Drew Kampion interviewed Simon Anderson for Surfing magazine's 1981 "Surfer of the Year" profile, which ran in the May 1982 issue. Anderson was 27.


There were many skeptics [regarding the Thruster], and some people openly laughed. All year they were saying that the Thruster wouldn't work. They said it in Australia, and I proved it there; they said it in Hawaii, and I proved it there, too. So to me, it was a very satisfying year. It was my best year ever. I thought I would've peaked years ago, but the Thruster made me competitive [again]. I can't see it being a flash in the pan. It's like the twin-fin came and went, and there was no one with the expertise to make the design work, and then MR did it right, and the twin fin is here to stay. It's the same with the Thruster. A lot of people are making them wrong; it's a complicated design, and one little thing can throw it off, and it can really turn you off on them if you don't get hold of a good one.


Coming from Australia, which is the leading surfing nation at the moment, gives you an extra notoriety. But nothing's really changed [for me] in Australia. The stardom thing is more evident in America than anywhere. Which is OK. The more people know of you, the more money you can extract for your surfing.


After [winning] Bells I was thinking about the world title. That was my intention. But after South Africa I let it pass, what with Mark Richards and Cheyne so far ahead and with Brazil and Japan coming up. I sort of let it slip. I’ve never taken [competition] one-hundred-percent seriously. I've never really felt it's been worth my while. You know, surfing's still a young sport, there's a lot to be learned, the fairest and best contest criteria [for competition] has yet to be worked out, and I'm not ready to dedicate myself to something that hasn't been worked out. If I get off to a good start [in 1982], I'll probably go ahead and do the circuit till I either burn out or bomb out. Japan and Brazil I'm not too excited about. I don't think you should go places that don't stoke you and aren't worthwhile.


All year I'd been building up for the North Shore. [Earlier in the year] I'd made a seven-footer for the powerful lefts at Uluwatu, and after a ten-foot swell there I was committed to taking a quiver of Thrusters to Hawaii—although there were still some doubts in my mind. After all, there's nothing quite like the peak at Sunset or the vertical drop and tube at Pipeline. No one had covered the area before so my Hawaiian guns were all theory mixed with Island experience. I stuck to what I knew would work—swallowtails—[but] I widened the tail to accommodate three fins. The major problem was fin placement. Put the fins in the wrong place, and a good board becomes a dog. I brought five boards, ranged from 6'8" to 8'0". They did everything I had imagined, holding tenaciously through bottom turns and coming loose off the top. After Hawaii, I don't think anyone can continue to deny the Thruster a place in modern surfing history.

Laurie McGinnis interviewed for an Anderson profile which ran in the October 1981 issue of Surfing.


What seems to be of prime importance these days in contests is to get a long ride and to do lots of stylish maneuvers. It doesn't matter if you sacrifice one good maneuver just as long as you do two others. The big name surfers can get away without doing a hell of a lot. A few years ago I got to the stage where I thought I'd never let PT [Peter Townend] beat me again because he just wasn't doing enough. He beat me the next three times in a row. It's gotten to be the same way with Rabbit. I'm not putting them down, they're still great surfers but they tone down their acts so much in a contest situation. Mark Richards is going the same way on his twin fins. He has the ability to lift his surfing at any time, but he's content to surf within himself and do his standard set of maneuvers. You have to look closely; watch where they hit the lip and how far around they bring their cutbacks. It's probably not obvious to a casual observer. But people are getting away with low-key performances.


I surf Rocky Point instead of Off the Wall. I go right when the let's are working, and left when the rights are good. I don't surf Pipeline unless no one else thinks it's any good. When Waimea breaks, I go to Haleiwa, which is bumpy but fun. I've also tidied up my golf game at the Kuilima course, and I never forget my tennis racquet.

[Photos: Peter Crawford, John Jones, Jeff Divine]

Simon Anderson (1981)

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