“When you’re comfortable, you’re dead.”
Bernard Farrelly, best known as Midget due to his 5’8″, 70kg frame, was never a fan of the spotlight. While his peers were getting high, partying, and showing off, his focus remained on conquering the break, and becoming the best surfer of all.
Born in Sydney, Australia, in 1944, Farrelly came to spend his early years in New Zealand and Canada, before returning home and picking up his first surfboard at the age of six. By 17, he was the unofficial champion of the world, having won the Makaha International in Hawaii.
He returned home a star, but Farrelly’s dislike for his newfound celebrity status became abundantly clear. Finding that it was impeding on his ability to surf without being mobbed by fans, he died his hair bleach-blonde in an attempt at anonymity, to little success.
In 1964, he won the Australian National Titles, before word arrived that the inaugural World Championships would be held at the local Manly Beach. The news must have given him some comfort, even as he looked for a way to permanently disconnect himself from the media spotlight. “(I) just felt sick of it all,” he would later say.
That didn’t stop him becoming surfing world champion though. While competitors surfed to impress, Farrelly simply went about his performance with quiet passion and a great depth of experience. Although his moves were almost predictable, he carried them out with such “superhuman elegance”, as Australia’s Surfing Life put it, that they were a true joy to behold. Farrelly was an artist, and it wasn’t long before the international community were praising his name.
A definitive leader in the sport, he would come to help form the Australian Surfriders Association, and the International Surfing Association, which oversees all major competitive events to this day.
Perhaps his most definitive impact on the surfing world, however, came in the form of Farrelly Surfboards, which he founded in 1965. Though he was not the first to devise the concept of the shortboard – fellow Australian Bob McTavish would hold that credit – the brand would become synonymous with quality.
The shortboard revolution began, but it would come to mark the beginning of the end for Farrelly’s reign. His protege, a 17 year-old Nat Young, would become such a charismatic identity on the scene that Farrelly’s influence on the surfing world would all but be forgotten for some time. The two formed an intense rivalry over the next five years, with Farrelly positioning ahead of him in the 1968 and 1970 World Championships (the latter of which he won).
Farrelly soon began positioning himself as an outsider. He was one of only a few who spoke out against drug use within surfing in 1969, and weaned off his presence in the sport from the early 70s, though he did create Surfblanks manufacturing company in 1972.
In 1986, he was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame, alongside Young. By that time, he was no longer a major identity in the sport. His last prominent appearance came in 1999, when he took part in a contest between the surviving finalists of the 1964 World Championships.
He won.
Midget Farrelly would come to call the late-60’s surfing scene “the beginning of the end of sanity,” blaming Young and his peers for souring what had one been fun and pure. Some would agree, others may not, but what is without doubt is the determination and craftsmanship Farrelly displayed throughout his professional career. He didn’t need the attention; that’s not what he was there for. He was there to surf. And that is what he did, far better than most.
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