The Perks And Perils Of A Sydney Visa Run With Colin Moran

Colin Moran picked a fantastic day to visit Stab’s Bondi Headquarters.

It was particularly nasty outside; the waves were awful (surprise surprise), combined with gloomy skies and a piercing southeasterly, there wasn’t much to do around Sydney’s eastern ‘burbs 

The day prior, the 23-year old told Stab he was in town with a few days to spare before heading back to his temporary Indonesian home and was keen to link up.

Last time we’d caught up was around the 2017 Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast, it was the perfect opportunity to catch up and grant the Newport tourist the honour of a private screening of The Electric Acid Surfboard Test ahead of our Byron Bay premiere.

Goose told us he’d hopped on a plane to escape Bali, citing Visa issues, before borrowing boards and a suit and piggy-backing on a few trips taking place down south, with the likes of Harry Bryant, Wade Goodall, Seb Raubenheimer (who you might remember from a backwash triggered explosion on our Instagram a few days back), and more. 

He sipped away at a bottle of lemon and ginger flavoured kombucha while we sat and watched Dane Reynolds sampling ten peculiar boards in Mexico, intermittently gasping as the thirty minutes played out on the screen. 

We discussed the film’s soundtrack, the horrifying ordeal of publishing owners, sync licenses and exorbitant associated costing, we spoke of the pretty young lady working retail downstairs and mutual experiences trying to get a half decent wave at Bondi Beach.

Borrowed goods and the benefits of spontaneous Aussie adventures.

Photography

Frame by Dave Fox

Stab: So what brought you down to Sydney?
I came over for a visa run, ended up staying a week longer than I was supposed to. Just borrowed boards, borrowed wetsuits, checked out South Oz and the South Coast.

Honestly I came over by mistake. Everyone was telling me to go to Thailand for a visa run, I just thought ‘fuck it’ it’s nice here, it’s cold, not as fucking hot as Bali. 

How’s Bali been?
Bali’s so hectic. There’s so much shit going on, you just wake up and there’s just traffic and scooters everywhere. Canggu has just blown up so much. When I went when I was 12 or 13 there was nothing around.

I haven’t been back in a couple of years, maybe like four years and there’s just shit everywhere. It’s like the fastest growing place I’ve ever been.

Canggu is so crowded, but if you just go to Lombok or the other islands and it’s fine.

You’ve been surfing around here?
The last two days I went out surfing here and thought it looked fun, then just paddled out and there were kooks like paddling against you every wave.

I surfed out here a couple times and the little bay over there, I forgot what it’s called [Tamarama]. It was fun but fucking hectic. It’s just that everyone has a surfboard and decides they wanna go surfing.

I can imagine it would be a similar vibe over there back home around LA?
Yeah, it reminds me of home a lot, everyone surfs.

What are you working on right now?
An Octopus edit. Trying to work on something real good, giving myself six months to make something cool.

It’s fucking hard though. I’ve never really actually set my mind and gone, ‘ok I’m going to go here and do this, hopefully get enough clips to go there’ or whatever.

I’ve been on a few trips with Chippa lately, it’s so gnarly, he makes you feel so bad [laughs]. For me it takes a hell of a lot longer. But yeah, trying to work on that and make something cool. Something I actually like, something I’m stoked on.

We recently did a piece on Chippa being the most productive free surfer.
Oh man, he’s so gnarly. Nate Tyler and I did a trip with him up to Northern California, it was just shitty little lefts and rights and he just does every grab, front spin, big spin, fucking kerrupt flip, whatever. He just does everything in every session.

We’ve got him over for our air contest at Waco, he’ll probably win it… Anyway, what do you dig about Aus?
The waves here are so good. Especially on that south coast trip, that was my first time checking it out. Every little corner has a slab and a beach break or something cool. There’s so many waves, it’s so sick. Pretty expensive here though.

So why do they call you Goose? Who came up with that?
Dustin Barca. A long time ago, I was staying at the Oakley House, when I used to ride for Oakley, I think I was doing the Sunset Pro Junior contest.

I was just doing my thing around the house, like trying to hide from everybody. It’s fucking scary. I could see Barca kinda watching me, walk around the house and he’s like ‘who are you?’

I’m like ‘uh, I’m Colin’. He nods his head, he seemed kinda stoned [laughs].

He’s like ‘so, what do you want to do here?’

‘I dunno, get the best barrel of my life, I wanna get a sick tube out here’.

He nods his head up and down and asks ‘what are you going to do for the house?’

‘I’ll clean whatever needs to be cleaned, whatever’.

Then he’s like ‘I like you, I’m gonna call you goose’.

Then there was like the Pipeline posse, the older dudes, I think Nathan Fletcher was there, all the cool guys, and they look at me and are like ‘Goose!’

I didn’t see Dustin for like two or three years. Then I saw him at the VQS contest in Newport. I could see him from so far away, I could see him looking at me, like beaming at me, and I could see him go ‘GOOSE!’

It just stuck. I told [Matt] Tromberg [Metal Neck] that story and he just kept making all these edits like ‘Goose Is Loose’ and it kinda just stuck.

I don’t even think they know my real name. Fuller and Barca and those guys, they’ve just always called me Goose.

And you’re still with RVCA and Octopus, who else?
DBlanc and Panda. RVCA’s been really good to me. They have a sick thing going on over there.

Pat’s cool, the manger guys are cool, everyone in that office is sick. They let you be who you are.

Someone like Alex, he’s so sick, to me he’s the gnarliest pro surfer, band guy, art guy, surfer guy, shaper guy. It seems like they’re stoked on him just doing that.

Everyone on the team is sick, Danny, Ford, even all the Hawaiin dudes are cool. They’re the only ones I feel do well in this industry. A lot of the brands just seem so fake to me.

Tell us about that car you’re driving?
It’s a ’63 Cadillac Coupe Deville. I always wanted a Cadillac so bad and everything I found around California was just so expensive and a rust bucket.

I was on Auto Trader one night and I found this sick ass car out in Montana. So me and my dad made a trip out of it, went and checked out Yellow Stone on the way.

The motor vehicle in question. Photo ripped off @gooseonthelooseeee

When we get there I walk into this guy’s barn and this thing’s immaculate, like perfect, shiny Cadillac and I’m like ‘oh my fucking god, I’m buying this thing’. Eighty thousand miles, original owner, original paint and real cheap. Every time I’m home now all I’m doing is working on my car. Trying to do that, not be such a fucking poser [laughs], I’ve got this fucking Cadillac, but I actually know what I’m doing.

It’s a full-time job, maintenance on that thing. Every couple of thousand miles something happens and you’ve gotta learn how to do this or that to fix it. It’s been fun, gives me something to do when I’m not surfing.

So what’d you think of The Electric Acid Test film?
I was loving it. Dane’s so sick to watch. He makes everything look so good, even makes those single fins look fun. I feel like he’s the only one who could really make everything look that good. He’s a talented dude, a smart guy – knows exactly what he’s talking about.

Couple quick ones: last place you surfed?
That shitty place around the corner, what was it, Tamarama?

Last board you rode?
My friend Seb’s 5’5” Highline that just goes straight [laughs], it’s so hard to ride. After I broke that Chilli board, I had to ride it down south and I just could not figure it out. But for coming over here not for a surf trip, it worked I guess.

Last edit you featured in?
I don’t remember, it’s been a while [laughs]. Maybe an RVCA edit, or a What Youth Edit. Me, Gavin and Ford went on a trip to Samoa, that was it. It sucks though, all those guys just left [What Youth], and they had a different editor on it… blew it.

It could’ve been a cool edit, but there was no personality in it. Gavin being Gavin, and Ford he’s interesting, there’s so much sick shit that could’ve got put in it but didn’t.

Ford, he’s a polarising man!
He just doesn’t give a fuck about what anyone thinks. He’s just Ford. Such an Archbold.

You’ve seen Stab High? You should come out if you’re back? Austin is a groovy place to visit on its own.
Yeah Austin is sick. I’ve surfed that shitty wave pool, the one that’s like a burger. It’s so shitty. You can’t do bottom turns, you just have to do these tap turns and just keep going with the wave. You’ve gotta work hard to build speed to do anything.

This new one looks sick though.
I wanna do a trip there. Everyone’s kinda blown it out though, for edits.

I guess I’d just go for my own enjoyment. It would be sick to go with skaters, see what they do. Like Greyson or somebody, that’d be a sick trip.

I suck at airs, it would be sick to learn to do them [laughs]. Learn a new grab or something.

So what’s doing now, you’ve got a day left to burn in Bondi, yeah?
Probably meet up with my buddy, he’s on the same flight back with me, go have a bunch of beers.