"Michael Tomson: the African Attitude," by Steve Pezman, ran in the February 1977 issue of SURFER, when Tomson was 22. This version has been edited and shortened.

No, I haven’t. The best time tor surfing South Africa is from February through July. Durban’s really good around April and May. The worst time for surf is right now—October, November, December. This is the best time to be traveling.

What are your favorite surf spots back home?

My favorite spot is called the Bay of Plenty. It's a super-hollow wave, a sandbar beachbreak.

Do you think riding a beachbreak is a good way to keep you versatile?

Very much so. In fact, I think if you live at a point break—like the guys who live at Jeffreys Bay actually get stale, and yet they say that's the best wave in the world. I mean, Jeffreys is a good thing to do every now and then, because you can perform your whole repertoire on one wave. But as you said, the beachbreaks sharpen your reflexes. They get you ready for different conditions all the time.

Interestingly, your government is sending you here to surf. I presume that this is a government-sponsored trip to a certain extent.

Do you have a team consciousness going on this thing, or is it just a loose-knit group of individuals coming because they all got a free plane ticket?

Our country tends toward team sports. For example, we have a thing we call rugby over there. Now, just the way football is the national sport here, rugby is the national passion in South Africa. To attain your "Springbok" national colors, as they call them, is the ultimate honor, and that applies to every sport. When they talk about Shaun Tomson in the press, they don’t say "pro surfer Shaun Tomson," they say "Springbok surfer Shaun Tomson," because they deem the status of being a Springbok greater than anything else.

So even though surfing is not a nationalistic type thing, for those of us from Hawaii or California, say, for South Africa it is.

Right! Surfing is seen as a full-on sport in South Africa. Here in America, it is seen as a pastime, a recreation. In South Africa, if you’re a surfer, you’re a sportsman, and you are treated as such. It commands respect.

Yeah, it’s unreal. Here I am in California, and people say to me, “You come from South Africa? You guys must be real surf bums to come all the way here just to surf.” Like it's something you just don’t do in this country.

Here, surfers are counterculture, yet to your own government and within your society at home, you’re an athlete representing the country.

That also applies to Australia. Now the rub off of all this is in the quality of the surfing. What happens is that surfing is recognized by parents as a sport. The kids have the people that they admire saying surfing is all right. Like I’m a part of an association, a state association, and we have interschool contests which we organize. This encourages the development of the sport among youth at a very early age, and this is why in ten years, the South Africans are going to be out-surfing everybody else. And the same is true for Australia. They start promoting the sport when the kids are young, and they bring it out to them, and they make them nationalistic about it.

That’s right. And this is why what’s happened in Hawaii recently is going to happen again next winter. The Australians are gonna do it. I don’t know about us [South Africans], but the Australians are definitely going to do it again. It’s reflected in the quality of Hawaiian surfing. Guys like Jeff Hakman and Reno Abellira are pushing themselves harder now. They have to, because they've been cruising, and they realize that now. I mean, look at the results. Rory Russell was the only Hawaiian to win a pro tour contest last year—the Bolt contest. And in that one, in the top ten placings, there were about seven Aussies. And the other two were South Africans. So, what’s gonna happen is there’s gonna be more aggression; there already has been aggression in the water in Hawaii. I think the Hawaiians resent the fact that the media lately has given the Australians, and to a certain extent the South Africans, so much exposure, and the way they'll vent their frustration is through violence.

South Africa is a rather isolated place, very expensive to travel to or travel from. How is it that you guys are keeping pace with the rest of the world?

 keeping pace. There are probably five of us performing at that level, yet the whole country is being labeled as keeping pace with the Australians, which we aren't. Here's what I mean. Shaun placed in every final last year. I did okay; I came in 2nd in the Bolt, and 7th in the Smirnoff, right? What I'm saying is, the fact that two of us did well seemed to give South Africa the status of being one of the top countries, but the depth of surfing talent in Australia is far greater than it is in South Africa. But the 

 depth for surfing in South Africa is far greater than anywhere else because of our national attitudes.

Shaun, I think, was regarded by most people as the Man last year.

Right, but there’s a reason for that. Shaun was regarded as the Man because surfing was judged on one spot. The whole quality of surfing was evaluated on waves from 5 to 7 feet.

Well, there were 25 cameras at Off-The-Wall, and all the pictures printed were from that spot, and Shaun was killing it. I’m not knocking what he did. I’m just saying that’s why. In waves from 5 to 7 feet, Shaun was truly further ahead of everybody.

Something Rabbit commented on recently was the fact that while he was on the North Shore, there’d be a best guy at Sunset, and a best guy at Pipeline, and a best guy at this spot and that spot, and very frequently those guys would be Hawaiian surfers. But the Aussies and South Africans were surfing everywhere at a higher level than the one-spot specialists like BK or James Jones or someone who is the best guy at Sunset. Maybe Gerry Lopez is still the best guy at Pipeline, but put Gerry at Sunset, there just isn't the same level of performance.

What Rabbit says is true. Take Gerry away from Pipeline, and he doesn't do the things he does at there, because he’s made for that place. [But what matters now is] a high consistency of good surfing being performed at all spots, which is good.

What are the differences between the Hawaiian way of surfing and that of the Aussies and South Africans?

The Hawaiian style is kind of a thing of beauty that’s has evolved from the type of waves they have over there; it’s elegant. The South African and Australian style is more aggressive. It's hard to attach a quality rating to what is best. I guess the judges have to do it.

I know what you’re getting at. The emphasis has been on maneuvers for the last few years, and that’s to the advantage of the Australians and South Africans, at least in terms of the contests.

Obviously, you 're looking for professional surfing to grow, and become richer, and more mainstream. It seems to me that the surfers who feel they have a shot at being the “haves" in the sport are all for it, while a great deal of the "regular" surfers resent the competitive and professional aspect of surfing becoming more prominent.

Well, I think that's just the nature of the sport itself, and the people who pursue it.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is the conflict in values held by professional and non-professional surfers.

I guess that depends on how you define haves and have-nots. Like, for me, although I’m a professional, I’ve never won any great sums of money from competition. The most I ever won in a single contest is $1,000. Now, in five years, I expect surfing will become a viable proposition for any number of people, maybe 30 surfers. But at the moment its a viable proposition for about three people. So by that measure, I could be classed as a have-not. I haven’t made any real money out of surfing contests, ever.

Well, but there are other ways of benefiting from the sport.

Yes. Agreed. I've earned just a negligible amount of esteem in America, yet at home I’m a very recognized personality. But again, what have I really gotten out of it, apart from the personal satisfaction of doing the thing I love?

A lot of travel, right! But like I say, I could be classed as a have-not. The only guys you could say are really making it right now are Mark Richards, Ian Cairns, and Shaun. That’s it, no more. The rest operate at a loss.

I don't think it is that cut and dried. Lopez, for example, doesn't win much money by competing, but he has Lightning Bolt.

Gerry has handled his greatness with such grace.

Well, he’s very balanced, very humble, but he has an arrogance in the water.

Yes. He has almost a contemptible arrogance at Pipeline, which is understandable, and probably what I would expect from anybody who has risen to the level he has. But I just admire him, because I mean, he 

 Lightning Bolt; he made Lightning Bolt. And he's intelligent!

I'm impressed with the fact that quite a few of the top surfers these days are educated, perceptive people, and not what I call surf grunts.

I’d argue that intelligence is a prerequisite for success. Talk to Mark Richards, or Mark Warren, or Rabbit, and if they don’t strike you as being intelligent and perceptive, then you haven’t interviewed them right.

I’m a typical old-time surfer. I went to Hawaii in 1962, did my winter in the islands, rode Waimea and Sunset, Makaha and Laniakea. I rode everything as big as I could find it, and the whole deal scared the hell out of me. So I kinda overcame the fear factor, and I was very proud of having done so—but it wasn’t really gone. I never got comfortable out there. Do you deal with the fear factor when you’re in Hawaii there, or is that something that has dissipated for you to the point where you don't deal with that?

No, I deal with the fear factor. All the time.

Everybody deals with it. If you don’t deal with the fear factor, then you’re on some kind of artificial high. The fear factor becomes extremely operative for me when I'm surfing Waimea. I hate surfing that place because I’m so scared of it. I’m terrified of Waimea, but I promise you if it’s breaking, I’m gonna go out, because I have peers who will go out, and that’s it. Now, I shouldn't comment on Shaun’s behalf, but he hates it too.

Yet because you hate it so much, perhaps there's even greater satisfaction when you come in from having done well out there.

I surf Waimea every time it breaks while I'm in Hawaii. But I never get any satisfaction out it. It’s a total bore when you’re on the wave because it isn’t anything but a drop. They should never, ever, 

What do you think is the ideal place and size wave for a surfing contest?

Sunset Beach, eight to ten feet. But let me just add this about Waimea. It helps put your fear in perspective. What I mean, after you've been surfing Waimea, it makes going back to Pipeline a much easier thing. And Sunset's a joke after Pipeline. So on the fear scale, for me, it goes Waimea, Pipeline, and Sunset. After I’ve surfed Waimea for a while, I’ve gotta say Pipeline is relatively simple.

 simple; it's never simple. Like that perfect two-week swell at Pipe last winter, when I went back to surf Sunset after that, it just seemed too easy. But even so, the first place I surf when I to Hawaii every year is Sunset, and it's always kind of a freakout, like, “Ah, jeez, I’m back again, and look at the juice.” You always gotta make that adjustment.

Would you like to live in Hawaii if you had the opportunity?

I had the opportunity last year, and I chose not to.

That’s a good question. When I’m in Hawaii, it’s not; but when I’m not there, it is.

Where are you at in terms of your equipment for Hawaii?

That's an interesting question. I’d like to relate this to one thing. Last year was the year of the backsiders at Pipeline. I won’t say that they dominated the place, but for the first time, they more or less did it. Now, you watch what is going to happen this year in terms of refinements in surfboard design for Pipeline among all the Australians and some South Africans, okay? It’s gonna be a whole new surfboard.

Shaped specifically for going backside at Pipeline?

Right. Never been done before. Now, who is considered the hottest surfer backside at Pipeline? Maneuvers-wise, I’d say it’s probably Shaun. And based on who gets the best backside tubes, it’s still an open question, but I know I’m in the running. Now, people are gonna start thinking, what boards do we need to be the best backsider at the Pipe? And what boards do you need to do this or that at the Pipeline? Incredibly, there is nobody in Hawaii who has made boards for good backsiders yet. Shaun's best Pipe board was made in South Africa. It was a total fluke! That board was made for Sunset, but it turned out shitty. One afternoon he takes it out to Pipeline and discovers it goes incredibly well there. So it's going to be interesting to see what everybody else has done, since then, to try and match Shaun. Tom Parrish makes the best Sunset boards, but I don’t know who makes the best Pipeline boards. This is gonna be interesting.

Do you think Parrish is holding the heaviest reputation right now of the hot new shapers?

Yeah. You know why Parrish is doing what he is doing now, and why he’s got all the orders, and why, to a certain extent, he’s good? This might sound weird. But it's because he produces the goods on time. A guy goes to the North Shore for the pro contests; he’s there for two months; he’s got a contest in two weeks and wants to get board right away to get it wired. So with Parrish, he gets it in one week, okay? Parrish has a reputation for being a pretty good shaper who can produce the boards on time. Everybody goes and gets a board from him. And because of that, and all the feedback, Parrish starts learning. And suddenly he's a great shaper. High-class feedback; that's the name of the game.

I agree. That's what took Dick Brewer to the top. I wanted to ask—what do you think of the price that shapers charge now? I'm hearing $30-$ 100 for a shape job. Of course, you guys don't buy boards.

That's not true. I know I’ll have to pay for boards this winter; it’s a new thing for Lightning Bolt. Unless [Bolt owner] Jack Shipley’s changed his mind since he wrote me the last letter.

Really? They're charging you guys this year?

Yeah, but I don’t mind. If a guy produces a good board for me, I’m glad to pay. I haven’t paid for a board for a long, long time. At home, I don’t pay at all, and there’s no limit on the boards I can get. This winter will be the first time I’ll be paying in years, but you know if I go to Tom and tell him I want a board for Sunset, and I want it to do this and this, and if he does it for me, that’s great. I’ll pay him. Gladly.

What Hawaiian pro surfers are most competitive on the international level at this time?

All of them. They all have the ability to be competitive. I mean, what you say there implies that they aren’t competitive, and I think they are. It’s a question of attitude, that’s all. It’s a question of being able to say that you can’t get stoned heavily and get drunk four days before a contest; you have to have a good night’s sleep and all these things which people laugh at and which just happen to be physical facts of life. Gerry said something, and it was so great, “The Hawaiian’s are too busy thinking about what they’re going to have for lunch.’’ If I was to single out who has the most potential—and there are still the guys like Hakman, Reno, Rory, and Gerry, all those guys are the hottest—but the one with the most potential is Michael Ho. Whether he develops or not depends on him.

What is it about Ho's surfing? Is Ho in the Larry Bertlemann school?

No. Larry is a very unique surfer. His nickname, “the Rubberman," is a pretty appropriate description. Nobody surfs like Bertieman. Ho, for starters, rides totally different boards to Larry.

To me, the most exciting thing about surfing is speed. Would you say speed is the name of the game in the islands?

No, not really. Although without speed you cannot do maneuvers, so in that sense I agree with you.

Speed is great but, no, making a tube is the most fun. That, or doing something you haven’t done before.

What surfers do you enjoy watching the most? Some surfers are very good, yet maybe not as much fun to watch as others. Do you have favorites?

I do. Strangely enough, I like to watch Shaun.

I live with Shaun. I’ve watched him every day for 11 or 12 years, and I 

 like to watch him. I like to also watch Jonathan Paarman because he’s unpredictable. I like watching Ian Cairns because he’s just amazingly powerful. I like to watch people who have a particular quality about them, which maybe I don’t have.

People that you in a way envy, perhaps? Or you're looking to understand that quality so you can add it to your own repertoire?

No, I don’t think it's that objective of an appraisal. It's just that they do things that I don't do, which I find interesting.

Michael Tomson (1977)

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