Simon Anderson (2006)

Sydney, Australia, 2005

I’m not a religious person, but I know man was not meant to be walking back and forth in a 14′ x 8′ box with fluorescent lights on the side, shaping surfboards.

“Intelligent Design: An Interview with Simon Anderson,” written by Andrew Kidman, ran in the April 2006 issue of Surfer’s Journal. This version has been slightly edited and shortened. Anderson was 51. 

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How did you get involved with surfing?

I was living 200 meters from Collaroy Beach; my father was swimming every morning and we’d go swimming before he went to work. We’d do this through the summer and winter months at the rock pool in the corner of Collaroy [which back then was] the...