Ozzie Wright Interview

How was the trip?
Amazing. One of the best trips I’ve ever done. Awesome vibe, I was with full-on super pro surfers which makes you psyched and you surf your arse off. We surfed our guts out and had a lot of fun, it was awesome.

Bit different going away with all of these pro athletes?
Yeah definitely. I was wondering how my body was going to stand up but I reckon I might have caught more waves than all of them ’cos I don’t wait for the sets. Mick definitely surfed the most though.

Have you done trips with these guys before?
I did a trip with Occy years ago, and I’ve done one with Bede, but not Mick or Steph. I’ve never really hung with Mick at all and he’s a really nice guy, really down to earth and great to hang out with. Occy’s always awesome, he’s hilarioius, Bede’s a legend too. Really easy to be around, a good presence and vibe, and Steph, having a girl on the trip was pretty special , changed the energy.

Do you think everyone watched their manners a little more?
I do. But we’re all gentlemen to begin with.

What is it about Occy? He can say something that if anyone else said it, wouldn’t even be funny, and the whole place will fall over laughing.
It’s all about the delivery isn’t it? He’s a cartoon character, it’s awesome, he’s got the magic.

You were saying you surfed more on this trip than you would usually.
Well, I haven’t been to Indo in a while, and usually here I surf a lot. But, also on this trip there were so many waves that you wanted to try all the spots. And then different sections of the waves would be good on different tides, so you’d be like “well I’ve gotta hit the left on high, or the right on low” or whatever.

This is your 12th time in Indo. The life of a freesurfer’s pretty good then?
It’s amazing, I couldn’t dream up a better scenario, I’m stoked.

Do you call yourself a freesurfer? What do you put on your tax return?
Uh, I call myself whatever. Actually, when I come into a country on a plane I put artist when it asks your occupation. Sometimes I put pro surfer, but they never believe me. They’re like “where are your surfboards?” And I say, well, they’re probably waiting for me over there are at bulky baggage.

In Australia there’s probably you, Dave Rastovich and Koby Abberton who are pulling off the scam.
Is that all? What about Yadin (Nicol)? Nah, he’s trying to qualify, so yeah, I guess. Rasta’s doing a great job, love his work. Koby’s an animal, he’s always had that lust for life so it’s good to see him doing well.

I asked Mick if him, Occ and Steph have a secret world champ handshake, do you freesurf dudes have a secret shaka?
Nah, haha. Rasta might put it out there telepathically.

You and Rasta ever talked about how you’re living the dream?
Ah, kinda. I mean there’s definitely been a few times where we’re like “stoked we don’t have to be at that contest huh?” I love contests, ’cos I love hanging with all the surfers, and it’s great when you’re young, but then you realise that you’re going to some great wave but you’ve gotta share it with 150 great surfers, you wanna go there when there’s just locals there.

You do the junior series?
Yeah. I never went that great in it but I had a great time, made a lot of good friends, it was good. I don’t know, as soon as I started to do more of what I wanted to do I realised that was the way to go, and I kinda grew out of competition.

Were you mixed up in the whole air show thing?
Yeah, they were pretty loose days, they were fun.

32 now, and a dad. How much longer can you keep this up for?
I don’t know, interesting question. I feel like I’m doing better than I’ve ever done, but sometimes you wonder how long you can go. At the moment though, I’m loving it and hopefully I can keep going till I’m 50.

What do your sponsors do? At the start of every year do you sit down and nut out a business plan?
Nah not really. How old are the odest fresssurfers? Occy’s what, 43? That’d be great. But you’ve gotta work all the angles too, bring plenty to the table and make sure you’re helping your company make money. I think there are a lot of guys who don’t get that, they think all they have to do is go surfing.

Volcom would sponsor you as more than a surfer, they love the art and music side too.
Yeah I mean I guess it’s all part of the package.

Do you think a lot of guys fail to realise they’re basically models?
I don’t know about that, ’cos a lot of them are ugly.

But a good looking dude will do better as a pro surfer than a plain Jason.
You know what, a good looking guy will probably do better in any profession. That’s the way the world goes, it’s weird, but, yeah, strange.

Being a dad’s a pretty full time job now too huh? (Rocky River Wright just turned one, to celebrate Oz threw a Mexican fiesta in his backyard, which included his beloved mini-ramp being painted as a Mexican flag).
Yeah, I’m lucky I’ve got a great girl who’s a legend and holding shit down while dad’s away. I couldn’t trust anyone more so I’m stoked with that.

How did music become such a big part of your life?
I had so many friends living at my house over the years who played music that I was always bound to pick a bit up and get into it. My best mates are Adam Blakey (aka Vaughan Dead) and Tim Cooney and they’ve been playing guitar all their lives, and then Cowboy is our drummer (in the Goons of Doom, Oz’s band) and when I bought my house we all moved in together. When we made the movie Doped Youth  we bought instruments as props and Cowboy and I ended up playing bass and drums. And we haven’t looked back since!

And art?
Ah that’s something I’ve loved since I was a little kid. I’ve never stopped drawing and painting and making things.

Everything seems to be a canvas for you. Flotsam and jetsam at the beach, your boards…
Yeah I’ve made a few funny things at the beach in my time out of things I’ve found. In Japan I made a big panda out of these foam buoys I found once, that was a good one. I think my best beach art so far is definitely the Orange Submarine though, I’m very proud of it.

How was it having a whole gang of Narrabeen mates at Lakeys?
It was cool, I mean I see them at Narra all the time, but it was great to hang with them. At home I usually just see them in the carpark or the water and say g’day. They’re fun guys, had a great time last night.

You reckon you could leave Narrabeen?
Yeah I could. I’d love to live in Indonesia, I’m thinking about it, we’ll see what happens.  But I’ll probably always keep the house in Narrabeen, I do love it. But who knows where the wind will take us?