Robert Harold "Nat" Young (born 14 November 1947) is an Australian surfer and author.

Surfing career

Born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, New South Wales, Young grew up in the small coastal suburb of

Collaroy Collaroy is a suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Collaroy is 22 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of Northern Beac ...

. In 1964, he was runner-up in the Australian junior championship at Manly, and two years later was named

world surfing champion The International Surfing Association (ISA) is the world governing authority for surfing, SUP racing, SUP surfing, bodyboarding and all other wave riding activities. The ISA is recognized by the International Olympic Committee. After the 202 ...

in 1966. He won the title again (then called the Smirnoff World Pro/Am) in 1970. Young won three Australian titles in 1966, 1967 and 1969, and won the

Bells Beach Surf Classic The Rip Curl Pro, formerly the Bells Beach Surf Classic, is a World Surf League, WSL (formerly Association of Surfing Professionals, ASP) World Tour surfing competition held in and around Torquay, Victoria and sponsored by surf company Rip Curl ...

three times. Young featured in a number of important surf films of 1960s and 1970s including the classic 1973 surf movie ''

Crystal Voyager ''Crystal Voyager'' is a 1973 Australian surf film directed by David Elfick. It was filmed by Albert Falzon, written and narrated by surfer, photographer and filmmaker George Greenough who had previously made the 1970 surfing film '' The Innermo ...

'' and he also had a featured role as surfer Nick Naylor in the 1979 Australian drama film '' Palm Beach''.

Post-surfing career

Young ran for NSW Parliament in the 1986 by-election for the seat of Pittwater. Labor did not run a candidate, and he was narrowly defeated by Liberal candidate

Jim Longley James Alan Longley (born 28 July 1958) is a former Australian politician and banking executive. As a member of the Liberal Party, he served as the Member of Parliament for Pittwater in the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales (NSW) from 1 ...

. Since retiring from professional surfing, Young has written several books about surfing and sailboarding in Australia. His son

Beau Young Beau Young is an Australian surfer, singer and songwriter. Early life Beau was born 28 August 1974 in Grafton, New South Wales, the second youngest of four children of the 1960s and 1970s surfer Nat Young Robert Harold "Nat" Young (born 14 ...

has also seen some success in the sport, winning the World Longboard title in 2000 and again in 2003. In 2000, Young was a victim of 'surf rage' when he was severely bashed on his home break of

Angourie Angourie is a coastal village in the Clarence Valley Council of New South Wales, Australia. Angourie is located 5 km south of Yamba, New South Wales, and is at the northern tip of Yuraygir National Park. Towns that surround Angourie are Ya ...

after a long-running feud and heated altercation with another local surfer. During his recovery he wrote a book titled ''Surf Rage'', calling for greater tolerance and mutual respect in the surfing community, although Young admitted he had acted aggressively during his career (where he had earned the nickname "The Animal"), and had acted provocatively towards his attacker, whom he met and forgave several months after the incident.Surfing legend tells of surf rage
''

The 7.30 Report ''The 7.30 Report'' is an Australian week-nightly television current affairs program, which was shown on ABC1 and ABC News 24 at from 1986 to 2011. In 2011, it evolved into ''7.30'', a revamped current affairs program. History ''The 7.30 Report ...

'' ( ABC TV), 23 October 2000.

Publications

* * * * * * * Young, Nat (2008). ''The complete history of surfing: from water to snow.'' Utah: Gibbs Smith. * Young, Nat (2019). ''Church of the Open Sky.'' Michael Joseph.

References

External links

*
Nat Young: Surfing Legend
official site)
Nat Young biography at Surfline.com
* * 1947 births Living people Australian surfers Australian sportswriters World Surf League surfers Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees {{Australia-surfing-bio-stub