"Interview: Critta," by Michael Tomson, was recorded in the Fall of 1980, when Chris Byrne was 20, and published in the February 1981 issue of Surfing. Later that year, Byrne discovered he had a cracked vertebra from a horseriding accident as a child, which required immediate surgery and a months-long recovery period; Byrne's pro career never got back on track. The interview below has been slightly edited and shortened from the original version

A year ago, when you were first approached for this interview, you said, No, not yet. Why didn't you think you were ready?

I didn't feel I had anything to say. At the time, I hadn't achieved enough. For the past 12 months I've been thinking, "What am I gonna say in a bloody interview?" I've actually been studying these things in the magazines, like when you're traveling the circuit you hear about so-and-so doing an interview and you hear him talking about it, and then when you read it, they all sound like a pint of flavored milk! It's like they're into protecting the image sort of thing.

Does that mean you'll be different and cut loose in this interview? A lot of guys clam up once the tape recorder gets switched on.

Yeah, that thing's scary (point to the recorder and laughs). The best stuff always seems to come out when it's switched off, or when we're talking in the surf or something.

That's always the case. Okay, let's talk about how you've been doing lately on the circuit. Surfing against Mark Richards in the Coke contest and beating him must have been a big moment for you.

Do you think that win was significant for your career?

At the end of 1979, my goal was to make the year-end Top 10, which I achieved, and I was really geared and hyped for the 1980 circuit. When I was preparing my boards and stuff, I knew I was gonna come up against MR often, early in the events, because of the way the seedings were. But I didn't think, because it was MR, "Oh shit, how am I gonna get out of this heat?" I don't look at any surfer like that. I was actually looking forward to it. Then I lost to him at the Straight Talk contest and then again at the Stubbies, so by the time the Coke came around I was determined it was gonna be all stops out. I said to myself, "You're gonna put that bastard down!" (slams table and bursts out laughing), and I did.

Did you have any particular strategy that day?

Well, I knew the only way I could beat the guy was if he didn't catch any waves. So I did to him what he did to me in the contest before that. Every time a good wave came up, I made sure I was on the inside. It was pretty radical and he was getting uptight, but once I had the waves I knew I'd beaten him.

You must have been disappointed you couldn't follow it through in the finals against Buzzy.

I was. I just couldn't seem to fire in that heat, and he was in rhythm with the sets. 

[Note: Buzzy Kerbox beat Byrne in the Coke finals]

Your older brother Phil was on the beach that day giving you counsel in between heats. He's played quite a behind-the-scenes role in your career, hasn't he? Aside from being your elder brother, he also shapes your boards and gives you a lot of guidance.

Phil's been very important in my surfing, for sure. Especially when I first started competing. I've always been younger than most of the other pros, and he helped me understand things you have to deal with when you're a pro. And as you say, he also shapes my boards, so he's involved, and it's been unreal that I've had that support.

Do you and Phil ever disagree on things concerning your surfing?

Sometimes. I do get a lot of help from Phil, but I also like to work things out myself, too. Like I have my own ideas as well, and I don't mind being a bit of a rebel.

At one point in '76, and I don't hold anything against my parents for this, but they thought I should be doing some kind of apprenticeship or something. I started doing a course in painting and decorating! Didn't take me long to bail on that shit, I can tell you. But my parents didn't think surfing offered me any security, and it wasn't a lucrative thing.

Which is basically true, yeah, for 75 percent of the guys competing on the circuit. When they reach 28, a lot of them have to go back to things they maybe wouldn't like to go back to.

Right, so that year my parents stopped me from going to Hawaii. I could see their point of view, but I really wanted to go overseas to surf; I had this thing inside me, like, let me out there!

At the age of 20, you've already spent three years on the pro tour and have established a career for yourself doing something you love. Do you feel privileged for that? Do you look at it like a job or a lifestyle or what?

When I began surfing I wasn't involved in contests at all. I would just surf whenever I could; or whenever Phil would take me down to the beach. Then after a while, I started taking an interest in local contests. I think I'm basically a competitive person, and I just sort of started moving in that direction. The energy around the contests attracted me. And since 1977, it's become pretty much a way of life. Traveling and competing—yeah, I guess you could say that's privileged. It's not like work or anything. I mean, in some ways it is, like after a contest you have to work on your faults to try and improve. There's a lot of preparation and sometimes you don't feel like doing it. You also have to work with sponsors and stuff. But competitive surfing is not like an eight to five thing. I couldn't handle that.

Which stop on the tour do you enjoy the most?

Probably South Africa, aside from Australia, of course. At home is always best because you're just keener to do well so you give it a little extra push. But outside of Australia, the best place is definitely South Africa—I dig it. There's so much surf there, and the people I've met have always been generous and friendly. I like surfing Bay of Plenty even when the contests aren't on, coming out of the surf and sitting at Dante's Tearoom, having a cuppa tea and a rap with the boys. It's a good trip.

When I first went to Hawaii it was a fantasy, a dream that had come true at an early age. I was only 15. I got off on it heavily, just the whole trip of surfing powerful waves and getting the adrenalin pumping. You always look forward to surfing Sunset. Just the feeling of dropping into that big peak, pulling it off the bottom, and hooking it under the lip. But the crowd scene is getting intense. Really intense. You've got to psyche yourself up before every surf. It's full-on survival and it's getting worse.

Is there any kind of special preparation or conditioning you go through for competing in Hawaii?

Definitely. When you're physically fit, you're that much more alert, and your reaction times are a lot faster. That's often the difference between two surfers. It's fine-tuning. I do a lot of swimming and running, and I also do different stretching exercises to keep loose. That's aside from my surfing.

Do you surf every day? What's an average day for you when you're home in Wollongong?

Monday to Friday, I usually surf within the first two hours of light, depending on how long it takes to get my shit together. Over the whole day, I usually surf for four or five hours, depending on how good it is.

No, not every day. Some days I don't surf at all. But mostly, yeah, I'm out there. Except on Fridays, sometimes, when I have to do a trip to Sydney to pick up materials and service the business's wholesale accounts.

Yes. Then Saturdays and Sundays, depending on if the surf's good, I work in the front of the shops, and Thursday night I work in our ski shop. 

[Note: Byrne was co-owner of Byrne Surfboards, as well as a surf-and-ski shop, along with his two older brothers, Phil and Dave]

So you actually work quite a lot when you're home.

A lot of people think I just surf and grommet-out at the beach, but believe it or not I actually do work. I also do radio reports for 2WL on the weekends, and when I'm traveling. The radio thing has been a really good experience, just in terms of broadening my scope in the media.

Well, as you know, Phil shapes all my boards. I usually carry two or three on the circuit, ranging from 5' 9" to 6' 3". I've got a double-winger pintail, a wing pin, and a straight pintail for when it's bigger. My hot-dog boards have a lot of twin fin characteristics except they're a little narrower in width.

What type of bottom curve and vee are you using on your hot-dog boards?

Probably about the same as Phil's twin fins. Phil's been shaping twin fins for Shaun [Tomson]. He won a contest in Japan on one, and he's been riding them on the circuit this year. Anyway, there's a similar amount of rail curve in my single fin as there is in those twin-fins, but they're pretty flat through the nose section, so you've got a nice planing area up front. Which is good, because I do tend to stand forward on my board in a sort of gorilla stance, as it's been called by some people. The flat area on the bottom moves back into a slight vee—nowhere near as much as a twin, but enough to go from rail to rail. The rails aren't as low as a twin and tend to be a little more blocky, which gives me speed off the bottom.

What do you think about the fact that most of the best surfing in the world today is being done on twin fins, and you're riding a single-fin?

I think weight has a lot to do with it. My surfing has evolved around speed and maneuvers, and I don't think, because of how light I am, that I need to ride a twin fin. I can get away with a single.

What about Cheyne Horan? He's not a lightweight and he rides single fins. So does Simon Anderson.

I think Cheyne might have problems right now, for that very reason, because he's getting weighty. I think his surfing has slowed down over the past 16 months. And I think you'll find he might be getting a twin as well sometime. But I don't know for sure—Cheyne seems to be pretty well directed by Geoff McCoy on his boards.

You mentioned that people have referred to you as having a "gorilla stance." Do you think style is a problem in your surfing?

I think style is a natural thing. I don't try and look good, if that's what you mean.

You never concern yourself with how you look on a wave?

I don't know. It's just sort of never really occurred to me to think about it. Style to me is a personality thing. Each person is different. One is not necessarily better than another, we've just all got differences in our approach to surfing.

Meaning that because you surf waves aggressively you're an aggressive personality?

(Laughs) Well, I'm not here to get knocked down, buddy. We're here to survive, aren't we?

Let's hope so. Okay, just one more thing I'd like to cover. You've got a strong competitive record for a surfer of your age, so far, but you've yet to win a big contest. It seems like you've been on the brink of it for some time. You nearly did it in the Coke this year—but not quite.

It's true. I haven't won a major contest yet. And I know that's the next step I need to reach. I've thought about this a lot. It's like I get a mental stoppage at the crucial moment in a heavy heat. In the Coke final, for example, I didn't get the best out of my surfing. I wasn't cutting loose.

I don't know. Maybe. You have to be able to produce when it counts. That's always been my problem once it gets down to just a few guys left in the contest. But it'll come. I'll bloody well make sure it comes, don't worry. And don't forget, I'm only 20. I've got time ahead of me.

Chris "Critta" Byrne

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