In 1988 Gary Green, a self-described “pisshead from Cronulla” through no fault of his own became the first ever “professional freesurfer”. It was a radical departure for surfing and it was Gaz that laid down a template that all other freesurfers have followed. We sat down with Greeny to discuss how it all went down, how long it lasted and just where freesurfers go to die.
Tracks: How’d it all go down Gary?
Gary: I was down at Bells, staying at Claw’s place and Derek Hynd was there. I’d quit the tour, but Rusty had paid me a bit to go back. I was getting a few wetsuits off Rip Curl, but I’d had a gutful of it all. Anyway they had a meeting upstairs which I wasn’t a part of and they came downstairs and said, ‘We’ve got this surf movie, do you want to be a part of it?’ I was like, ‘Fuck yeah!’ I mean I was about to go looking for a job. Then all of a sudden they were talking about going to Indo and paying me a wage, and I was like,’ How good is this?’ I was pinching myself.
How different was it to life on tour?
At the time, there was no one doing that, no one had that lifeline thrown to them. On the tour, even when I was with Billabong it was all handshake deals and incentives and even though I was ranked No. 6 in the world, there was no certainty, it was year-to-year, so this was huge.
How long did it last?
It ended up going for about for four or five years. They’d send me a contract at the start of the year and I was going, ‘This is gold.’ I’d hang in Cronulla just surfing and doing fuck all, then they’d call me up and send me somewhere for a magazine shoot or a film.
The Search movies were the first ones you did. They were huge at the time, did you notice a change in your profile?
Mate, I didn’t have one to begin with, I was still just a pisshead from Cronulla (laughs). But after I pulled the pin, Occy, Curren and Gerlach pulled it too not long after. At that stage there was 28 contests a year and it was such a grind. So it got that ball rolling for the other guys that followed, guys like Margo for example. With the Search movie though they had me go to G-Land and Curren going to J-Bay. And it’s like, ‘How good is his part of the movie, and how shit’s mine?’ But we were on one of the first trips to the Maldives, and we scored so many good waves, I was so stoked.
And what happened afterwards?
I just got a letter saying it was over and that I’d better look for other forms of employment, so I did. I’m a baggage handler now and so is Margo. It’s where freesurfers go to die. I hated airports so much and have ended up spending 45 hours a week in one. It’s our purgatory; throwing guys’ boardbags on belts for their surf trips. Mate, if you talk to the freesurfers of today, if you call Dion Agius tell him that where’s he headed. He doesn’t know it yet, but it will happen.
