At last we get to see the Robby Naish film.

It's a great film I saw it at Luna Cinemas, Leederville in December 2020. It really makes you realise how talented, dedicated and focussed Robby is, a legendary waterman. It is a must see and there is great cinema photography and also so much deserved praise from people like Gerry Lopez and others that make you realise how truly fantastic Robby is at most watersports including surfing. You also know he is also a mere mortal with the same flaws and challenges all of us face.

Robby is two years younger than me. He looks about 20 years older than any of us, a result of years of pushing the limits I guess. I thought the film was a bit sad. Like an ageing war horse- warrior looking for relevance in a time of peace. I hope he can become one of those mellow 'other' former chargers and elder statesmen of the surf world (like some of the other people interviewed in the film). His reputation as a supreme athlete, focused and driven is doubtless, but his failed relationships, failing business, failing health and arguably mental state are sad. What gains man who gains the world but looses his soul.

Red/blond hair, pale skin, lots of sun, lots of talent.

I enjoyed it, and especially how he's transitioned from being the GOAT to being a grand old man and mentor.

I've had the same injury as he suffered - fractured pelvis and torn pubic symphysis and I can tell you that his recovery is astonishing. He was bolted back together (I wasn't) so that may have sped up recovery some, but I was injured in 1993 (windsurfing in a strong gale) and it was several years before I could go back on the water in anything more than a light breeze. For many years, in fact, a hard sneeze or cough was enough to put me right on the ground. Robby is the only other guy I've met with that injury - it happens most often to motorcyclists who lay the bike down and then run into something while straddling it. The pain is just...

I watched this on the weekend. I enjoyed it but it felt like it was padded out to a longer run time - this would have been a great 60 minuter on a person that, for the younger viewers out there, was such a huge hero back in the day.

Its hard to overstate how huge Robby was - in tandem with the explosion of surf apparel and the beach lifestyle. Robby was front and centre with the world wide Quicksilver store roll out. In many ways, he was the prototype to Kelly slater.

As I said i really enjoyed it but have a vested interest because I grew up and lived through this time in History. And got to meet and sail with Robby.

And now I am going to tell my brief Robby Naish story that all my mates have no doubt grown tired of...



Back in 1993 I was lucky enough to race slalom against Robby at an event in Singapore. I was the Aussie local hero (i used to Race with SING numbers on my sails) that had grown up Windsurfing in the local scene. By virtue of an extra 5-10 kgs on the other local sailors i was the fastest local guy in planing conditions. And being Singapore conditions you got really good at extracting the most performance in 11-18 knot conditions. Pumping on to the plane and efficient low power sailing. Just because i could do jump gybes and carving 360s I was, somehow, the benchmark for local performance. (the sport has come a long way since then !)


Robby flys in to town and the first thing is the two of us head out for a shoot offshore with a press boat.

An absolute privilege to sail 1 on 1 with just Robby and myself and some cameras. Robby was just so locked in and his sailing was explosive to see first hand. This was when you could still easily jump slalom gear. Robby is throwing table tops getting his fin 2 ft away from the lenses on both tacks. His sailing style and trim was pure perfection. The shot gets Full cover back page of the Straits Times. We get to Race day and its 18-20 knots classic Singapore monsoon (nov - march) weather. The slalom course location has dead onshore wind - which is fantastic for the crowd on the beach because they can see the best perspective for speed and the windsurfing action is happening only 50-100m off the beach.

We come through different sides of the draw and meet in the first final.

I nail the start with Robby about 3 board lengths behind.
There are thousands of people screaming on the beach as the "local" adopted hero takes it to Robby.

I dare to look back half way through the first leg and unexpectedly i have held my lead and even pulled away a bit. I Whip the gybe in and hold position. This goes on for 2 more legs and I can't believe what is happening. Sensory overload with the crowd going nuts. In my mind I have won the race.

Around about this time the 2 coolest things in windsurfing were forward loops and laydown gybes. Laydowns were seriously sexy at the time. So last gybe mark full of confidence i figure the crown NEEDS to see a sick laydown.

Did i mention the wind was dead onshore? which means short chop...

So i go in hard, trip the rail and send the mast in so hard the rig ends up underwater after i get flung about 10m away from my gear. Robby nails a beautiful gybe next to me and sails off for the win.

I don't think he got his hair wet all weekend.

This all happened right as he was transitioning out of slalom racing - i think he had figured out that only the big tall guys were going to be competitive from that time on (if you take the indoor events out of the equation)- and Dunkerbeck was starting to dominate everything- and in many ways, this was the beginning of the decline of the sport in terms of mass popularity.

But Robby's wave sailing act over the next part of his career was next level!!


Back to the Longest wave though - Robby shows us a ton of surfing style (on SUps , surfboards and foils) that we get to see (Gerry Lopez says that he thinks Robby is a better surfer than he is)

They definitely labored some of their points.

Lord (that spelling mistake was done on purpose) Hamilton drops many truth bombs and insights.

The Hero shot at the end of the longest wave is an absolute cracker- and getting both of your hero riders in 1 smooth shot was so lucky.

This film feels, in many ways like a bookend to mark the great chapter that windsurfing had in history. You see the transition from just the right amount of media (VHS and DVD were about right ) to too much Instagram / Snapchat / Facebook etc that occurs as we see Kai Lenny's arc.

Reading between the lines you get the feeling that the Naish business faces struggles - but i wouldn't be surprised i they turn it around (or have already)

Hopefully, Robby will be ok to slip into the role of solidly performing statesman. He is super fit for 58 odd years old (but probably not as fit as Neil Scheltema was before his boat accident - both senior gentlemen are great role models for fitness in your fifties and beyond) which is inspiring - I re started doing regular push ups and pull ups the day after i watched the movie.

There is a connection with Naish to WA - a legendary trip up North back in the late 90s and a strong connection with some of our home grown local talent in Scott Mckercher and recently Justyna Sniady (who has gone multiple next level in her performance growth)

like many of the greatest things in life, this is a flawed movie of an iconic human that will leave a powerful and lasting nostalgic impression on any windsurfer that existed through that time period.

It is a wonderful insight into the legendary icon that is Robby Naish.
( Still could have been only 60 minutes though )