DAVE MACAULAY
By Dave Roberts
It’s a really good thing
to go to a world class event and see someone your
own age, someone who was competitive 17 years ago,
still cutting it with the young guys.
South West Life attended the Salomon
Masters at Margaret River this year, and saw local
guy Dave Macaulay winning through his heats. This
year he got through the week right up to Saturday,
showing that there’s still heart there, the
locals are still well represented by someone who
has surfed these breaks for a good long time.
Dave, like so many of us in the South
West, spent much of his youth in Perth. Dad was
a teacher, and among the postings was a four year
stop at Collie. Chances to splash around the River
and check out the bush, but not a lot of waves.
The Macaulay family were back in town for Dave to
attend Churchlands for five years of high school.
The way Dave tells it, he wanted to be a pro surfer,
but there wasn’t a degree for it, so he had
a go at teachers college. (Maybe Edith Cowan at
Bunbury could have helped there if they were on
time).
We all have to have some cash while
chasing the degree, and Dave’s approach was
to get a job in a surfboard factory, doing repairs.
After about a term, he figured that he wasn’t
destined to be a teacher and the factory inherited
him full time.
Five years of Churchlands High, kind
of next to Scarborough beach, then being immersed
in the surf lifestyle at the factory, it was sure
that Dave was going to have a crack at the circuit.
The story goes that he wanted to do it so he did
it. Dave started dragging himself off to competitions,
and doing OK. The more he worked at it, the better
he did, scoring a level of sponsorship as he went
until in 1985 he just went on the circuit.
First year on the circuit was OK,
but in 1986, things went great, and Dave won the
competiton in Brazil. There were at that time spaces
for 30 seeded surfers in the world, and the guy
from the South West was there. The thing about being
seeded was that you got guaranteed invitation to
all the events on the tour, and you get paid for
turning up, basically you’re a pro surfer.
Pro surfing lasted from 1985 - 1994, and the life
was pretty much what he wanted at the time. In 1989
he was able to win at Margaret River, cementing
a name for himself at home. This year he got through
six heats and was still in among the prizes.
Other really important things in Dave
Macaulay’s life have to start with Lorraine.
It’s a nice story, the young fella spending
his life on the beach meets a girl (where else),
when he’s 18, and the two of them build a life.
Lorraine has been a teacher and done a bunch of
really important things in the life that’s
followed. That life has always involved the surf,
and now they life at Gracetown, and get in the water
with 4 kids as often as they can.
Right now Dave is a surfboard shaper.
Given what he started straight after school, you
have to get those thoughts in your head about going
right around the world and not getting far from
home. Dave shapes boards for ACT surfboards, and
is kind of part of the company. You can find them
in Dunsborough or at a bunch of surf shops in Perth.
It’s kind of a neat skill to have. Ellie and
Laura turned 11 a few months back and dad had made
them surfboards. Can’t say just how cool that
would have to be. Bronte is 9, and she gets there
too, and Jack is six and can be found out on Dave’s
tandem board with dad. Life is good.
Shaping boards is "not making
me a million dollars" says Dave, but it is
working in well with his family and the things he
likes to do. He can still surf when the surf is
good and it is a creative process, every board is
different and you get to admire your product.
Surfing for the joy of it is the main
thing he’s doing now, but he still gets to
do the Salomon Masters, the local Margaret River
Classic, and every year there is another masters
competition, which is a world championship for seniors,
and there are 16 invited surfers who compete. This
January it was in Hawaii, last year in Ireland,
before that in France, and guess who is pretty keen
on the invitation to the next, undisclosed invitation.
Another example of a guy who has followed
a dream, who has picked up some good stuff with
it along the way, and who has wound up in paradise.
Good job I reckon.
May 2003
