I’m often asked, “What was your most challenging assignment from Surfing magazine?”
It was to find and photograph Australian surfing legend, and total recluse, Wayne Lynch. Considered to be the father of modern short board surfing, and supported by Rip Curl and Rip Curl founder Doug Warbrick, Lynch lived somewhere in the outback of Victoria and was rarely seen in public and completely shunned the media. It took six weeks of waiting before I finally was able to meet Lynch. Every Friday he promised to meet me at the Rip Curl shop in Torquay and every Friday it was the same — no show. It became a test of will: one of many I would have to pass before being allowed into Lynch’s kingdom. When we finally did meet, we hit it off and over the next 4 weeks after passing test after test, I was able to photograph Lynch surfing at his most secret surf spots. I came home with a cover story for the magazine. Recently, while being interviewed for a documentary on Lynch, I learned that my photograph was the only US magazine cover ever of Wayne Lynch. It was worth the wait and most importantly, the life’s lesson…
The world of Wayne Lynch in Victoria was a lush, beautiful, remote environment. And it was cold; very cold! Having Rip Curl as your sponsor helped to mitigate the harshness. While I was waiting to meet with Wayne, Rip Curl made me my first custom fit suit, built by their master wetsuit tailor, a fellow that went by the name Sparrow. I had no idea a wetsuit could fit so perfectly. It was a major revelation in my life about the quality of your equipment.
Unless accompanied by a close and trusted friend, Wayne surfed alone exclusively. There were many sessions where he and I were the only souls for miles.
At one spot the access to the ocean was through a tunnel carved out of the cliff. The tunnels were carved out by the army during World War II.
Wayne Lynch, the reluctant icon. (I’d like to tell you where these spots are but I made a pledge to Wayne that I would never tell anyone anything except that the state is Victoria. I have purged the names of the spots from my memory!)