Frother Of The Month – Pat Cahill

By Brad Malyon on March 24, 2011 in People

Photo: Brad Malyon

Meet Pat Cahill. Or have you already met him? He’s the guy that probably sold you your fave surfboard up at Surf Culture, the muso who rides K Bay all day and eats Beach Burrito every night!

Name: Pat Cahill
Age: 27
Place of birth: Sydney
Local break: Tamarama/Mackenzies Bay
Goofy or natural: Goofy
Board dimensions: 5’9” x 18 3/8” x 2 1/8”. I have a whole bunch of other boards in various lengths from 5’7” to 6’2”.
Board shaper: I’m currently riding Lee Staceys, Al Merricks and Chillis.

Favourite surf spot? K Bay. It’s easy to get attached to waves you grow up surfing but on its day it’s pretty damn good. Take away all the bumps and it gets some big wedgy pits.

Favourite surfers? Dane Reynolds and Slater!

Best session ever? Whoa, it’s really hard to narrow down to just one. Any solid day at K Bay with all the boys out, or winter of ’03 and ’07 on the South Coast – so many good days!

How is the relationship between the Tama bodyboarders and stand-ups? We’re all good friends. I mean I used to ride a bodyboard and have plenty of respect for guys who can ride one well. Most of the other guys who can actually surf around here probably have the same attitude. Some of them can sure be cheeky but I won’t publicly name and shame – ha ha ha!

How do you earn a crust? I’m fortunate enough to work at Surf Culture in Bondi Junction. It’s a surfer’s surf store – less clothes, lots of boards.

Best thing about your job? For starters I get to hang out and talk about surfing all day, which I would do anyway and it would probably render me useless doing anything else. I think that helps keep you psyched on it, being around it so much. The cheap boards and wetties are good, and I get to try out a whole bunch of different stuff I wouldn’t normally ride. Also meeting a lot of different people. Obviously you see a lot of them out in the water and when they come up to you with a big grin on their face because you got them onto a magic board it’s a good feeling.

If you’re not working or surfing what are you doing? Buying records, eating burritos, playing in and seeing punk bands.

Who are your favourite bands? I listen to a lot of different stuff these days but I grew up with plenty of punk rock. It’s the perfect soundtrack for a surf movie/pre-surf psych up! The Misfits, Minor Threat, Descendents, F#cked Up, AFI, The Bad Brains, Dinosaur Jr and TSOL all get the blood running. At the moment Cold Cave, Darker My Love, People Rain and Marvelous Darlings are getting me excited.

What do you want to do before you get too old? I’d love to be able to tour Europe and the US in a band. Rock and roll all night, surf, hang out and see plenty of cool places. Highly doubtful it’ll ever happen but it’s nice to dream and tour life can be pretty damn fun!

Any last words? Hang out, have fun, go surfing!