Australian surfer
Michael "MP" Peterson (24 September 1952 – 29 March 2012) was a professional Australian surfer. He was considered one of the best surfers in Australia during the early to mid-1970s and was recognised for his deep tube riding skill, especially at Kirra on the Gold Coast, Australia. Peterson was the Australian champion in the years 1972 and 1974, and won many other major surfing competitions. Peterson was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and became publicly known for using illicit drugs.
Youth.
Peterson was born in a working-class family and lived in several places; the family eventually settled in Coolangatta, when Peterson was 15 years of age, on Queensland, Australia's Gold Coast. Peterson lived in Coolangatta with his mother, Joan, younger brother, Tommy, and younger sisters, Dorothy (Dot) and Denice.
As a young boy, Peterson was involved in surf lifesaving and became a member of the Tweed Heads and Coolangatta Surf Life Saving Club; he won many junior titles for swimming. Being a surf lifesaver, also known as a "clubbie", was unpopular during Peterson's youth; but he received access to a locker and warm shower at the beach and therefore maintained his involvement over subsequent years. The price for Peterson's lifesaving perks was a half-day commitment on surf patrol every month, with a requirement that he wear "sluggos" and monitor the safety of swimmers. However, Peterson became impatient with the conditions of the role and would arrange for his brother to join him on patrol for company.
Peterson commenced surfing on "surf-o-planes" (an inflated rubber mat device invented in 1932) and then graduated to a board called a "Coolite" (constructed from a form of polystyrene beaded foam and first introduced at the beginning of the 1970s). During Peterson's upbringing, his family experienced difficulty with income security and his mother worked extremely long hours in a variety of jobs (such as peeling prawns) to support the children. The Peterson boys couldn't afford to own boards of any kind, and were only able to hire or borrow them; either from Billy Rak at Greenmount or Johnny Charlton at Kirra, both of whom ran tourist hire businesses. The two boys were eventually employed by Rak for two summers, setting up and transporting surfboards for tourists.
Peterson attained ownership of his first surfboard in 1966, when he retrieved broken and abandoned boards that had been washed up on the rocks at Greenmount Beach. As leg ropes had not yet been introduced, surfers would lose their boards relatively easily and frequently, leaving people like Peterson to collect what remained. The brothers would take the remnants home, make rough repairs and then return to the water to try out their rejuvenated boards. It was during this time that the Peterson boys discovered another advantage of surf club membership; weekend surfers from Brisbane would leave their boards at the club during the week, enabling the brothers to choose from a wide selection of items for their own unpermitted use.
In September 1967, around the time of Peterson's 15th birthday, the family moved to units in Tweed St, Coolangatta, and the boys set up a board shaping bay underneath. On the premise that surfboards would be less expensive to make than buy, the brothers sought out resin and fibreglass offcuts from local factories. For the creation of a "blank" (a foam core component that is re-modelled into a specific surfboard shape), Peterson would extract them from old longboards. Like the Petersons, many of the local kids could not afford to purchase new surfboards either and the home-based business consequently flourished through meeting this demand, eventually expanding to the garage of Peterson's friend, Peter Townend
Unknowingly, the cut-downs that the Peterson's were making placed them at the centre of the shortboard revolution. 8-foot boards would be cut down to 6 feet, 8 inches, or to 6-foot, or right down to 5 feet, 1 inch (although, they soon realised that they had gone too far with the smallest measurement when they were overwhelmed by the big waves at Kirra. The shortest length that they ever constructed was 4 feet, 3 inches, for their friend, Kerry Gill, who actually found that the model suited him.
Peterson's first new board, a board that he perceived as "proper", was attained in 1968. His mother offered to buy him a new surfboard if Peterson won the Greenmount Surf Lifesaving Club championship. With Peterson's consistent competitive drive spurred on by such an offer, he was a convincing winner; two weeks later, Peterson received a 7 feet, 11 inches board from local shaper, Ken Gudenswager.
"Morning of the Earth".
In February 1971, Australian surf filmmaker, Alby Falzon, was filming for "Morning of the Earth" on the Gold Coast; the time period is known for some of the most significant swell ever seen at the history of the location (12 continuous weeks in which the waves rarely measured below "head height"). Previously, Falzon had published a picture of Peterson in the magazine, "Tracks" (co-founded and published by Falzon), accompanied by an article about the "underground" Gold Coast scene; on the day of the "Tracks" photograph, Falzon happened to be filming at Kirra, Queensland, while Peterson was exposing his talent on a surfboard.
The result of the February 1971 filming session was a three-minute sequence that was included in "Morning of the Earth", while numerous were printed in "Tracks". The photograph of Peterson that gained the most attention became known as "the cutback"—it featured Peterson, tall and muscular, with his long hair flying, executing a "cutback" manoeuvre at Kirra. The "cutback" picture became the cover for the July 1972 issue of "Tracks", following the release of the film.
Peterson did not attend the local premiere of "Morning of the Earth" on 10 January 1972. Peterson's mother, Joan, transported him to the hall at Miami High (his old school) where the premier was occurring, but Peterson balked at being the "centre of attention" and both returned home. Peterson's nervousness at presentations and gatherings would be a repeat occurrence on numerous occasions in the future.
One of Peterson's secrets for surfing barrels at Kirra was the "rocker" (underside curvature) design used in his boards. Rather than lifting the nose near the end of the board, Peterson transferred the apex closer to the middle of the board and would ride with one foot either side of the apex. By shifting his weight onto the back foot, the rear of the board would be receive the primary emphasis and the board would stall as a result; this would allow Peterson to slow down to re-enter deeper into the tube. Then, shifting weight forward onto the nose of the surfboard would lead to the board shooting forward. Peterson revealed to Mike Perry, who shaped surfboards alongside him for a period of time, that "It's just like cheating, man."
Early contests.
In 1971, Peterson won the Kirra Pro-Am contest, the first Queensland contest to offer any prize money (A$150); following this, Peterson also won the Queensland Titles, the final round of which was at Kirra. The Queensland Titles victory earned Peterson a starting place in the Australian Titles that was held at Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia (incorporated into the Bells Beach Classic); however, Peterson competed poorly at Bells Beach, with his narrow board unsuited to the broader waves.
Meanwhile, in Coolangatta, the police had commenced an unofficial campaign to change the standards of the beaches according to orders that they had received; this involved getting rid of marijuana and the undesirable types who were not compatible with the family-oriented image that the local chamber of commerce sought to promote. Surfers were a primary target due to the societal perception of the sub-culture and, on occasion, individuals were framed by police officers. By this stage, Peterson had heavily smoked marijuana for a significant period of time and, on 24 January 1972, was arrested for "possession" and "supply"; Peterson was fortunate and received a A$500 fine instead of a three-month prison sentence.
Involvement with the legal system temporarily curbed Peterson's marijuana habit, but it was not long before he resumed smoking. Peterson found relaxation in marijuana use—one of the few things that could ameliorate what have later been identified as early symptoms of his schizophrenia. In subsequent years, Peterson was well known for smoking "joints" (rolled marijuana cigarettes) before or after surfing, and even before contests. Others might have found that the drug made it too difficult to concentrate properly, but Peterson did not seem to experience such a hindrance. In both his younger and older years, Peterson rarely consumed alcohol and was never seen drunk; he was more likely to be stoned and drinking lemonade while his peers were drinking.
Australian champion.
In 1972, Peterson successfully defended his Queensland Title, narrowly beating Townend (Townend became known for a high number of "second-place" finishes during his career.) The win enabled Peterson to compete in the Australian titles again; however, he almost didn't get there due to the under-handed actions of the "Windansea" surf club.
In 1972, Paul Neilsen was the reigning Australian surfing champion, but did not reach the Queensland titles final; therefore, he was unable to defend his Australian title. As a means to overcome such a hindrance, Neilson's club, Windansea, from Surfers Paradise, devised a scheme in which Peterson's drug conviction would be raised at the inter-club meeting to oust Peterson in favour of Neilsen. The meeting eventually descended into chaos and the selections were subject to a vote by the club members; Billy Grant was ultimately omitted from the competition.
The 1972 Australian titles were held at North Narrabeen in Sydney. Peterson managed to make it into the final round, but the surfing conditions worsened and the organisers cancelled the final. Peterson was declared the winner, with Townend attaining second place.
As a result of his win at North Narabeen, Peterson competed in the 1972 World Titles in San Diego, United States (US). Peterson made it through his first round heat but, due to an error by the judging panel in the second round, Peterson was eliminated.
1973.
The Bells Beach Classic in 1973 offered a A$1000 prize, an amount that was very substantial at that time; the event was also run under a new "points per manoeuvre" system, which had been trialled at the Hang Ten event in Hawaii, US, a few months earlier. The idea was to eliminate subjectivity from judging by only counting the moves that were completed by each contestant. In the first few rounds, under difficult surf conditions, Peterson performed poorly and his total points score left him outside the top ten positions. On the final day at Bells Beach, the leading surfer, Midget Farrelly, was forced to withdraw due to a flu. After transitioning to a larger surfboard, Peterson subsequently won the contest and was amazed when told of his victory.
The 1973 Australian titles were held at Margaret River, Western Australia, and the contestants were required to contend with big surf conditions. Although Peterson scored highly in the early rounds, fellow Queenslander, Richard Harvey, emerged victorious and Townend was runner-up.
Following his return to the Gold Coast, Peterson engaged in more board shaping work; however, he left Larkin's factory to join Furry Austen, after Austen offered higher remuneration.
1974.
1974 was a significant year for Peterson, as it was his most successful in terms of contest results.
The year started with a second-place finish to Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew in the Queensland titles. Intense rivals at the time, the loss was Peterson's second to Bartholomew in the Queensland titles event.
Peterson then won the Kirra Pro-Am, in a victory that was the start of a renowned run of wins. The next event was the Bells Beach Classic, where Peterson won by a big margin with a tightly controlled performance.
The inaugural 2SM/Coca-Cola Surfabout was held in May 1974. A A$2400 first prize was offered by the soft drink sponsor and a new prize record was set for the Australian contest circuit. Surfers from both Australia and the rest of the world competed, including Nat Young, who had otherwise become disillusioned with the contest circuit. Although Townend was in the lead for most of the competition, with a young Mark Richards in second, Peterson eventually won the event.
The Australian titles for 1974 were held at Snapper Rocks and Burleigh Heads, and again, Peterson was victorious.
In 1974, Townend gave Peterson the nickname "MP" as a response to Peterson calling Townend "PT". Townend used the nickname in newspaper columns and it