Beau Young – Biography
For Australian Beau Young, a life in surfing was penciled in years before he took his first breath. The future world champ came bearing some pretty heavy lineage. His dad, Nat Young, won a world contest, 4 longboard world titles, and was integral in the progression from longboards to shortboards. So with dear old Dad piloting the family Truckster up and down the coast, being a surfer probably looked pretty awesome to young Beau. Boat trips to perfect reef passes, boards shaped by legends, and, of course, tutelage from some of surfing’s most accomplished athletes made becoming a good surfer pretty easy. But with a rather large paternal shadow looming, the question lingered: would he be a great surfer? Beau answered definitively with a longboard world championship in 2000 and yet another in 2003 (both times meeting friend Joel Tudor in the final). But soon Young’s competitive fire became tamped by industry responsibilities, and he found himself facing retirement at age 29. Surely, the former champ with the rich lineage would settle in to a cushy surf industry job. That’s precisely when the Beau Young story veers off the script. He ignored any expectations to match his famous father and instead became a musician for kids as part of the Animalz and embarked on an entirely different path as a solo singer/songwriter. Years after securing his second world title, Beau Young found a creative life not limited to the face of the wave but still inspired by its possibilities.
Beau Young was born August 28, 1974 in Grafton, New South Wales and later raised in Sydney. Several factors led to Young’s penchant for riding waves, the least of which being that New South Wales boasts a history of producing many of the world’s greatest competitive surfers. Its world class waves and engrained surf culture make it a veritable greenhouse for growing talent. However, an even more powerful influence came from his father, 5-time world champion and historic surfing icon, Nat. In his autobiography, Nat’s Nat and That’s That, the elder Young writes of learning his first son’s impending birth, “I was skiing at Perisher Valley when I got the call that my wife had gone into labour 7 weeks early.” As Nat raced to the hospital, he was inspired by a song on the radio “Mr. Bojangles.” He named this “3 pound 6 ounce skinned rabbit” Beau. Tiny but healthy, he was born during a tumultuous time in the family as his parents would soon split. Nat writes that having this second child was an attempt to save the ill-fated marriage but to no avail.
Matt Warshaw describes Beau as first learning to surf at age 6, yet his father’s narrative tells of the budding regular footer having yet to take up surfing seriously as of 1983 (at age 11). Never pressured by his father, it wasn’t long until Beau was meandering with Pops from one surf spot to the next and the impressionable lad soon became passionate about riding waves. At 18, he traveled with his dad to the North Shore for his first big wave experience. They stayed with pro surfer Bryce Ellis, and on one notable session, the 3 of them surfed 12 foot Haleiwa. Nat writes, “This set the stage to Beau’s jump to bigger surf.” At this point, he was riding short boards primarily, and during his late teens, he competed professionally without much success. But it wasn’t until he began riding longboards in his early 20’s when he found his surfing muse. Although preferring the classic and artistic lines that the longer boards drew across the wave, the Aussie regular footer didn’t abandon his radical shortboard aesthetic. On a longboard, Young had moved from struggling pro to world title contender.
In 1998, he finished 2nd behind Joel Tudor in the Canary Islands. Two years later, he won the Men’s Longboard Title, once again facing Tudor in the final in Brazil, but this time Young bested his best friend. He Finished 3rd in 2002 before rocketing back to the top in 2003 in New Zealand. With another world title and a modest $7,000 in winnings, the 29 year old Young stood on the beach, exclaimed “I’m tripping right now!” and promptly retired from competitive surfing. Beau had proven himself worthy by placing ahead of Bonga Perkins and Colin McPhillips (both world champions) in the ASP rankings. However, he had also again met his friend Joel Tudor in the solid 4-5 foot windswept swell. Father Nat added, “There was a period when Joel was just like a son to me too, so I wish it could have been more blow-by-blow during the final…” That final marked a falling out with the longtime friend and competitor, resulting in a rift that lasted for several years. Young cites this as one of his reasons for his retirement from professional surfing in addition to a disillusionment with contest surfing. Beau explained, “I think surfing beautifully and surfing to the best of your ability…showing surfing in a beautiful artistic fashion is just as relevant as competitive results.”
Years earlier, Young had begun playing guitar but only casually. He admits, “I strummed around from 17 to 26. I probably played two weeks a year.” But as competitive surfing faded to the background, music became more and more prominent in his life. After a break-up with his “dream girl,” he wrote “Waves of Change” which would become his artistic break-out in 2005. Building on his involvement in 4 albums for kids with the Animalz (for which he toured toy companies and similar venues), Young incorporated wistful ocean inspired lyrics with acoustic cool into a smooth blend of good vibes and lost love. In “Waves of Change,” he writes:
“Waiting for waves of change to come my way,
Oh yeah, I miss the old sweet, old sweet days”
This melancholic longing for the simplistic past may reverberate subtle echoes of his own disillusionment with professional surfing and wishful crooning for something more. With support and inspiration from Ben Harper, his debut album did well on the independent charts and resulted in Young’s touring of Japan, Europe, and the United States, most recently with the film “Searching for Michael Peterson.”
Young’s surfing achievements and the influence of his iconic patriarch are ubiquitous as Beau himself admits to following in Dad’s footsteps. They both experienced disenchantment with competitive surfing, but Beau’s post-surfing career has succeeded in finding a unique path and voice through music. As in surfing, Young has found a way to ride the muse and moods of creation, but while the medium may be different, Beau Young is still a surfer. He says “Both art forms leave me feeling this sense of discovery…they’re both like meditation in a way.” He released the album “One Step at a Time” in 2010 and continues to surf and travel. Whether riding perfect barrels or playing music for international crowds, Young’s song remains the same.
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