Dean Morrison talks Cyclone Marcia and Crowd Control

Dingo Morrison is a Cooly Kid. He’s grown up surfing every bit of sand that stretches from D’bah to Burleigh and well beyond. And, that zone over the last few days has been Alive! Cyclone Marcia showed up to party and everyone took their invite. Dingo has been, unsurprisingly, one of the standouts every day of the swell. His connection with this place is obvious just from watching him thread one wave (see above… that guy wasn’t gonna make it, right?). He knows when to floor it and when to hit the breaks, and rarely puts a foot wrong. But with a cyclone swell comes a swollen crowd and, understandably, Dingo’s had some feels about it. Yesterday, Dingo took to his Instagram to air some frustrations about his experiences during the run of swell:

“Love surfing this place more than anything! I grew up right there, went to primary school right there, when times were tough we had to stay at the refuge right there, so that’s why I get territorial right there… To all those people that think it’s a free for all or if ya just moved here and think you’re a local FUCK YOU, takes a long time to pay ya dues and earn ya spot in a line up!”

Stab dialled in with a surfed-out Dingo to talk about just how good Cyclone Marcia has been, and to find out who exactly his IG post was aimed at.

Interview by Lucas Townsend

Stab: How’s the body feeling after so much surfing?
Dingo: I’m tweaked! It’s so heavy. Paddling for all that time… it’s rooted. The waves have dropped now though, so it’s time to rest and just kick back. It’s been five or six days of waves! There was good Snapper and then we had good Kirra days, it’s been epic.

How’s the sand behind Snapper now? There’s a little bit, but they’re gonna have to pump some sand. It’ll get back in a few days so it’s good for the guys in the event. If there’s south wind, and a little bit of south in the swell, it’ll take like two or three days at the most.

Highlights? Yesterday was really good, it was probably the biggest, it seemed like you had to pick your moments throughout the three or four days. If you picked the right time, with the tide coming in, then you got it. That cyclone’s just been sitting off the coast. Yesterday I surfed Kirra, which was pretty good, but the swell was pretty east. It likes a little bit more south in it so that it comes down the point a bit more, but there were still some moments that were just amazing. It was probably a seven out of 10. I heard so many people say that they got the best or longest tube of their lives.

Talk about the crowds. I saw your Instagram post. Ah, you saw that? I just had a spazz out at home, I was just like, fuck all these guys! and wrote something, then I was like, oh shit. Look, it was just crowded, and it’s just one of those things where people don’t know who the older guys are, like Rabs (Bartholomew) and Wayne Deane and all those guys. I think they should be getting respect and people should know who they are. They go out and they get paddled around on, and called off waves, and I think for anyone that grows up in that area, then they should be able to have their spot in the lineup and get their waves, and especially when it’s pumping. They’ve been there forever so it just got to me a bit.

Were those guys getting a hard time? They were, yeah. I mean, we live in the most crowded surf place in the world, so people just rock up and think it’s alright to not obey the rules, and don’t really know who those guys are, I think it’s just good etiquette. Guys who’ve surfed there as long as Rabs and Wayne, they should get their pick of the waves. I definitely saw Rabs and Wayne and those kinda guys getting frustrated out there. They come in and go ‘man, I just had some guy paddle around me and then call me off a wave, this is out of control, people just think it’s a free-for-all.’ And that frustrates me, too. It’s nice when you go to a place and the older guys have their spot in the lineup and they’ve been there forever. You see it at places with a good kind of localism. Burleigh has it, and they have that in Hawaii.

Localism still has a place! With so many people coming to the Goldy, do you have a responsibility? Yeah, I think everyone does at their local break. And it’s for the generations of kids that come through, so they know that’s their spot and they can get their waves and have respect from other guys, but they know how to give respect for locals when they go to other places. It’s something all surfers should do, it’s good to respect a place when you rock up… it’s just like anything. The tour guys are all really good with it. They travel all year, and they know when they’re at home they get their waves, and when they’re away they don’t get the best waves in the sets.

What about the size of this year’s event structure! Oh, how big is that thing! That’s the biggest it’s been by far. It’s right out on the rocks, there’s barely any beach for spectators. It’s only two weeks of the year though, everyone’s fine with it. We have the best surfers in the world, and it’s good for the grommets, and it brings in a lot of money for the local businesses. Everyone thrives on it. There’s a lot of world champions that live here and there’s a lot people who move to the area because there’s good competitive surfers and a lot of competition here, so that’s how everyone grows up around here and when the big show comes into town it’s cool to see it.