All quotes below are excerpted from "The Greek," a profile feature written by Garnett Currie and published on the South African Surfing Legends website in 2016. Click 

 to read the original article in its entirety.


My father owned a beachfront café, The Arundel, next door to the Durban Surf Lifesaving Club so it was a short hop and a jump into what was to become a major part of my life. Surfing consumed us. In many ways it was obsessive, to the detriment of everything else. At school, the headmasters warned parents about the three biggest dangers to the education of their children—surfboards, motorbikes and guitars.

1964: DURBAN TO CAPE TOWN, FOR THE DEBUT SOUTH AFRICAN SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS


At 17, I had never traveled more than 50 miles to surf, let alone all the way to Cape Town. On the way I was in an absolute state of high anxiety: the fear of the unknown, and the anticipation of competing at a higher level scared the hell out of me. Thanks to my brother’s coaching my self-confidence was lifted and the fear factor dispelled by the time we eventually arrived and I had to get in the water and produce the goods! [Note: Thomopolous won the event] I discovered a totally different mindset, and it would change my life forever. I learned that you could not remove the mental state from the physical if you wanted to be a champion.


We were seen as the bad boys and everyone knows that girls love bad boys! But as the competitive side of the sport developed I realized that keeping body, soul, and mind together was vital. The ocean and its powers demand a well-tuned physical and mental machine. In the '60s and into the '70s, a schism also developed between competitive and soul surfers, with drugs playing no small part in the scene. I was straight and paid the price with some friendships, but that’s how it goes. I certainly have no regrets there.


Surfing in SA during the '60s was a mirror of what was happening, or had already happened, in California. Every innovation or gimmick overseas was grabbed by the local surfing fraternity and adapted to local conditions. South Africa didn't develop its own true identity until the 1970s. The self-respect and self-belief came when we finally proved, in Hawaii and everywhere else, that we were as good as anybody from overseas.


Whereas surfing in Durban today gravitates around The New Pier and Bay of Plenty, in the '60s the South Beach breaks ruled supreme. Addington, Pump House, and The Wedge were both our daily surfing and social destinations. These were the breeding ground for many of SA’s hottest surfers including Bernard Wardell, Dennis Brunton, John Aldridge, Colin Doveton, Stanley Sole, Willie Sills, Martin Heunis, Duncan Carmichael, Michael Esposito, Cornel Barnett and Robby White. It was during this time, too, that the surf shops themselves developed. It had been nothing but backroom surfboard builders in Durban, Cape Town, East London and Port Elizabeth; just these small and fairly unsophisticated establishments. With America once again showing the way, the big beachfront surf shops were a natural progression. Safari Surf Shop the Max Wetteland's Surf Centre were among the first. Those shops, the teams they sponsored, gave us a focus and an identity that was an important part of our teenage years.


I was lucky. I saw the bigger picture. As captain of the South African team through the '60s and early '70s, and Natal Team Captain in the ’80s, there were roles to play and questions to answer. South Africa was a fiercely proud nation beset by socio-political angst and an international boycott, with the dreaded apartheid sword dangling over our heads. Wherever we traveled in the world, the media were on us like a bunch of wolves. As captain and spokesman, I grew up quickly. I realized my responsibilities as a representative of my country and as a role model. I suspect I sorted my values and ethics out back then and I’ve always managed to stay true to them.

George Thomopolous / Thompson

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