Drouyn remains a surfing entertainer
PETER Drouyn, the man who created the man-onman format for world professional surfing, will be Surf World’s next special guest.
Drouyn on Drouyn will be the sixth event at Currumbin’s Surf World museum, which has in 2019 featured top stars, big-wave champions, writers, photographers and fundraisers.
There’s not much that Drouyn hasn’t done.
Now 70, he has always been known for putting it all on the line but his biggest gamble and what would prove to be his defining legacy was the introduction of the man-on-man format at the 1977 Stubbies Surf Classic at Burleigh Heads.
The colourful and somewhat controversial character shocked many in the surfing world when undergoing gender change into Westerly Windina in 2009.
Although by 2017 at the Windansea Reunion, Drouyn returned to the surfing great.
Always the entertainer and innovator, Drouyn was one of Australia’s – if not the world’s – best surfers in the late 60s and early 70s.
The Gold Coaster was the most successful Queensland sportsman in 1965 and 1966 when he won back-to-back national junior titles.
In 1970 he took out the Australian Open men’s title, finally overcoming Sydney’s national champions Midget Farrelly and Nat Young.
In the same year he placed third in the world titles at Johanna, Victoria.
Like his main rivals from the 60s, Drouyn had made the successful transition from longboards to shortboards.
I can still remember when Drouyn pulled off the first floater at barrelling Kirra Point on those radical, racy boards that were only 17 inches (43cm) wide and then he blew everybody away with the first, carving 360-degree turn at Greenmount.
There’s no doubt he inspired new Queensland talent such as Michael Peterson, Peter Townend and Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew – also known as the Coolangatta kids.
In 1973 Drouyn entered the famous NIDA acting college in Sydney with the cost paid by his mentor and filmmaker Bob Evans.
Drouyn had excelled in high school plays, taking on the main role of Tom Jones and earnt cameo roles in TV and movies.
Veteran surf director Bob Evans decided to send Drouyn around the world, filming his unique brand of surfing while impersonating heroes like Marlon Brando.
Drouyn and Friends was Evans’ last surf movie and while not a huge commercial success, the film of Drouyn surfing at double overhead Outside Corner at Uluwatu, Bali, is just as relevant today.
Drouyn on Drouyn is on Saturday, July 27, at 5pm with tickets at Surf World or via Eventbrite.