point and going through Little Marley and all the way through Rainbow Bay and down into Greenmount. It's been doing it on and off for years. It's not the best it's ever been, no way. You've got to master the backwash at Snapper. You can time it right you come down through the backwash, you stick your rail in the backwash and do the best you can. (Laughing) I bounced off the rock a couple of times.

Tracks: Is it more crowded than it used to be when you surfed?
MP: Yeah, it's got a lot crowded, more than it was. A lot crowded. More people than there ever was.

Tracks: What was your secret to dealing with the crowds at Snapper?
MP: Dealing with the crowds at Snapper - take off furthest inside and hang on for your life (chuckling). And I had me whistle when I was in the barrel. That sorted 'em out. You couldn't make a takeoff at Snapper unless you took off way behind the rock. It stands up and you can't get into it. You can't take off. Some try and take off on the inside and go arse over head or take off on the shoulder. By then the wave's finished then anyway. That's where I did me cutbacks.

MP also was at the pioneering edge of surfboard design. After starting shaping in the basement of his mother's home, MP went on to work for several famous board factories, pumping out stock boards and his own signature models. At the time he was highly protective to the point to of paranoia about what he put into shaping a board, and would stop shaping if any one entered the room, rather than give away his secrets. He would often shape boards for a particular contest, taking into consideration the way the wave broke in his strategy. He never let anyone look at his boards. Strangely enough for someone so open to new ideas and influences MP hated the advent of thrusters…And he still doesn't rate them.

Tracks: What's the secret to a good surfboard?
MP: It's all in the eyes, you had to get all the bumps out of it. The boys today are leaving a lot of bumps in 'em, they're thinning 'em out, they're getting worse. They're getting frustrating to surf on, too bloody hard to paddle. Sometimes you'll get a classy thruster but...

Tracks: Where did you get your ideas from when you shaped?
MP: I just put it all together. All the people I knew that shaped surfboards, I just took all their ideas and I just put it all together and come up with what I come up with. It worked, yeah.

Tracks: What about thrusters? You weren't a fan of them when they came out.
MP: I had a go on twin-fins, tri-fins, thrusters, everything, and I still reckon a single fin's the go. Thrusters are too loose, I tried to do a 360 and it just sunk (laughs). Couldn't do it. A heavy flick out was cool, but I was just sinking a thruster. I just skated around, I was a power surfer.

Tracks: What do you think about shaping machines?
MP: Shaping machines? Oh yeah, I'm not real rapt in those ones. They should all be done by hand. Anyway, they're full of bumps those thrusters, they're not made right. It's rare you get one that has everything there. Some of those shapers have got to be blind I reckon or wearing a pair of dark sunglasses.

Tracks: Would Kirra be your favourite wave?
MP: When it's doing it, it is. I had some good hollow days near the wall at Duranbah but when Kirra does it all the way through it's definitely the best wave around, for sure. It takes a little bit to know how to surf it, but once you know.

Tracks: What's your secret to surfing Kirra?
MP: Go for it! (Laughs) Or hit the bottom. I got washed off the rocks a few times trying to get out there. Everybody's been washed off there, I'm not the only one. I bounced off the rocks on me board. I used the board as a cushion, ay.

Tracks: What made you such a good tube rider?
MP: The board. I rode a lot of boards that just wouldn't fit in the tube. I worked on 'em though. All I surfed was tubes. All I wanted to do was sit in the tube. Tubes, yeah, I liked 'em. My boards worked, the further up the nose I got the faster I went.

Tracks: The best surfer you've ever seen at Kirra?
MP: That's a hard question, they're all pretty good, especially out at Kirra. It's whoever looks the best, who has the best style; the most enthusiastic style impresses you the most and gets all the attention.

Tracks: Have you seen much of Kelly Slater surf?
MP: Nah, actually I haven't. The only time I've seen him surf is in a contest.

Tracks: What did you reckon?
MP: He seemed to go all right. But none of those thruster surfers look any good. It's a different style of surfing to my style. Your body goes one way and your board goes the other. It skates around the place, the board flies up in the air. I can't do it to save meself, flying around like that. They got to watch 'emselves, they'll get picked up and blown out to sea (cackles) especially those skinny little c**ts.

When it came to contests MP was ruthless and the serious prize money that began to filter into the fledgling Australian circuit just sharpened his edge. As well as an amazing natural talent, he had a whole bag of psychological tricks he used to devastate his opponents before they even got into the water. MP would start messing with their heads as soon as he arrived on scene. In fact even before he got on scene! He wanted to win, yes, but he wanted the money more.

Tracks: What do you think about surfers these days, the bloke who wins this contest out here is gunna win $40,000?
MP: Is that what he wins? Really? Who's winning?

Tracks: Isn't that how much you won in your whole career?
MP: Yeah, something like that. Forty grand's not bad in one whack. I won five grand at the Stubbies, which was a lot of money in those days.

Tracks: Do you enjoy watching the contests?
MP: Whenever the surf's up. I'd like to see Snapper at eight feet.

Tracks: What made you so hard to beat?
MP: I was a lot fitter than the rest, a lot stronger than the rest. I had it wired as far as the contest scene, as far as the judges go, the media, and my whole general approach on winning a contest was, what would you call it, (thinking) veeeeeery interesting (cracks up). I was pretty good at it but it was a lot of hard work, Sean. But you had to be nice to people, you couldn't be all-round nasty, there was no way you were going to win if you were all-round nasty. You had to have a nice personality, you had to be nice to the judges, you had to be careful of the other surfers, but you had to be good at surfing too. It was a game, a big game. It was like a big game of chess. I couldn't ride slop, but if it was good classy eight foot waves I was hard to beat. I got blasted in the slop.

Tracks: Did everyone get sick of you winning? You weren't leaving much for everyone else there at one stage.
MP: Well I was doing all right for a while there, I got a lot of trophies. I never really thought anyone got sick of me winning. I wasn't winning all the time. Sometimes I just blew it. But when I was on it I knew it was mine.

Tracks: Does it bother you that you never got to be world champ?
MP: Nah, that never bothered me. They reckon I should have won in Hawaii too, but I didn't. I was the best surfer there for a while, the only guy who was surfing Sunset Beach really deep. I liked surfing that place, it had a lot of power, it was just like Duranbah but bigger.

Tracks: What do you think of guys being towed by jet skis into 50-foot waves?
MP: I'd like to try that on a good board. Not one of those thrusters. I'd get killed riding one of those things. A good 8-foot single-fin and I'd have a go.

Tracks: What's the biggest wave you ever caught?
MP: I'd say 30 feet at Sunset. A couple of 30 footers put me on me arse but I put it together and got a couple. Waimea was just a killer wave, I let those crazy c**ts have it.

Tracks: Who did you idolise when you were growing up?
MP: All of them I suppose. Everybody. Nat, Wayne Lynch, Russell Hughes, Ted Spencer, all the magazine mob. Peter Cornish, the Manly boys, Treloar. I know Fanning and I know Slater, I know a couple of them but I don't know their names real well. You don't see guys dominate magazines anymore, like, you don't see Slater in the mags all the time — one shot, that's it. Guys like Nat and Wayne were on front covers all the time. But the thruster surfers, every week there's a new surfer, there's someone new. Nat always had photos, even his dog got photos!

But then the wheels fell off. Recreational drug use was endemic in the surf culture of Coolangatta, and MP was one of the biggest smokers in town. He said he used weed to help creativity in his work and surfing, but also to deal with the superstar status and the attention that went with it. The hangers on, women and drugs were one thing, but as his home town got bigger out of town drifters brought in a much more dangerous substance, heroin. Surfers were already scum as far as the local police were concerned, and MP being the biggest 'surfy' of them all, personified what they hated most. When the smack and mental illness started to take their toll he had more than his fair share of run ins, even being arrested as a suspect for murder. It all culminated in a massive car chase involving 25 police cars. A chase he barely remembers.

Tracks: You used to get a hard time from the cops around here?
MP: Nah, they'd look at me a lot, but they were looking at everyone. I never had any real problems with the coppers, any of them. I had a lot of traffic offences though. Speeding fines, that was about all. I paid most of them. I went to jail a couple of times for not paying them. I had to get someone to come and pay the fines and get me out of jail (laughs). One copper who booked me died before I got around to paying it, that's how long I took. They finally caught up with me. I said, "What about the guy who booked me?' they said, "He died weeks ago".

Tracks: What about the car chase in the Falcon?
MP: Nah, don't remember too much about that. That was a weird night. I remember going real fast. I got to the roadblock and I stopped.

Weirdly this was probably a positive point in MP's life. After much pleading from his mother in court he got to see doctors who assessed his mental fitness and diagnosed the schizophrenia. And although he got sent down to one of the roughest gaols in Australia, Boggo Road, it kept him away from bad influences and set him on a disciplined road to a recovery.

Tracks: What about your time in Boggo Road. Was it a rough joint?
MP: Nah, it wasn't that tough. I was only in there for a few months. I got well looked after in there, three meals a day, I didn't want to leave. I got looked after, I got well looked after, yeah (laughing). Good food, exercise, I didn't mind that place at all. I sort of miss it in a way. You're away from the drugs, away from the women, away from the wild life, the night life the alcohol, the 'How you going, man?'. It was peace and quiet, I didn't mind it at all. I didn't mind it at all.

MP never surfed again but he was still pretty lucky. A lot of surfers lost their minds and their lives during his purple haze period. In fact it's said is only alive today because he smoked the smack and didn't shoot it up.

Tracks: Do you miss surfing?
MP: Nah, I don't miss surfing that much because there hasn't been much surf lately, has there? Onshore slop. MP: It's the worst surf I've ever seen.

Tracks: Nah, there hasn't, but you haven't surfed in over 20 years.
MP: Mate, my time was up a long time ago.

Tracks: I heard that when you were surfing, you'd surf full on for two weeks, and then not surf at all for the next two to stay fresh.
MP: Yeah, I'd surf for three months then take some time off. That keeps you going. When you surf all the time you get worn out. You'd stay right on the ball that way. I wouldn't show until the contest was on.

Tracks: What do you think about the young guys today thinking of you as one of the legends of surfing?
MP: Well yeah, I'm comfortable with that. There's a lot of other legends out there though. Yeah, I'm comfortable with it.

Tracks: We did a poll on the greatest surfer of all time and you finished 10th.
MP: I made 10 did I? I didn't think I'd make it at all. I missed that one. They remembered me, ay?

Tracks: There were a lot of faces from your past at the book launch the other day, was it good catching up with them?
MP: Yeah I saw a lot of old faces there, it surprised me. It really surprised me. You had a good rave up there on the microphone. I'm not real good at that stuff, I can talk sometimes I can do it but I get a little nervous. Everybody knows you once you grab that microphone, and I'm not real keen on that. I like to keep a bit to myself.

Tracks: And finally, what do you think of the book?
MP: Well, it's done, isn't it. Finally. It took ya long enough to do it.

MP now lives with his mother. Alone, apart from the voices in his head that will never leave him. Luckily for MP the voices are friendly, and not the viciously haunting types that many schizophrenics suffer. Sometimes he can drown them out with the radio sat on his bedside cabinet which is filled with no end of chocolate and sweets. His daily routine consists of a walk to the banks of the Tweed River, where he sits under the shade of a big old tree. He's not the person he once was, but at least he has found his peace.

13 things you didn't know about MP

• MP never snapped a surfboard in his life. He liked his boards glassed heavy.
• MP suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, a mental illness that causes, amongst other things, you to see, hear, and believe things that aren't necessarily there. MP remained undiagnosed for years and only got help once he was in jail.
• MP's favourite all-time car was a crappy gold Galant. He loved cars and chewed through them like hot dinners, but for some reason this heap of shit was his favourite.
His Kirra boards had a pronounced apex in the bottom-rocker. It meant that when he shifted his weight behind the apex, the board slowed, when he put his weight in front of it, the board took off. Simple, but brilliant.
• MP's all-time favourite band was Deep Purple. His favourite today is Abba.
• MP was jailed after a car chase in 1983 that took 35 police cars to stop him on the Storey Bridge in Brisbane.
• MP was an innovative, instinctive shaper. As a kid he'd built hundreds of model airplanes, and he foiled his fins to match the front edge of a plane wing.
• MP today lives with his mother, Joan, in South Tweed Heads. His daily ritual includes a walk, during which he sits under a mango tree on the banks of the Tweed River, where he contemplates life.
• MP never shot up heroin he only ever snorted it, a fact that surely saved his life.
• MP used to hold photos of his idol, goofyfooter Wayne Lynch, in front of a mirror and study them so they appeared natural.
• MP was once taken into custody by police and beaten with phone books under suspicion of being the Tweed Heads Balaklava Killer.
Despite being a junkie, MP was fastidious with his diet. He made a weekly trip up into the mountains in the Gold Coast hinterland to fill up plastic containers with creek water. He believed the water coming out of the tap was contaminated.
• MP hasn't surfed since 1983.

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