SURFING legend Michael Peterson has died at his home on the Queensland border, aged just 59.
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Peterson, who was to the 1970s what Kelly Slater is to the modern era, had a tumultuous life that was all but destroyed by schizophrenia and drug abuse.
But he remained an inspiration to generations of surfers around the world, as the tributes that poured in to remember him yesterday indicated.
Peterson, who was heavily overweight, apparently died of a heart attack. Family members posted a notice on Facebook, saying: ‘‘We are very saddened today to announce that Michael passed away this morning.
‘‘We thank you for your support and prayers ...’’
Although Peterson was synonymous with the long right-hand point breaks of the Gold Coast, he had a strong connection to Newcastle, winning a Mattara surfing competition and hanging out with some East End friends to escape the madness of the competition scene.
He was also a player, along with Newcastle’s Mark Richards, in one of the most famous competitions in pro surfing history, the first ‘‘man-on-man’’ contest, the 1977 Stubbies Pro at Burleigh Heads.
In his last contest victory, a fading Peterson pulled out all stops to down the young Richards, who would go on to win four world championships.
The contest is recounted in surf journalist Sean Doherty’s biography of Peterson, titled MP, The Life of Michael Peterson.
Describing himself as ‘‘the lone guy from Newcastle who everyone wanted to see annihilated’’, Richards remembered Peterson in the final ‘‘paddling towards me like a train, with eyes like fire’’.
‘‘I just surrendered,’’ Richards remembered.
‘‘I was like a rabbit in the headlights.’’
Doherty’s book did a lot to return Peterson to public attention and it helped inspire writer Malcolm Knox, whose recent surf novel The Life was largely based on MP’s exploits.
Doherty said yesterday that Peterson, who had not surfed for more than 20 years, was ‘‘a tortured genius’’.
‘‘The best way to sum him up was as a fish out of water,’’ Doherty said.
‘‘You’ve never seen a guy more comfortable in the water and less comfortable on terra firma.’’
In the forward to his book, Doherty worried that in ‘‘making a hero’’ out of Peterson, he would glorify his drug use.
‘‘I hope there are enough cautionary tales – enough dead friends, enough jail time, enough wasted potential – scattered through these pages for this not to be the case.’’
Richards said last night that he was ‘‘never really aware’’ of the drug side of Peterson’s life at the time the two were competing.
‘‘It’s tragic what happened to him, he was a phenomenal talent whose illness basically put a stop to his contribution to surfing, which is really sad because his contemporaries, people like Peter Townend and [Wayne] Rabbit [Bartholomew] are still actively involved in the industry,’’ Richards said.
Doherty said he had lunch with Peterson just before Christmas, and the two of them talked about Peterson getting back in the water.
‘‘He still clung to the dream, although I think he knew in his heart it was never going to happen,’’ Doherty said.
