This profile ran in the December 1985 issue of Tracks. This version has been slightly edited.

Gary Elkerton has been a very visible figure in Australian surfing for a few years. When you think of the publicity he’s received over the last three years it’s surprising he’s only been a professional since August ’84. Kong burst on the national and international scene when he won the ’82 Pro Junior at Narrabeen. It wasn’t so much his winning the contest that attracted attention, it was how he did it. His surfing during the semis and final was amazing, an example of going for it with total abandon while onlookers relished every upside-down re-entry.

After that Kong seemed to be in every surf magazine published, he was all the buzz, they even made a short movie about him, Kong's Island. All this before he'd even turned pro. He didn’t even have an Australian title under his belt. What he 

 have, though, was an approach to surfing that captured the surfing world’s imagination — wild, animal and unrestricted. To many, it seemed only a matter of time before he hit the pro circuit and tore it apart. However, Kong often seemed to flounder in contests; his consistency left something to be desired. Many people criticized Gary for this. In some sort of perverse twist, they felt his explosive free-surfing meant little if he couldn’t make it all the way to the beach while wearing a colored singlet.

Kong and his sponsors weren’t overly concerned. He was getting more exposure than anyone. In fact, in 1982 he was possibly the most-published surfer worldwide. As for the critics, Kong reckons it used to annoy him but thought, “Fuck you guys, I can do more radical maneuvers than you could ever do . . . .”

Since those days Kong has worked on his competitive act to the point where he is now rated #4 in the world, very much within striking distance of a world title. Last year Kong joined the circuit in France and ended up 27th. This year he’s done the lot and is understandably happy with his efforts so far. “It’s been hard, but I think I’ve come out pretty well. There are seven contests in Australia coming up and I’m feeling positive going into those, but I’m just pacing myself.”

What about the world title? "I know I can win the world title this year but I’d be very happy just getting in the top five and taking it from there next year.”

To reach the stage where the world title is a real possibility, Kong has done a lot to change his approach to competition surfing. Before he used to approach a heat with the same attitude he had towards his free surfing — just hit it hard. Since then, however, he’s worked out what’s necessary for success on the ASP tour and has pulled back accordingly. "I just pull back. It’s like taking 20% off my effort for a heat. I do the set maneuvers to the beach. I make sure I’ve got four scoring rides and when I’ve got those I can increase by 20% and hopefully I’ve got the heat.”

For someone like Kong, who likes to surf as radically as possible, this caution is aggravating. “Watching that sort of surfing makes me pretty sick, actually," he says. "Like you never, ever see, in the early part of a contest, guys really unleashing and doing full-on maneuvers. It's an American thing — the way they all surf the same. Ian Cairns has been a big part of it. He runs the ASP and that’s the way they want us to surf and that’s the way we’ve gotta surf.”

Kong’s point about the Americans is interesting. This circuit has been their most successful to date, with American surfers at the moment occupying seven positions in the top 16. Without a doubt, this success is a result of the intense NSSA contest program for which Ian Cairns has been largely responsible and which is designed around the ASP contest criterion. (Although some would have it the other way around!) Whether or not this is the start of the much-awaited American comeback remains to be seen. But it cannot be denied that the young Americans are now a major force in competitive surfing. Kong’s spent much of this year traveling with this new crop of Seppos and he has definite ideas on their place in surfing. “Mate, the Americans are taking over. There's just so many of 'em on the circuit at the moment. You travel around the world with all those Americans and it just boils up inside you. You just get so sick of seeing them out there flapping. With their competition surfing, they’ve got it down. They’ve been taught well. They know how to get to the beach in very small waves — Ian Cairns has done a very good job with the NSSA. But, their free surfing—they’re all a bunch of softcocks.”

The American push is a subject Kong warms to, obviously inspired by his idea of what real surfing is along with a certain amount of nationalism. “There’s no way they’ll ever, 

 come close to Australia in pure surfing. Look, they’ve got one guy, Tommy Curren. One good surfer. How many have we got? They have one guy and 100 clones who surf exactly like him which gets very boring after a while. Australians see themselves as individuals and I don’t think anyone would be able to clone anybody else 'cause they’d cop such a payout. If I saw someone out there copying me I’d say, 'What are you doing, you mullet? Get off!' But I suppose we shouldn’t really judge the Americans (laughs). The way we were brought up and the way we surf is totally different. They more or less surf competition all the time — get those four rides to the beach. When we free surf we’re more inclined to get out there and rip the guts out of it, take the place completely apart."

Kong’s very big on being an individual and in this day of the clean-cut professional with their color co-ordinated surfwear his image is very different. It’s a macho image, complete with sleeveless leather vests and wristbands and flexing biceps. Considering his background, this is all makes sense. For starters: he’s not small, he grew up in the wild environment of an open sea fishing boat, his surfing is aggressive, and his nickname is derived from a giant gorilla. (Not to mention his dad’s nickname — Bully.) However, I'm not sure this is the real Gary Elkerton. When we did this interview he’d just returned from five months overseas. As soon as he arrived in Oz it was back to the Sunshine Coast for his belated 21st. I flew with Gary from Sydney to Maroochydore, spent a few days on his home turf, and took in his party while I was at it. His entire family was waiting at the airport and, although his old man held back, the Elkertons were enthusiastic in their show of affection; including Kong.

Kong’s parents are supportive of his chosen career. “They’ve been behind my surfing for a long time and they’re backing me more and more every year. It's great. It’s good to have your parents’ support, I think that’s crucial to success.

“That macho image I have is all bullshit, really. The flex is just the charge sign — all systems go. I put it across but I’m a loveable sort of guy (laughs). I’ve got my own frame of mind. If you come up here and hang for a while and see how these people live you'll see how I came out of it (laughs).’’

Flying up the coast, Kong was just hanging to get home. Not only did he have his party to look forward to, there were also friends to catch up on and some relaxing to do. In the four days I was there he didn’t do much relaxing. Between a Friday reunion with the boys at the pub, the party, and the regulation Sunday session it was all a bit much. Half of Queensland turned out for the party and in true style they knocked off three 18-gallon kegs by 10 PM. Kong’s mates aren’t scared of hitting it hard and there’s no way they were going to let a 

 hack wimp out. (Thanks guys.) It’s a pretty cruisy place up there where everyone seems to know everyone else. Along with Grant Kenny, Kong is the local boy made good.

One morning I was racing the rent-a-beast back to my hotel to meet Kong for a surf. A cop going the other way noticed my hurry and gave pursuit.

“You got any reason for driving like that, son?”

"Yeah, I have actually. I work for a surfing magazine in Sydney and I’ve gotta meet Gary Elkerton for an interview.”

“What magazine’d you say you were with?"

I told him and he let me off. On the speeding charge, anyway, not for the seat belt.

Even though Gary reckons he's not macho, his upbringing certainly wasn't standard suburbia. He was virtually on the boat from Day One. "We were up in northern Australia for seven years, then down around Evans Head before coming here in 1978. Mum tried to teach me correspondence but it didn't really happen. I went to school at Maroochydore High for years eight and nine and then my father dame and got me and put me back on the boat. When I went to school I knew a lot f of the basics and I learned a little bit more. I found it hard at first when I had to go out and speak to people around the world, and I'm sort of still getting it together that way. Not having an education was a worry for a while. But, you know, I don't need an education for what I wanna do. Last year I got my skipper’s license, so that's something I’ve got to fall back on, and I can make more money on the boat than I can as a pro surfer. My little brother just started on the boat and he makes as much as me.”

Life on the boat was pretty interesting. Young Gary was retrieved from the water a few times by his dad and he’s surfed some places no one else has. “We worked a lot around here. There’s a reef 30 miles out off Mooloolaba. It runs right up to the Barrier Reef and you work outside that in 60 to 100 fathoms of water. Out there you pull some pretty strange things out of the ocean and I’ve had some crazy experiences on the boat; been chased by a few sharks. There’s a few islands at the southern end of the Barrier Reef that have unreal waves. The bottom’s not the normal color — it’s yellow, green and blue. It’s insane surfing over a reef which is actually fluorescent.”

Traveling the world on the pro circuit is a far cry from Mooloolaba, let alone a fishing boat 30 miles out to sea. I ask Gary what that transition was like. “For anybody who does the circuit, the first 12 months will be the worst experience they’ll have in surfing. They’ll get their arse kicked every time they go in the water and they’ll get so pissed off they won’t believe it. But if you’ve got the guts to hang in there and put your time in you’ll come out a lot better off. In my first year I had a couple of results but the rest of the time I was that pissed off I just wanted to come home. I couldn’t handle it. I was really spinning. But a lot of people helped me out, told me to hang in there, take a bit of shit and give a bit of shit. The next year gets a bit easier, you start to know what’s going on."

I ask him about specific places on this year's tour, starting with the wavepool contest in Allentown.

"The pool was pretty dismal — but also amazing. It’s a good idea for people who haven’t seen surfing, but that pool was too small. South Africa, I didn’t have any boards for the first seven days, but it was OK. I sorta like Africa but it’s a bit heavy. From there I went to France, nearly got married, had some fantastic waves . . . . "

(Laughs) “Well, I’ve known this girl in France for a while and, I dunno, she's a bit of an animal and I don’t mind her. She's coming to Australia soon.”

"Well, I'm not going to marry her, but I’m going to tell everyone I am (laughs). In the near future we’ll get engaged.”

The traveling side of the tour is hectic with a contest in a different place virtually every week. This puts an enormous strain on the surfers. I ask Gary about it. “Yeah, it’s not as easy as everyone thinks. Most people think we have an unreal time traveling the world, which is bullshit. Like, we go to a contest for a week, do our job, and piss off. Straight in, straight out. It’s not that much fun. This year we've got 22 contests, and next year I hear there will be 29. That's 

 too many and I think Ian Cairns has let them get out of hand, but what can you say to Ian when he folds his arms? It’s really hard for us to go to these contests each week and keep a high-performance level going."

“I’ve had to do the full tour this year to establish myself in the top 16 but next year I'm going to plan it out and take some breaks. I'll miss a few contests — Japan probably, South Africa definitely. Not just because of what’s going on over there [with apartheid]; it's just not worth it any way you look at it. Renault won’t be sponsoring their contest next year ’cause of the French sanctions. To go there is just totally ridiculous, in terms of expense. What you do win you have to spend before you leave cause its not worth anything if you take it out of the country. I don’t think that many people will be going next year — there’ll be a lot more surfers on the boycott.”

Like a lot of other pros, Kong has recently decided to hire a manager. Before he left for the tour, Quiksilver boss Alan Green (who has been regarded by some as Gary’s unofficial manager for a few years) advised Kong to join Peter Mansted’s stable. “I wanted someone to take care of the financial side and have everything done. It’s great to have your tickets and accommodation all sorted out. It takes a lot of strain off my mind. Now, I’ve just gotta get out there and surf. But at first it was weird. I hated [Peter's] guts. I’ve had to learn to take the ear-bashings off him, but when he starts talking bullshit, that’s when you pull him into line. It’s easier for me, 'cause I’m bigger than him (laughs). But now that I’ve gotten to know Peter, he’s become quite a good friend. He’s got a totally different side to him, and of course he's good when it comes to business. The industry gives the surfers heaps of shit by not paying us and Peter's here to give the industry heaps of shit right back, and get them to stop ’em ripping us off like they have been doing."

Kong has been closely associated throughout his career with Rip Curl and Quiksilver. He recently parted company with Rip Curl and joined Piping Hot. “Ah, we just had a few disagreements. They didn’t want to pay me the money I'm worth so I said to ’em ‘Look, rubber’s rubber and money’s money.’ The tour is getting more expensive and they couldn’t come up with the money. Piping Hot could and they make good wetsuits so I’m stoked. I think I could be their main man at the moment — better than being fourth or fifth down the line. Quiksilver and I get on really well. I’m part of the family.”

At 21, Kong is only just starting his pro career. The sport is at a stage where it can either stagnate or charge ahead and become quite a money-making proposition. Kong will be in there, but for how long? “I just wanna get in there, get a world title and get out. Maybe not just now, but soon. I’m not saying I’ll retire after I win the world title. I’ll just hang in Australia, do the Oz leg, the Hawaiian leg, and do Java as an offcut (laughs). Oh, and the boat's there — so Moreton Island, too.”

GARY ELKERTON PROFILE BY JOHN ELLIS (1985)

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