GORDO THE GREAT
Words: Tim Baker.
From news hound to surf movie maestro to your friendly neighbourhood surfboard salesman, John Gordon has led a colourful surfing life defined by telling great yarns
Whether you need wax, legrope, deck grip, a new shooter or tall tales from 20 years on the pro tour, Gordo’s you’re man Photo: Jarrason Britton
What do you really know about that wizened character behind the counter of your local surf shop? The swells they’ve seen? The classic days they’ve surfed at your local break? The banks they’ve watched come and go? The origins of that scar over their eye, the wrinkles, the sunspots?
Or in the case of John “Gordo” Gordon, aka Gordo the Great, the criminal fugitives they’ve cornered and interviewed, the plane crashes they’ve documented, the elite pro surfers and gnarly locals they’ve befriended, and the epic contests they’ve filmed.
Sure, some surf shop dudes can talk a good talk and sell coal to Newcastle and ice to eskimos. But how many can keep you enthralled for hours on end with tales from a legendary surfing life?
Gordo is well-known in the surfing world as an A-grade cameraman who has been shooting the pro tour for two decades, building bridges with even the most territorial locals and performing an unofficial role as goodwill ambassador wherever he goes.
Now, in his latest guise, Gordo can be found behind the counter at the Palm Beach branch of the Surfboard Warehouse, holding court, steering everyone from hot groms, to complete beginners to ageing SUP riders into their ideal surf-craft at the right price. And offering a few free yarns as a bonus way more valuable than complementary wax or deck grip.
“I’ve done 22 trips to J-Bay, 19 trips to Teahupo’o. I love the culture of each place. Often the heaviest guys are the nicest guys,” says Gordo.
Gordo hooks into solid Cloudbreak during the Fiji Pro, enjoying a break from behind the camera
John Gordon comes from a renowned family of journalists. His dad Harry Gordon was editor in chief of the Herald & Weekly Times in Melbourne (and, full disclosure, my first boss when I started out as a cadet journalist there, way back in the ‘80s). His brother Michael was a respected political journalist and keen surfer.
Sadly, Michael Gordon died of a heart attack soon after his retirement during a long-distance ocean swim, after a decorated career that began as editor of early Australian surf magazine Backdoor in Torquay, and wound up as one of the top political reporters in the country for Fairfax media.
Gordo himself did 20 years as a news cameraman for Channel 7, picking up a swag of awards for his fearless pursuit of the most challenging news stories, before pivoting to pursue his passion as in-demand surfing cameraman. He was one of Jack McCoy’s most trusted sidekicks on many of Jack’s iconic films, including the Billabong Challenge series, and a fixture on tour for 20 years, with his trademark whistle, booming voice and boundless bonhomie.
He’s mates with everyone from world champ Mark Occhilupo to Hawaiian enforcer Johnny Boy Gomes to the locals in the black township behind Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, where he’s forged enduring friendships.
“I always liked J-Bay. I was drawn to that township. I always had this connection,” he says. “You could just hang at the site and go back to your accommodation, but I like to check the place out.”
It all started on his first trip to Jeffreys Bay in 1995, when he and the camera crew settled into their beachfront rental home and were surprised by the appearance of domestic staff to clean up after them. “Our maid Thelma arrived at our house and said, ‘I’m your maid, I’m here to clean up’. I said, ‘We’re from Australia, we don’t have maids. Come back on the last day and we’ll help you clean up.’ And she said, ‘No, it is my job.’”
Thelma lived in the township, where the simple shacks stand in stark contrast to the palatial beachfront homes at the famous break where pro surfers stay just a few kilometres away. A friendship was formed and when Thelma was diagnosed with HIV, Gordo and his good mate Joel Parkinson decided to make sure she got the medical help she needed. “For 18 years we had her on all the proper medicine. We’re still good mates. I spoke to her the other night.”
He and Joel have helped support several families in the township, always arriving with free surf product for the local groms, and buffing them out as Gordo’s unofficial camera assistants. A fundraising night Gordo staged at the SurfWorld museum on the Gold Coast raised $6000 for the township.
Gordo snares a wave from among the pro’s during a welcome free surf session at Jeffreys Bay
Asked to nominate his other favourite stops on tour, Gordo doesn’t have to think for long.
“It all comes back to Teahupo’o. You’re sitting ringside, I’m in the camera boat one, and that boat’s got priority,” he says. “I’ve done the boat in Tahiti for 10 years straight, I’ve seen heaven and hell out there. In 2014 there wasn’t a drop of water out of place. In 2012 during the Code Red swell, I was out there as well in the boat. It was incredible. The government said you can’t even surf, you guys. I was shattered, because I wanted to shoot all this action, and they we’re going to go anyway.” Ultimately, the surfers were allowed to do tow-ins and Gordo and a packed gallery captured some of the defining images in modern big wave surfing.
He’s formed deep bonds with the local boatmen who put him in the right spot to record the action no matter how hair-raising the conditions. “You’re only as good as your platform. The boat drivers out there, they’ve got blood in one arm and salt water in the other,” he says.
Favourite single event? The 2006 Rip Curl Search somewhere in Mexico. “Taj (Burrow) got one of the longest barrels ever. They jumped on the radio and went, tell me you got that. That was an incredible event.”
Favourite surfer? “Andy Irons because he was so spontaneous. He’d take off on a wave and it was like, there’s my boy. Andy was a good mate. He’d win a contest and go, ‘Where do you want to go for dinner? I’ve already picked it. I know it’s your favourite.’ He’s a legit good bloke.”
Gordo slots into another clean D-bah barrel
Gordo’s had to adjust to the changing times and the rise of aerial surfing, where his own surfing experience has helped him anticipate what surfers are going to do next. “Nothing looks more wrong and amateur than if the athlete flies out of the screen. You’ve got one job – frame the athlete. Film it like you’re surfing it, come up with him and show that rooster tail, then pull back a bit and show the wave.”
These days, he’s happy to leave the globe-trotting travel itinerary and high-pressure gigs to other, younger operators, though he remains ready to get called off the bench and into action at a moment’s notice. In the meantime, his natural story-telling has found a happy home in the salty surf enclave of Palm Beach on the southern Gold Coast, a stone’s throw from some reliable beachbreaks. Duck in for a new shooter, a board cover, wetty or even just a block of wax and you’re sure to get a good dose of surf stories along with your purchase.
Through it all, the mega-swells and surf star mates, the memorable sessions and epic events and personal re-inventions, Gordo’s high-vibing banter and deep immersion in surf culture and community has been driven by one simple bit of homespun philosophy.
“It’s nice to be important,” he says, “but it’s more important to be nice.”
Would you buy a new surfboard from this man? Of course you would. Photo: Jarrason Britton
