Nat Young (surfer)

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Robert Harold "Nat" Young (born November 17, 1947) is an Australian surfer and author.

Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Young grew up in the small coastal suburb of Collaroy. In 1964, he was runner-up in the Australian junior championship at Manly, and two years later was named world surfing champion in 1966. He won the title again (then called the Smirnoff World Pro/Am) in 1970. Young won three Australian titles in 1966, 1967 and 1969, and won the Bells Beach Surf Classic a record four times. Since retiring from professional surfing, Young has written several books about surfing and sailboarding in Australia. His son Beau has also seen some success in the sport, winning the World Longboard title in 2000.

In 2000, Young was a victim of 'surf rage' when he was severely bashed on his home break of Angourie after a long-running feud and heated altercation with another local surfer. During his recovery he wrote a book titled Surf Rage, calling for greater tolerance and mutual respect in the surfing community, although Young admitted he had acted aggressively during his career (where he had earned the nickname "The Animal")^[1], and had acted provocatively towards his attacker, who he met and forgave several months after the incident.^[2]

[edit] Publications

Young, Nat; Bill McCausland (photographer) (1979). Nat Young’s Book of Surfing: The Fundamentals and Adventure of Board-riding. Sydney: Reed. ISBN 0589501305.
Young, Nat; Craig McGregor (1983). The History of Surfing. Sydney: Palm Beach Press. ISBN 0959181601.
Young, Nat (1983). Surfing Australia’s East Coast. Sydney: Horowitz Grahame Books Pty. Ltd.
Young, Nat (1986). Surfing & Sailboard Guide to Australia / Nat Young.. Sydney: Palm Beach Press. ISBN 0959181628.
Young, Nat (1998). Nat’s Nat, and That’s That: An Autobiography. Sydney: Nymboida Press. ISBN 0646357786.
Young, Nat (2001). Surf Rage, a surfers guide to turning negatives into positives. Sydney: Nymboida Press. ISBN 0958575010.

[edit] References

^ Cralle, Trevor (2001). The Surfin'ary: A Dictionary of Surfing Terms and Surfspeak. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. ISBN 1580081932.
^ Surfing legend tells of surf rage, The 7.30 Report (ABC TV), 23 October 2000.

[edit] External links

Nat Young: Surfing Legend (official site)
Nat Young biography at Surfline.com
Nat Young surfing for Morning of the Earth

Preceded by Felipe Pomar	World surfing champion (Men) 1966	Succeeded by Fred Hemmings
Preceded by -	World surfing champion (Men) 1970	Succeeded by Gavin Rudolph