Anthony Walsh’s Unique POV
The hard-charging professional surfer pioneered the use of GoPro in the surf, and is one of one of surfing’s most influential creators.
“I just work with companies that fit in with the way I live. I’m working with adventure brands, fishing and diving companies, some surf companies, and GoPro,” Anthony Walsh told the GreenRoom. “We don’t need to fabricate or fake anything. Trying to sell shit I don’t use would be so much harder. It comes back to being yourself and doing the things you love. If the tail is wagging the dog, you are finished.”
Walsh had just followed a swell to the Mentawais. With his partner and two kids in tow, and with www.surf-forecast predicting a week of waves, he upped sticks from his base in Geraldton, West Australia (not that he needed any more incentive, but a flooded septic tank made the decision easier), packed his Ocean & Earth boardbag, and hit Indo.
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While it was a family trip, he managed some work, filming and editing his own clips. The goofyfooter is one of the most respected barrel riders on the planet, but was also one of the first elite surfers to be in control of his own content. It’s a DIY ethos that he’s had since he was a teenager growing up at Lennox Head on the north coast of NSW.
Walsh remembers making his own water housing to film his brother Stephen on the pointbreaks near home. “I was quoted a 20 grand project fee from a company to put together a video, but I made one from scratch for a few hundred bucks,” he said. “There was no one really around to film us, and if there was, I wasn’t, and still aren't, good at waiting on people. I like to be ready and ready early, and if someone makes me wait, I’m outa there.”
Walshy’s clunky housing worked, to a degree, but when the first GoPro models came out, he was one of the first elite surfers to realise the potential of the new POV. The technology was important, but it was the self-sufficiency he loved. If he didn’t get the shot, there was no one to blame but himself, which is just the way he liked it.
This was around 15 years ago, just as Walsh was pivoting from being a professional surfer chasing the competitive circuit to a free surfer. In its infancy, GoPro picked up Walsh as a sponsored surfer, ambassador, and, most importantly, a researcher and developer. By this stage, he had moved to Hawaii, and his GoPro footage of him surfing maxing Pipe and Oahu’s outer reefs and later iconic waves at Namibia, Teahupo’o, and Cloudbreak were groundbreaking in giving a surfer’s view of the world’s best waves.
His DIY approach, though, wouldn’t leave it at that. In addition to his world-class surfing talent, he became a skilled filmer, editor, and director. For him, it was common sense. Why pay four people when he could do it all himself? He now produces larger campaigns for GoPro, as well as for projects and clients he believes in. And he doesn't have to wait for anyone to get their cameras ready or make sure all the logistics are on point.
In the early 2020s, after 20 years living on the North Shore, Walsh moved to Geraldton in Western Australia. It is the mid-point between Margaret River and the desert waves of Gnaraloo, albeit both require an eight-hour drive to get to. In the end, the intensity, the crowds, and the testosterone of the North Shore were too much. I had to get away from people,” he said. “And here I love it because it’s refreshing and relaxing every time I go surfing.”
Walshy will now pack up his 4WD and ski, drive up to three hours, what the locals call a short drive, and invariably get barreled alone, or with just a few mates. He still likes to get up two hours before dark and be ready at first light. If there are no waves, the isolated coastline provides some of the best diving and fishing on the planet. And if there is a good forecast for in Indo, he is always ready to pounce.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always enjoyed going remote and fishing, diving and surfing, and camping with my family,” he said. “They all go hand in hand - they meld into one, and you can do it here really easily. That’s the lifestyle I lead; the rest of it follows those. It’s not rocket science. I just try and get barrelled.”
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