Nat's Nat and That's That : A Surfing Legend

by Nat Young, Nymboida Press

Surfers and surfing aficionados worldwide will be enthralled with this fascinating autobiography of Nat Young, arguably one of the world's best surfers and a pioneer of the "shortboard" style. With short stories, anecdotes, and unbelievable adventures with some of surfing's most colorful and well known characters, Nat Young recounts his life from Australia to Hawaii to the Pacific Coast of America and beyond. In fascinating text and dozens of black and white photos, Young combines surfing history, personal journals, stories, and press clippings. Young has been the subject of many surfing movies, showcasing an impressive list of accomplishments such as his 1963 Australian Open win, his first sponsorship at 16 years of age with "Hang Ten", opening his surf shops, and his four-time World Champion status. He also earned a pilots license, worked as a model for Ralph Lauren, and worked for French clothier Oxbow, and is an accomplished snowboarder and skier as well. This book is a must read for any surfer! Nat Young is recognized as one of the great surfers in the history of the sport, having won the world championships in 1966. In the late 1960s, he and a handful of others ushered in the 'new era' in surfboard riding, a power-oriented style which formed the basis of contemporary surfing. Nat's unique style and good luck enabled him to become World Longboard Champion in 1988, '89 and '90. Today he is a dedicated surfer and family man with four children. He is the author of several books on surfing and produced the film The History of Australian Surfing. ONE Now available in the U.S.! The autobiography of World Champion surfer Nat Young. COLLATERAL Stoked, lost coast, waves, History of surfing

Genres: Nonfiction

460 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1998

Reviews

[Velvetink · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If in doubt, paddle out”- Nat Young

This is a truthful autobiographical account joining 25 short stories from surfing legends Nat Young¹s first 50 years.....Mickey Dora and his Lotus on Pacific Coast Highway ...2nd prize over Buff¹s shoulder...Smoking the wallopers bob hope... and another 20 tales of his adventures with the most colourful characters involved in the surfing world. With the aid of his mum's journals and press clippings he was able to join the pieces of his life story together. Humble family beginings to world champion, husband to father, party animal to entrepreneur. Through all this Nat Young was destined to be a surfer and one of the best the world would ever see. This book is a fascinating combination of surfing history (Australian in particular) and the history of a man who pushed to get every ounce of enjoyment out of life. This is a very informative, yet light hearted book with more than its share of incredible surfing tales. From surfing the best waves the world has to offer, the early days of the world tour and the unavoidable changes of the 70's. This book is nothing short of the ultimate life style a surfer could wish for.

Morning of the Earth - nat young
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRJu4K...

Read this today in the Library while waiting for the car to be fixed. Contains some great photographs and is an inspiration to living your dream. In Nat's case, surfing. Great memories and for those who didn't like it, I guess you had to be there.

[Leon Hermanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This turned out to be so much more than just a biography of a surfer, he has done so many things in his life, lived through some interesting times. He can see the bigger picture and parallels. He is not a writer, so don't expect great prose, but at least it is not ghost written!

[Natalie]

This book is abhorrent. The group sex with teenage girls described by Nat Young, in which he brags about, reads like gang rape. It’s deeply disturbing, and the implications should be investigated.
How did anyone read this and think it was acceptable, let alone enjoyable?

His bio describes him as a dedicated family man. Vomit!

So many questions, not just for the author, but for the publisher, editor and proofreader who allowed this to make it into print. If this is an insight into surf culture, it’s a deeply troubling one.

Zero stars from me. And if you genuinely enjoyed this book, I think it’s worth asking yourself why.

[Shay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most nights my husband and I will tuck ourselves into bed and listen to half an hour of an audiobook to help us wind down and get ready for sleep. This book was his pick for us to listen to. Being a sporting nut having spent his teenage years on the Gold Coast beaches he was very familiar with Nat's exploits, but I had no idea who he was when we first started. Now I have finished I have a clearer picture of Nat Young and it's not pretty.

Maybe he is a product of his time, but several passages within Nat's memories were frankly disturbing. This quote refers to his high school years. I really don't know what else to say about it.

"The Grunter was really into group sex and we all greeted her with open flies every time we saw her getting off the school bus. This began happening a few times a week on a regular basis, then every weekend when all the crew at Collaroy would join the queue… Other girls from our beach started to get a bit jealous of all the attention the Grunter was getting and some decided it was better to join her if they couldn't beat her. The competition was terrific. 'Brenda the Bender', 'Sally Apple Bowels', the list got longer and longer and we had plenty of activity down at the beach in between riding waves."

At no point did Nat express any remorse for his actions in what appears to have been repeated group assaults on a young girl.

There were several other examples within the book where Nat and his friends took advantage of women and made fun of each other in a crass and offensive ways. I recall a passage where a young surfer was mistaken for a woman due to his long hair. Nat proceeded to ask the surfer friend to "show him your tits" explaining that *she was underdeveloped due to her age. This then progressed to him asking his friend to "show him your c*nt" (seriously on what planet would this whole exchange be seen as appropriate behaviour?!) The friend then pulled down his wetsuit seductively only to flop out his genitals.

I considered not finishing this book on more than one occasion. It became painfully obvious very early on that Nat is not a writer. Having kept journals for most of his life he is able to recall dates, names and competition results with a high degree of accuracy, but this didn't make for an enaging reading experience. It often felt like a bullet journal with added context around how people fit into Nat's life with needless detail.

Unfortunately I would not recommend this book to anyone. Even if you can look past the questionable behaviour and lack of self-awareness 60 years later, the writing is clunky and the book just isn't worth the slog - even for the biggest surfing fan.

[Matty Mullet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest and straight talking. A tale of the original surfers. An absolute classic for any surfer out there.

[RedBId3 · Rating 0.25 out of 5]

I am so disturbed after reading what I can only describe as potentially the gang rape of a school girl (he references him and his mates meeting her off the school bus with open flies and describes her in her school uniform) multiple times and passed around by multiple men?? Strategically positioned so she couldn't see the 'other lechers' who then, without her consent, "slipped in"? I mean that's rape isn't it?? I looked around a bit more after reading this to see if the guy has form and it would seem the author is quite proud of the wheeling out of this poor girl for his friends in exchange for favours: https://doylesurfboards.com/blogs/new... I hope the girl involved is okay. This books been out for decades and no-one has a problem with it? Super concerning.

[Ruslan Diachenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

The chapters feel a bit disconnected, like separate stories, but overall, it's a nice read. The author describes his surfer's life and the adventures that come with it. It's a story about relationships and the pursuit of a fulfilling life.

Two quotes from this book that resonated deeply with me are:
1. I couldn't burn a candle on my own until I started giving something back.
2. What matters is not what you start but what you finish.

[Ben Vella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought it would never end. While clearly a fascinating life the character does not come out. He is often the centre of a misunderstanding, it is never his fault and stories about buying houses and plots of land are just not that interesting.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

One man's life journey is your trip to escapism. Nat Young is brash, but if you know anything about surfing his ambassadorship and writing are critical to encouraging later life newbies.

Long before there were surf videos, there was Nat Young.

[Johntitchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story. Lauren gave it to me last summer and I finally finished it on the last trip. He's arrogant, but good story teller!

[tee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rated this 5 stars as this is how much I adored it when I read it ten years ago, when I was about fourteen.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read quite some time ago, but a fascinating story about a man who breadth of life experience is rivaled by only a few.

[James Pedler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting read about one of Australias most iconic surfers.

Anyone who surfs should read this.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my teenage heroes finally put pen to paper