Tracks editor Phil Jarratt interviewed Michael Peterson not long after the 23-year-old failed to defend his title in the 1974 Coca-Cola Surfabout.

How did it feel when you didn't win the Coke contest?

I wasn’t really depressed or anything. I got some information that if I'd [won the] contest I would have had to give half to the taxation department, so I didn’t really try my hardest.

You were thinking about that right through the contest?

Yeah, it was in the back of my head all along. I didn't want to come in as far down the line as I did, though. I wanted to come in about fifth or sixth. [Note: Peterson finished 10th]

It seemed to me that for the first couple of rounds you weren't really into it, but then later you surfed much better.

Yeah, I was way down the line. I was about 25th at one time, then I was 12th and I realized that I'd better get going. So I did. I snapped up towards the end.

Yeah, I am sick of winning, it pisses me right off. I’ve been thinking about taking something else up, like maybe business college or something like that. It seems I can’t go any further with surfing. Well, I can if I hold off for a few contests. Maybe then they’ll give me a break (laughter).

The officials, the contest officials. I’ve pulled off three Bells wins and by now they must be getting a bit pissed off.

Has that affected your surfing, like at Bells this year when a lot of people were hoping Shaun would win?

I like the pressure and the hassles in contest surfing. I like that a lot. But I’ve got to the stage where I can’t take much more. I can’t be bothered putting up with it. I don’t think I can be beaten in the water, unless of course someone turns up who's better than me.

Do you think if you'd been trying your hardest you would have won the Coke contest?

Yeah, I could have, if the swell had been five or six feet and pumping I would have been more into it, but like I said before I wasn’t really keen on winning because of what I’d been told [about the taxes]. But I guess I could have won it, yeah. No worries.

Around that same time you got out of your surfboard business. Was that decision tied in with it?

No. The reason I got out of my business was that I had a few problems—family problems, mainly. My mother wouldn’t leave me alone, so I thought if I closed it all down I’d fix that up, so that’s what happened. She’s gone (laughter).


Does being beaten in a contest piss you off?

No, I don’t mind being beaten outright, but when I’m beaten behind my back it shits me. That’s how I am. If I can’t beat someone I just accept it. In fact I like it because it makes me try harder next time.

But not at this stage in your surfing. You're prepared to lie back for a while?

Yeah, I have to—so I can win some more (laughter). The politics and the backstabbing that goes on on the beach irritates me, but I can't control it.

Do you always feel you’ve got to beat your friends?

Yeah, you’ve gotta beat your friends, you’ve gotta beat everybody (laughter). I mean who gives a stuff anyway? I’m too full-on to have friends, too heavy. I’ve got to try and win it, whatever it is.

What do you do when you’re not surfing?

I shape surfboards. I’m not an intellectual. I'm not the extreme conversationalist, I fade out after a while. I’m more of an artistic person. I like creating things. I get into some reading now and then.

Fiction, sometimes drama. I’m not really interested in learning about life because I think I’ve already got that down.

Would you say you were a shy sort of person?

Yeah, very shy. It’s hard for me to get things across to people. Like I can start up a conversation but it's usually something they don’t know anything about, and it stops right there.

Do you find it hard to make yourself understood?

Yeah, sometimes I don’t know where to start.

No, because that’s naturally how I am. I’m not an outspoken person, I’m very quiet. And whatever I do say I try to say well. I think this has got me where I am now. I’ve always made sure that I’m correct in my vocabulary and speech. I think I’m a natural-born salesman, one of those guys who doesn’t blow anything, just right on. A lot of guys can’t be bothered trying and that’s why they’re not as radical as me. The reputation I’ve got—and I don’t think of it as a reputation because it’s really me—is that I’m very high-class, intelligent, alert, active. I hear all these things, but I don’t try to be anything (laughter).

It's more verbal than anything. I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and given anybody that impression. It's just that if I go about naturally, that’s how I am, but if I sit down and think about it I won’t be like that at all. It's strange. People would sit and wait for me to blow it in a conversation, you know? I’d think to myself, This guy is waiting for me to screw it up. And then I would, just to please the guy (laughter).

Would you make personal appearances in stores and things like that for the sake of a sponsor?

If I think it's worthwhile, and if I'm gonna get my share out of it, yeah, I’ll go into it full-on and do it the best I can. But I just can’t get into that sort of thing unless there’s something in it for me. I don't need the publicity. I don’t mind having my photo in a magazine now and then, but I’m not like these other guys, full-on every day, doing whatever they can to get their photo in. Good luck to them. I figure I’m building a really firm reputation, not a reputation just made from photos.

How do you build a reputation without the photos?

If I do talk to someone I do it clearly and no bullshit. When I found myself getting into surf magazines, things started to change, it wasn’t the same anymore. People were bugging me with questions they wanted me to answer—stuff they already knew. It was a hassle.

I like surfing there, I’m accepted and I don’t get into any hassles. Nobody wants to fight me. Yeah, I enjoy surfing the Islands. I like the people, I like the scenes, I like everything.

Will you keep going back to Hawaii even if you stop surfing contests here in Australia?

If I withdraw from Australian professional surfing I’ll just leave [my career] to the Hawaiian scene and surf there every year.

But if you don’t go in the Australian contests you might find it hard to get into the Hawaiian contests.

No, I think I’ve got a firm reputation all around the world as an incredible surfer, out of this world. I know this from people writing to me from abroad.

Do you agree with that, or is that just your reputation?

It’s right. One thing that annoys me, though, is that people for years have gone, Oh the guy’s got all this ability. They think it’s all me and that it’s got nothing to do with my board. That really blows me out because I’ve developed a surfboard that has a theory behind it, and it's like getting into a car and driving away—that’s how much work has gone into my boards. After a lot of thinking and shaping, I’ve got it down to perfection. That’s why I can win any contest, because my equipment is dead right.

Do you really think it's just your equipment?

Ninety-five-percent of it. I’m a sportsman. I keep fit and I go surfing when I can. But I swear to God, and this is no bullshit. I’ve really got it down. I could jump on someone else’s board and not do so well. Okay, I’ve got a certain amount of ability. I’m well-balanced. I’m light-footed. But on someone else’s board I couldn’t have pulled off those contests.

I’m not at my peak yet, that’s still to come. I haven’t really done it in the Islands yet, [although] I’ve ripped the shit out of it, taken off 15 yards further inside the locals at Sunset. They’ve seen me fly past at a 100 miles an hour.

I’ve got an ego like everyone else, but I try to keep it to myself. Sometimes it breaks out but mostly I can control it. What really keeps me going is this incredible amount of drive. I'm not happy unless I'm winning.


You said yourself that age has to eventually beat you, so what will you do then? Transfer your energy to something else you can win at?

I plan on retiring at 25, then maybe I’ll put myself through school or something. I never really learned anything the first time I was there (laughter). Or I did learn some stuff, but what use has it been?

That brings up another point. Do you think you’ve got any responsibility to the kids who idolize you?

Well, yeah. It's always interesting to see what sort of influence school has on people.

Yeah, I suppose it'd be good for young kids to read, "He went to school, he got educated."

The Kirra Pro-Am in 1972, and right after that I came 3rd in the Australian Titles at Coolangatta. I was winning untold club contests. I was the club champion six years running (laughter).

Then the following year you won at Bells?

Was that the first time you’d surfed the Bells contest?

Yeah, I was still a junior. I got a giant trophy.

What’s the most you’ve ever won in a contest?

The Coke contest last year. I think I got $2,500 or something like that.

You looked so stoked at the presentation. Was that a high point of your career?

Yeah. I figured that if I was gonna stay with contest surfing I had to make something out of it, so I thought I’d go full-on and I got out there and won. It was unreal. I thought, Here’s a chance to clip a few dollars, and that’s what I’ve done.

Were born with a gift for surfing, or did you acquire it?

I’m the sort of person that whatever I do, after a while I can do it really well. Anything. It doesn’t matter what. And it was just that I got into surfing more than everything else and got it down to perfection. And it's paid off.

No, it isn’t. This is what scares me. I’ve got a long way to go yet and I keep thinking, Are they going to let me win?

You don’t want to be a 23-year-old has-been?

Oh, I’ll never be a has-been, no way. I go surfing now and rip the shit out of it. It just blows their minds. I’ll never be a has-been. I’ll just drop off undefeated.

[Photos: Jeff Divine, Peter Crawford, Dan Merkel]

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