“I wanna go to Pipeline” — Is Mad Wax the greatest Aussie surf movie of all time?
Bloody oath it is!
Yesterday, while taking a quick break between assignments, a link to the 1987 classic “Mad Wax”, popped up in my feed. I immediately opted in and not only was it the full movie, but it was in 4k. Holy Shit!
So, I set myself up with a coffee, put the headphones on, turned the world off, and was immediately transferred back to the mid ’80s in all its fluoro War Paint, Ghetto Dog fury. The Wiz, Victoria the goat, TC, Kong, Summercloud, it was all there, just as I remembered. Ganga fricken jang!
Pure Australian power surfing. Pre-Kelly Slater, pre-aerials, it’s all rail-to-rail power surfing here. The last of the “V8 Interceptors”.
Tom Carroll, super fit, those little box-railed Byrne square tails with the clinker channels seemingly glued to his feet. At Aussie Pipe, in winter, no wettie, taking off late and tight in the pocket, driving square off the bottom, burying the whole rail of his board back into the power source, then kick stalling straight into the barrel, upright. Giddy up!
Kong, in the black hat and Oakleys, deep 6 AB swallow tail under his arm. The deep fade on take-off, top turn into long swooping cut back, then hand jive karate chop out of danger, squatting and holding back before releasing into the next section. Raw energy and…
