For obvious and critically acclaimed reasons Peter Drouyn/Westerly Windina has been a recent talking point around the water coolers, so what better way to kick off a new series of nostalgic columns than with this flamboyant character of Australian (and world) surfing.

I first encountered Drouyn in the flesh in 1974 when my Whale Beach neighbour, Bob Evans, invited me to a media preview of his new film, Drouyn and Friends at a theatrette (remember them, probably not) somewhere in the city.

Of course I knew all about him. Or should I say, I thought I knew a lot about him. I’d seen him surf in a comp somewhere… Was it the Bobby Brown Memorial? And I was really impressed with his flamboyant turns and his constant weight distribution. Very subtle, in contrast to the arm-waving turns. He was kind of a second tier late 60s hero, after Midget and Nat and Ted and Russell.

Watching Evo’s film a few rows back from the screen that night in ’74, I was struck by the old school theatrics he brought to his shortboarding, particularly in the Uluwatu sequence, a factor which had kept him competitive the last couple of years at Bells and the Queensland titles, as the first gen Coolie kids transitioned from the junior ranks. Later, over many drinks, the star’s theatrics began to dominate the conversation – he had just graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts after all – but he was entertaining rather than obnoxious. I liked him.

I saw him a couple of times at Burleigh during the famous Gold Coast 30-day (insert your own number) swell of ’75, but mostly from the shoulder as he whipped by, arms akimbo. But the next time I actually shot the breeze with him was during the ...