This week’s photo was taken for a story in the Frankston newspaper back in ’82. Peter Wilkinson and Garry Taylor are celebrating Garry’s upset win at the 1982 Australian Cadet Titles, along with his subsequent naming in the Aussie team to compete at the Friendship Games in Huntington Beach, California. Peter not only travelled as Garry’s coach and chaperone but also as an Australian judge.

In his own right, Wilko was a very competitive surfer, representing Victoria at several Australian kneeboard titles. He started off at Trigger Bros as a polisher (definitely the best we ever had), then became a shaper, and later on the store manager at Chelsea and then Sorrento. He taught G.T. to shape, and during his time at Trigger Brothers from 1974 to 2005, he was a larger-than-life, colorful, and sometimes provocative character who drew people through the door. Very few left without a purchase and some free advice. From his early years, ‘Wild Man’ Wilko could always call on personal experiences to pass on to the myriad of young crew who floated through the stores over the years.

As well as his rise to contest director for Rip Curl’s Easter Bells, Pete’s knowledge of judging criteria helped make him the perfect coach for G.T. The strategy was to take ‘Flea’ out of his comfort zone, making him have practice heats in small, grovelly waves at 1st Reef and Treloars, which was similar to the rubbish that the kids in N.S.W. and Q.L.D. encountered daily. A couple of years on, an Australian Cadet Title in Queensland was the reward for all his effort.

Garry and his brother Phil had been introduced to surfing at a very young age by the late John Taylor, whose best mate, Phil Trigger, lived just around the corner in Frankston. This meant a continuous flow of boards and wetsuits was always close at hand. A trip around the coast with John Taylor was a hair-raising experience, especially on the sandy roads around Gunnamatta where we drifted sideways around every corner. It’s no wonder we all felt so safe in the ocean.

One of my most vivid memories of G.T. was Easter Saturday 1981, when Simon Anderson was destroying 15-foot waves at the Rip Curl event at Bells. It would surprise many that ‘Lake Leo’ had been transformed into a serious surf spot on this day. On the low tide, there were some 20 surfers in the water with sets averaging from 6 to 8 feet, with plenty of bigger ones coming through. Thirteen-year-old ‘Flea’ had been cajoled to join the crew but was lacking confidence and not really committing to any of the waves. Skip and I, plus a few others, were paddling back to the lineup when we saw Garry paddling for an 8-foot wave. Everyone was screaming "Go, go, go!" and he must have realized that he had no other choice with all his peers calling him in. By the time the diminutive ‘Flea’ reached the bottom, the wave looked triple overhead. We were all screaming as his confidence kicked in. I doubt he ever looked back from that defining moment.

By the age of 20, G.T. was no longer a ‘Flea’; he had developed super-strong legs, Gunnamatta-rip shoulders, and could easily touch his palms to the ground. Garry, with some extra tutelage from Kenny Reimers and old Triggs, had become the number one shaper on the Peninsula. He survived a couple of years in the top 33 of the pro tour, and in front of all his mates cheering him on, he came up with an inspirational win over Gary ‘Kong’ Elkerton at Bells in the Quiksilver trials. He was just a whisker off beating World Champ Tom Curren in the first round of that year's Rip Curl event. With a string of Victorian titles thrown in, Garry rates as the third most successful surfer in the state after Wayne Lynch and Troy Brooks.

Last season, from the Heavenly Valley chairlift at Hotham, Hannah and I observed a standout snowboarder carving clean, powerful lines down Slalom Gully. I’ve seen the same guy, with Kenny Reimers, skate the hell out of the halfpipe at Chelsea and the Shed. Garry Taylor, who at ten years of age, with tears flowing, had to be paddled back to shore at St Andrews. When he started surfing he had difficulty getting to his feet correctly, yet by 15 had won the Australian Cadet Title, and by 16 was surfing 10-to-15-foot Hawaiian waves. It is a remarkable story.

Triggs