Westerly Windina. Photo By Nate Smith
In 2007 Peter Drouyn, the decorated competition surfer, surf industry revolutionary, actor, lawyer and wave stadium innovator had a dramatic epiphany and in ‘one atomic instant’ was unequivocally changed into a female. Minutes later, Drouyn found himself dancing on a nearby beach in his underwear – his thoughts actions and beliefs already under the influence of his new female identity – Westerly Windina. It took Westerly six years to get to the point where she was able to undergo the gender re-assignment surgery. “It seemed like at some stage I needed a miracle to have the operation because I was in total poverty, living in this housing commission place – just no money … believe me; you know it just looked like nothing was going to happen and I started to become frustrated. Then there was some publicity … which wakened the offshore interest of some American producers who said, “Westerly, we are taking this whole mystery on … we’ve got the money and you can have completion first with your much sought-after operation”.
The operation went well but post-operative recovery was very painful. Says Westerly “It was hell; it was excruciatingly painful post operation. It was a very long operation and it affected every part of my body resulting in something like a tensile steel Mummy. I was a living vault. It’s taken a while to turn elastic and loosen up so to speak. My voice is the last casualty to recover.”
Westerly also reveals her links to the paranormal world UFOs and Marilyn Monroe. “There’s a part of me that seems to be paranormal. Sometimes I’m not completely certain I’m totally human. I mean Peter (Drouyn) was confronted by a UFO back in ‘69 – less than 12 feet away from him. It scared the living daylights out of him for the first few minutes until he realised they weren’t going to hurt him.” Westerly states she communicated with Marilyn Monroe when her camera started answering questions directed to Marilyn’s picture in a book. “ … by way of double clicks for ‘yes’ and zero for ‘no’ I had a 10-minute conversation with Marilyn or whomever represented her.”
Westerly has received support from her surf colleagues during her six year journey. “I think they’ve been really good overall. Obviously there are a lot of guys out there who are a bit sad overall that Peter may have gone prematurely but they lived in Peter’s heyday and heydays can’t last forever, nothing does. At the recent Surfing Awards Nat (Young) came up and a lot of those first generation surf stars came up to me at the Surfing awards – even Joel Parkinson came up for a photo, big hug and frantic chat. And of course Stephanie Gilmore was so lovely to me.”
Read the complete interview in the July 2013 issue of Tracks magazine.
Alan White and Jamie Brisick are making a documentary on Westerly Windina. If you’d like to support this project please visit Kickstarter for more information.
