This interview is in two section, both recorded by Matt Warshaw. The first part ran in the January 1986 issue of SURFER, when Barton Lynch was 23. Two-thirds of the way through the 1985 season, he was holding down the #1 slot on the rankings. He went on to finish the year runner-up to Tom Curren.

Strictly on a pure talent level, a lot of people, as a matter of fact most people, would see you behind Tom Curren, Mark Occhilupo, Tom Carroll and Martin Potter . . .

. . . yet you’re currently #1 on the ratings. What are you doing right?

I think it’s just application to the job. Wanting to do it, and wanting to do it bad enough that you’ll go to great extents to insure that you’ll do well, and to minimize the luck factor to the best of your ability.

What do you do to minimize the luck factor?

I do a lot of theory, most probably more theory than the average person, meaning pen to paper business. I write things down. And I find that that helps clear my mind, to get everything into the right perspective, so that I can compete more effectively.

It’s my third year on the tour. I finished 13th my rookie season, and 8th last year. So it’s just—it’s on schedule. It's going well.

You mentioned theory. Do you ever find yourself overthinking a heat, or a contest?

Definitely. That’s always been my major downfall. Take Mark Occhilupo. He seems to go into the water and not think. He just surfs with total abandon. As soon as I think of winning, I think of losing. As soon as I think of making a move, I think of falling off. Occy, as far as I can tell, simply doesn't have those type of thoughts.

How do you turn your mind off at the right time?

I’m experimenting. Two of my best events this year, in Japan and France, both of those contests were spent eating chocolate. France was spent eating these huge chocolate waffle-things, and drinking Bordeaux wine. And I found that as long as I put in the right effort at the time, it worked. So I’m still figuring things out. I’m still not sure of the right way to approach a heat. I'm still experimenting with whether to eat shit or eat good food, whether to sleep or not sleep, whether to drink or not drink.

What about preparation for specific events?

I don’t take any event any more seriously than any other event. Like last year, my whole goal was to win the Op Pro. I’d built myself up the first half of the year to win the Op, because I’d never had any exposure in the U.S., and it was a perfect opportunity to put the wind up the critics, shut everyone up, and get a bit of exposure at the same time. And that backfired horribly. So now I don’t take any event more seriously than another. I don't think that you can pick and choose when you’re going to win. You have to go after every opportunity.


What will you do a half-hour before a heat?

Just watch the waves and relax. Then sometimes when I feel I’m at a stage where I'm prepared and ready, I’ll go muck about and talk to people. I don't know. It changes contest to contest.

But you're not doing any kind of pre-heat meditation thing.

I don’t do yoga. I’m not a bloody hippie (laughs).

My father started me. He bought me this hollow plastic surfboard at a Target store. I had it for a while, and was incredibly embarrassed about the thing, it was the biggest piece of shit. So one day I walked to the beach, went surfing, and afterwards thought to myself, "Maybe if I leave it on the beach, go home, tell my father it got stolen, he might get me a real board." And that’s what I did. My dad made a deal with me—if I could swim a mile he’d buy me a board. I spent a couple of weeks swimming my brains out, got him to watch me swim a mile, and he bought me a fiberglass board. I was so stoked.

Did you do anything before surfing? Sports or anything?

I was keen on soccer; a big soccer player. And I was a butterfly collector for a while. Age eight or nine, I used to go around the streets of Whale Beach with this great bloody net swooping over these poor little things. I was infatuated with them. I had butterflies pinned up in glass cases; I used to breed them. Then I got into surfing and lost interest.

What would your advice be to a young ripper, say 16 or so, who wanted to turn pro and join the tour?

I’d say stay in school and get educated. Because it is, without a doubt, to your benefit to be intelligent, to have an education, whether you’re a pro surfer or a garbage man. It’s a handicap to be a dubbo. So I would stress that he educate himself, firstly.

What side of $50,000 will you earn this year?

I'll be on the up side of fifty grand. Wait, let me think a moment. Yeah, I’ll be on the up side. But that’s misleading, because I'll most probably spend half that in travel expenses.

Will you be banking anything at the end of the year?

Parts of the interview below ran in "The Return of Barton Lynch," in the December 1987 issue of SURFER. One year prior, Lynch had dropped back to 12th in the ratings. In 1987 he went on to finish third, and in '88 he'd win it all.

I started out all right. I was third before I skipped on going to Africa. But not going—that blew my rhythm and momentum. Before my first heat in France I was really nervous for some reason, and I paddled out at this right-hand sandbar—and went left. Twice. How I managed to find two lefts at a right break, I still don't know. I lost to Robbie Paige, and that was the first 17th I had in over a year. Then it was over to England, and I woke up the morning of the contest and couldn't move, I had the flu like you wouldn't believe. An hour before my heat against Tony Ray I crawled out of bed, went down to the beach—and actually I thought I won. But it went to Tony. And from that point my confidence was just gone.

In Australia I got three 17ths in a row. Three contests, three lasts. First time ever, for me.

It's hard to even describe. I questioned everything about myself. I started thinking I was just another one of those good surfers who'd come and gone. I'll give you an example of how weird it got. I was trying to figure out the exact way to do everything, every little detail, my whole routine leading up to a heat. And there was a stage where I was actually wondering about the best way to rub sand over my feet before entering the water. Like, if I rub it 

 way, will it be better than rubbing it the other way?

It was ridiculous. And I knew it, but couldn't stop it.

I was surfing well. Same as never, no change. But I'd go out for a heat and could not stay on my board. At the BHP, I fell off six times in my heat. Almost every wave.

I was just completely and utterly scattered. Anything little thing would totally throw me overboard. I'm normally quite a calm person. I'll control my temper and my anger and frustration. If I fall off on a wave, I can come back and rip the hell out of the next one. But last year, I'd fall off a wave, come up and scream "Stuff it!" smash my board, hit the water, just full-on tantrums. And even as I'm doing all these things, I recognize what an idiot I'm being, and I still couldn't stop myself. I was just hating life there for awhile.


Shaun [Tomson] came up to me at the Stubbies, and said, "Look, I want to have a talk with you."

Both. Maybe more as sponsor. And Shaun just sort of said, "You're whole problem is about confidence, and what you've got to do is go back to basics." He told me to figure out what was my best combination of maneuvers, which is simply off-the-bottom-off-the-top, and concentrate on making those moves.

No, I had this idea that I needed to do more maneuvers to win. So for a while I was going out and trying bloody aerials and all this stupid stuff. Like, my whole normal approach was just out the window.

So in one year I went from almost the top to almost the bottom.

Well, in 1987 so far I haven't had a bad result. The first event I surfed this year was the World Cup at Sunset—bloody closed-out Sunset, it was hidious—and I made the semis.

I actually don't know how or why I got that result, I really don't. Nothing had changed. All I can think of is that on New Year's Eve I was just so excited that 1986 was over. One second after midnight, I was thinking, "Thank God that bloody year is over." Fresh start, clean slate, here we go.

No, no, there's more. I came back from Hawaii and we had this long period before Bells, two months about. And there's this guy down at the beach at Manly, a guy I've known for quite a long time but never well. One day he came up to me, very casually, and said, "Look, if you need any help, I think I know what's wrong. If you want to talk about anything, don't hesitate to give us a yell." I nodded and walked away. But I was curious; I always want to hear what people think. The guy's name is Mark Atkin, and he's 31 or 32, married, three kids. He works at this center, caring for spastics. You've got to be a special kind of person to do that work, I could never do it. He surfed at Manly for a long time, then he quit for a few years and was a Hare Krisha or something, up the coast, then he came back. He's still one of those of alternative kind of people. A lot less right-wing than myself, for sure. But very realistic. Not some weirdo hippy or anything.

So Mark has a little business on the side where he gives massages, and a couple days later I needed a massage, plus I wanted to hear what he had to say. I ended up spilling my guts to him. He listened, we talked some more, and he sort of figured out that I'd lost my intensity. It was a lot more specific than that, but I agreed with him completely. And Mark is primarily the reason why I've got my form back. It has a lot to do with being intense and relaxed at the same time.

Okay, here's an example. I got into a hassle with Cheyne Horan before the Coke contest last April. Some little thing happened out in the water, and it quickly built to a point where we almost fought. And it bothered the shit out of me. Like I was out of sorts for two days after. And it wasn't that I'd forgotten about the hassle with Cheyne for those two days, but it never occurred to me that the thing with Cheyne was what was bugging me. Like, I didn't know what it was. But I couldn't surf, couldn't unwind, and I'm thinking "What the hell's going on here?" Then Mark shows up and we had talk, and it came to me. First, I figured out I was stressed because of the Cheyne deal. And then I figured the reason 

 it happened. I remembered that right from the start of our little run-in, me and Cheyne, it seemed he was looking to do something, provoking me, like he wanted it to go down. He went out of his way to screw with me. And all of a sudden I realized that for him to get back into the Top 16, he was going to meet me in the second round in a lot of contests. It was a play, he wanted to get in my head.

Mate, I'd bet anything. Cheyne and Rabbit and a few others, they're notorious for stuff like that. All of us do it to one degree or another, you know? Look for a psychological edge. On tour, There's so much more to it than just being a good surfer. But some guys are way more into it than others. Cheyne knew that he'd be drawing me early, and yeah, I'm sure he was trying to rattle me. So I remember saying to Mark, "I can't wait to get Cheyne in a heat, I'm going to kick his bloody ass, I'm going to get him on an interference, whatever it takes." Which means that Cheyne's done it! He's got me thinking on an emotional level, thinking about revenge, not concentrating on just surfing and winning the heat. Cause when you're thinking emotionally, you're vulnerable. Like, he would have gotten 

 on an interference, instead of the other way around. I'm playing on his terms, in other words, playing to his area of expertise. He would have had a big advantage.


Get this. The very next day I see Cheyne down at the beach, and I look at him and just smile, very friendly, said "G'day." And I swear to God I could tell that he knew I'd figured it out. Two minutes later he comes up to me and says, "Hey, I'd like to apologize for what went on the other day. " And I say, "Don't worry about it, mate. Water off a duck's back."

Do you feel stronger because of last year, or nervous that it may happen again?

I'm nervous as shit that it'll happen again, yeah. But I'm constantly monitoring myself to see if I'm falling into those old patterns. So far so good.

How do you think you'll handle your first disappointing result this year?

I've given that some thought because of course it's gonna happen sooner or later. I could get a 17th at any time. But I've realized that it won't be the beginning of the end. It's just a 17th. Just one contest. It happens.

So you're not overthinking every little thing this year, but I know you're always looking for an advantage, always trying to figure things out.

You kind of have to. Or I do, anyway. Just sort through the variables and see which of them you can control to some degree. Like I've come to believe that who you stay with while you're traveling has a lot to do with good results. I know that I've never done well when I've stayed with Damien Hardman. Ever. The people you're around bring out different things in you. Some drain your energy, others don't let you be yourself. And others seem to bring out the best in you.

I guess, hopefully, you learn as you go. All the way through life, I mean.

Yes. I'm really still a full-on beginner with regards to the psychological side of things. Here's one more example. When I was in the dumps last year, I was looking at the people who were doing well, and actually trying to be more like them, instead of myself. And there were certain people trying to push that along. "Barton, you think too much. Look at so-and-so, he doesn't think, and he's ripping." And I'm going, "Yeah, that's right."

But screw that, you know? My mind does not stop. It never stops. Sometimes I wake up tired, because it's still going when I'm asleep. And that's just me. There's no way I can ever change that, and I don't 

 to change that. There's a conception about pro surfing, and getting radical, that says you have to turn your brain off to do it. That's rubbish. I've got a brain and I'm proud of it and I'm going to use it.

[Photos: Mike Balzer, Peter Brouillet, Paul Maartens]

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