Farewell Wave

Newcastle Herald

Saturday April 5, 2008

Neil Jameson

WHEN Marco Luciano Occhilupo won Surfest '86 with an audacious snatch 'n' grab strategy, the 20-year-old came bounding up the beach like a kid barely able to bottle his excitement.

"I think I got him, I think I got him," he was almost singing to himself.

Occy was confident. And with good reason. Before the final against world champ Tom Curren and the man who had won the inaugural Surfest the year before, the kid from Cronulla had come up with a strategy.

The tip around Newcastle Beach from anyone who had scoped the horizon south of Swansea Head was that a southerly blow was on the way and would arrive at about the same time as the finalists hit the water. Occy got wind of this little gem of local knowledge. As the finalists pulled on their wetties, the puff of clouds was rounding Redhead Bluff.

Occhilupo didn't muck around. He paddled straight to where the waves were peaking and grabbed whatever was on offer. Curren, unruffled in all things, took his time. For once, his languid style betrayed him. Barely had the final got under way, than the southerly whipped in like an avenging loco, blowing out whatever was left of the swell. A waveless Curren paddled in vain while Occy counted down to the hooter. When he was duly announced as the winner and the cheque handed over, the most colourful card on the pro circuit hooted like a wild thing.

In a youth-orientated pursuit like surfing, only the calculating get to survive for long in the pipe. There was nothing the least bit careful or calculating about the wild bit of gear we would later recognise as Occhilupo Mark I. Less than one year on from that audacious Newcastle win, Occy's pro career was over. At 21, the atomic goofy footer with the insatiable party instinct had delivered twice the light in way less than half the time. He was gone, burned out, another footnote in surfing history.

WE know what happened, but sometimes you just have to put it down in black and white and stare at it awhile to suck up its real meaning. Ten long years later, Occhilupo somehow made it back to the ASP World Tour.

By 1997, it was no longer the turn-up-party-surf-and-party-some-more deal of the 1980s. This was the era of the total professional when the rewards were great enough for surfers to train and prepare as fanatically as any full-time athlete. In this climate where flexibility and suppleness ruled, how could the comeback man contort his 31-year-old body enough to turn back the hands of time? In terms of tactics and twists in its ever evolving tale, surfing had moved on and generation next had moved in.

Being on the tour was a feat in itself. But Occy wasn't there to make up the numbers. Surfing against guys who would have once had his poster on their bedroom walls, he wasn't just competitive, he was consistently brilliant. When the counting was done, Occy Mark II had beaten everybody in the world save one the incomparable Kelly Slater.

The thought on everybody's mind: If this guy hadn't spent the past 10 years on the lounge, would he have been the greatest competition surfer or at least somebody strong enough to put the Slater ascendancy on hold for a good few years? The comeback, sadly, had occurred too late. Or so we thought.

Then came an omen. As if to bookend the opening and closing of the great stages in his competitive life, Occhilupo again made the pilgrimage to Newcastle where, 12 years after pantsing Curren in that near-waveless final, he won Surfest '98. Was it an omen?

For the benefit of this story, let's just say it was. There is nothing in surfing and barely anything in Australian sport to match what happened next. The bloke they once called the Raging Bull and who had made an inspired return as the Ageing Bull, won the 1999 world championship at the ripe old age of 33.

And, it's fair to say that in that miracle was embedded more than a bit of Newcastle. Occhilupo's travelling buddy that year was one of Merewether's finest, Billabong teammate Luke Egan. As Occy recalls it, whichever one was first eliminated in any contest would become board caddy and cheer squad leader for the other.

"Louey [Luke] would be there in the channel cheering for me," he told H2 from a fishing boat off the Queensland coast. "I can remember when I won in Tahiti it was like one of those dreams where you're running and can't get anywhere. In this case, I was paddling and Louey was sitting there in the channel yelling 'C'mon!' I'll never forget it."

The final event of the 2007 tour marked Occy's departure from the world stage. By then he was 41 and still in remarkable form.

Egan is one of the architects behind tonight's Mark Occhilupo tribute dinner at Newcastle Panthers and tomorrow's invitational expression session in his honour.

"I went to Luke's tribute in Newcastle a few years back; it was a fantastic night," Occhilupo said. "Newcastle is a special place and I have been going there for years, competing and having a great time. I can remember piling into Mum's silver Celica when I was all of 14 and heading up to Newie to surf in the Mattara contest. Great days."

Egan reckons Occy hasn't changed all that much since then.

"I've known him for a long time now and he was always a kid at heart," Egan said. "He's still as enthusiastic as ever. We were mates during the first part of his career but when he made his comeback we got real close. Seeing him win that world title was one of the biggest things for me."

Billabong has thrown its ample resources behind the planning of tonight's show and the company's events manager, Ashley Forrest, promises guests will be blown away by the content.

"This is going to be one of the great surfing nights," she said. "We'll be taking Occy on a real emotional journey with some sensational footage from the past 20 years, terrific sounds and a bunch of surprise guests."

As Occhilupo tells it himself, his journey has been quite a tale. During his long time away from the competition ranks the former ball of muscle blew out to 17 stone [108 kilograms], sneaking out of his unit at Queensland's Palm Beach for a once-a-week surf, hoping nobody would recognise him. It took an incredible reassessment and willpower to whip his abused body back into the sort of shape to take on the tour. But the real battle took place in his mind.

"For the comeback, I brought that experience from the first time around and combined it with the fact that I was older and wiser," he related. "I guess it worked."

The $100-a-head tribute night is to bid so long to Mark II's world tour days, but not farewell to his surfing career. We can expect a Mark III.

Egan: "He's still as keen as ever, so he'll be competing in the masters or wherever he can. You can bet on it."

"I can remember piling into Mum's silver Celica when I was all of 14 and heading up to Newie to surf in the Mattara contest. Great days."

? Tickets to the Occy Tribute dinner are available from Newcastle Panthers on 4926 2700.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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