Friday, June 19, 1998
Australian Layne Beachley
By Greg Ambrose
is about to break Lisa Andersen's
hold on surfing's
world Title
Special to the Star-BulletinKEN Bradshaw is back in the business of making champions.
The Sunset Beach resident and big-wave master has always generously shared his insights into the tricky lineup at Sunset. When he showed Lynne Boyer the sweet spots at Sunset, the Kailua surfer combined the tips with her immense natural talent to win two world championship titles in the late 1970s.
These days Bradshaw has become mentor, coach and significant other to Australian surfer Layne Beachley, who is poised to break Floridian Lisa Andersen's four-year stranglehold on the world title.
Beachley, however, shudders at the talk of such an upset this early in the season, even after making the finals in four of the first five contests, and winning three straight.
"I get a lot of phone calls and questions about being the world champion, and I avoid them because I'm not world champion yet," she says. "Anything can happen."
To hear Bradshaw tell it, all he did was make Beachley believe in her own ability. "A lot of the time people can't clearly see how good they really are, and they fall short of it," he says.
"She's really intelligent, she is really smart about her surfing. All I'm doing is bringing it to her attention."
Beachley points to the bicycling and swimming, which give her a mental and physical edge over other competitors, and the hours that Bradshaw spends designing and shaping her surfboards, videotaping her surf sessions and giving constructive criticism.
But there is more to it than that. Beachley was frustrated to be a power surfer locked into a world tour format that didn't provide many powerful waves. The world title has been Beachley's obsession for a decade, ever since she turned pro at age 18. Her success in Hawaii's dynamic surf has only heightened her frustration.
Andersen claimed her world titles without ever winning a contest in Hawaii. Beachley, on the other hand, made the finals the first time she ever surfed Sunset Beach as a rookie on the tour.
A surfer at Manly Beach in Australia since age 4, Beachley got her career of to an inauspicious start in Hawaii. She rode tandem with her father in Waikiki when she was 9, then watched the Billabong Pro at Sunset Beach at age 17, and returned to surf at Waikiki rather than challenge the North Shore waves.
Beachley has more than made up for those omissions, winning both Hawaii women's events in 1996, and the inaugural Triple Crown of Surfing for women last year.
"I don't take anything away from Lisa, but I'm proud because I have always wanted to excel in Hawaii, and I have done so. I always could do well in big waves, and started believing I couldn't do it in small waves."
With Bradshaw's help, Beachley has reached the next level, which could erase her two runner-up finishes with a championship. "He makes me stop criticizing myself, and begin believing in myself," she says.
Beachley began to believe that she had put it all together when she won a contest while riding microscopic waves at her home beach at Manly in April.
But she became a true believer last month during the Tokushima Pro in Japan, where in eight years she had never made a final round. Beachley prevailed in nightmarish typhoon-like conditions of howling winds, fierce rip currents, and rain and salt spray that hid contestants from the judges.
Her newfound faith wasn't shaken when, in the next contest, Hawaii's Megan Abubo kept Beachley from reaching every final round this season. "I guess now I'm the complete package. I can win in 1-foot waves and 10-foot waves," Beachley says.
That confidence is justified by her standings. With six contests remaining, Beachley is 1,400 points ahead of her next-closest competitor, Hawaii's Rochelle Ballard, and 2,360 points beyond world champion Andersen.
With each victory worth 1,000 points, each second-place finish worth 800 and a loss worth 200, Beachley is literally on top of the world and loving it.
"My life is extremely comfortable and right on track, better than I ever thought it could be. It's good to be living a dream.
"I still don't believe I'm winning it. I won't believe it until I'm holding that trophy at the end of the year."
Hawaii has been a huge part of Beachley's success this year, both in Bradshaw's influence, and the contradictory calm of island life and cauldron of the surf scene.
"Hawaii is the most comfortable and relaxing environment to be in, it is perfect for my career. When I'm in Australia I don't surf as much as I do here. And there is less distraction when I am here.
"The standard of surfing is so high in Hawaii, it pushes your own standards. You have to prove yourself when you're out with such a vicious crowd."
Her tropical oasis of relaxation ends Monday when the world tour heads for Reunion Island, and Beachley begins the home stretch in her race for the world title, a race that ends in Hawaii.
Beachley is so close to achieving her ultimate dream that she can taste it, and that adds an edge to her practice sessions. Bradshaw knows just what to do when his partner becomes too tense during training. "When we're out surfing I'll paddle up to her and ask, 'Are you having fun yet?' to remind her this is supposed to be easy, it's supposed to be fun," he says.
But if Beachley ends up wearing the world crown, it's apparent that she won't take her reign lightly. "The desire and the vision of the women today and yesterday have created what we have today," she says.
"We hope the women of the next generation have more focus and positivity, to make surfing as big as tennis. We are a much more marketable group than the men are. The women are much more supportive and encouraging of each other."
Beachley's progress as a surfer can be seen in the transformation of her nicknames over the years. As the only girl in the waves at Manly, and a tiny little thing at that, the blokes all called her Gidget. When she outgrew Gidget, the Aussie penchant for word play turned Beachley into Beastley, which a friend shortened to Beast.
Realizing that they call her Beast at their peril, Beachley's competitors have settled for Beach. But she would dearly love to earn one last moniker: Champ.
