"It's as if everyone went to school with my Dad!" exclaimed Naomi Young as we watched Nat tear down the wall of a clean, four foot wave at Angourie. "People come up to me and say 'oh, I went to school with Nat' and so I go home and ask dad if he knows so and so and he'll go 'nah, never heard of them.' Everyone reckons they know him!"

But in the surfing world everyone does know Nat to a degree, his name is so firmly entwined in history that you'd have to have blinkers on not to come across some of his accomplishments.

Driving up to Angourie a couple of days earlier, I remember thinking about all I had heard of him and wondering if the stories would fit the man. Meeting a person you feel like you already know can be a strange experience 'cause as the moment of introduction dawns, the fact you're just a stranger usually hits home in a big way. As I shook Nat's hand all I could think about was trying to locate any surfing book, mag or video he was in and cram a bit more knowledge in before I asked any questions. Anything to avoid coming across as just another star struck fan.

My main intention for making the eight hour trek up the coast (besides the obvious lure of escaping the office and possibly scoring epic waves at a spot I'd only prior surfed in my dreams) was to try and catch all members of this surf stoked family together.

I'd spent a number of my younger years surfing and hanging out with Beau and Naomi, but to get a real understanding of one of surfing's most famous families, I figured the only valid way to do it was to be on Nat's territory. "Angourie really typifies dad and his style of surfing 'cause it's a really powerful, strong wave," offered Naomi. "He's in his element here." And as Beau added, "he's been surfing here since the '70s." "He used to bring us here when we were kids and we'd just hang out on the beach. Yeah, it's really special here." One look around and I knew what he meant.

Nat didn't join us that afternoon for our first surf since he'd already been for one earlier. In a way I was kind of glad, the thought of having my first surf for a couple of days in front of him would hardly have given the lasting impression I wanted! The following morning, however, everyone minus Naomi, who was due to arrive in a couple of hours, surfed a small beach break together and had a ball.

Before the session both Nat and Beau had been examining the waves and consequently Beau carried two boards down to the water's edge. One was his standard shortboard while the other was a mal. Beau explained this by saying. "It was really small one day and dad asked me if I wanted to come out on a longboard. I was like 'fuck, I don't want to go longboarding!' But I ended up having a lot of fun and now I'm competing in all the longboard events." It's pretty easy money in those contests Beau reckons since "they're all old dudes! You just get in there and paddle around them!"

Over the next few days the thing which became the most evident about this family was their knowledge of the ocean. From making the decision about which board to ride to the way they actually surfed, they all seemed to have an acute understanding of what works when - the trademark of years spent practising in all kinds of surf. Nat especially has an uncanny ability to read each wave perfectly, either on his longboard or shortboard, and make the most out of upcoming sections. It is a quality he seems most proud to see emerging in his children's surfing. "I don't like waves being wasted," he said. "Especially in this day and age there's not enough of them. So it's a great thing to watch your children ride a wave without making a mess of it. Both of them are surfing really good with their own individual styles." Nat obviously speaks from a biased point of view, but he was right, it was a real inspiration watching both of them. Beau would be out there doing aerials and heavy carves on his shortboard, and then he'd grab his longboard for a surf. He had all the traditional moves down pat, and over the space of the few days we spent at Angourie he'd seemingly added 'spinners' to his repertoire. His surfing was as complete as any I'd witnessed recently. Naomi also, though she used to ride a shortboard and even compete on them, is nowadays sticking to her longboard and surfing it with all the grace and poise fitting for a daughter of a four time world longboard champion. "Dad gave me a longboard about three years ago and I just loved it," she remembered. "It's much more graceful, it's like dancing, more feminine than the shortboard, aggressive style. I think longboarding suits women more."

As we sat waiting for a wave one session, Nat paddled up and offered me an opinion of his which would leave the biggest imprint above all that was said over my stay with his family. We'd talked about boards a little bit, discussing the merits of certain ones for different conditions, but since I generally thought of Nat as a longboarder, something which definitely changed over my stay, his statement really made me think. "You shouldn't decry, or debase, what we did in Australia in 1966," he urged. "That was to absolutely shit on the Seppos and say 'I'm sorry, your surfing style isn't good enough anymore, we're going to cut the boards down, we're going to absolutely magnify and identify where the accelerator and the brake is and we'll take all the middle out of the board'. We were trying to build a board which could surf around and in and out of the curl. To ride the tube was our whole trip, that was the goal. And you can't fit a fucken' longboard in there!" He went on to add; "I'm not a longboarder or a shortboarder, I'm just a surfer." Few would agree that's all he is though. In fact, Beau offered a pretty apt description of his dad; "ever since he was about 12 and started surfing on an ironing board because he didn't have a surfboard, and then left home at 15 and won the world championship over in San Diego, I mean, ever since he's never looked back, just charged everything, He doesn't really care what people think, he's just pretty much a straight shooter, no bullshit. So many people take offence, that's why he's probably decked a few (laughs), but he just does what he does, he's a bit of a character (more laughs)." And later he added "Sure everyone would like to be as good, but there's only a few freaks like that, like him, Tom Curren, Tom Carroll - people like that."

A couple of years ago Nat had a terrible accident. There's been hundreds over the years, some of which could have easily ended his surfing days, but still, he insists he's been fairly lucky considering. On this occasion, however, over in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he was snowboarding with wife Ti and younger daughter Nava, the Animal's world was well and truly rocked. "I went off into the trees, in fact I went off over the trees!" Nat recalled. "I don't really remember anything, but it was a little bit of a rush." What did in fact happen was that Ti and Nava found him lying unconscious with blood streaming out all over the white snow. "I was unconscious for a little over 45 minutes," said an obviously informed Nat, "I split the back of my head open on a tree apparently, and the doctors said I incurred a severely bruised brain." The lasting effects being that Nat had to give up working for his clothing sponsor Oxbow and try and slow down for once in his life. Something which definitely didn't come easy. "I was just trying to do things and was going 'I can't be this sick, bullshit!', but I did manage to slow down a bit."

While these days Nat may not be flying all over the world for work so much, he's still finding the time to take Beau and Naomi overseas to go surfing - the most recent trip being to Reunion Island last year. With Beau and Naomi both travelling all the time Beau for contests and Naomi for work (she's a flight attendant for Qantas), and both of them living predominantly with their mother (Marilyn) and stepfather (Kevin) at Sydney's northern beaches suburb of Mona Vale, they don't get the chance to see their dad as much as they'd probably like. But as Naomi put it, "surfing unites us, it keeps us all together. There's no part of our life which is not surfing, everything revolves around it. Mum used to surf too, so it's all in the roots!" And for Nat too, surfing's still just as special, "it has the ability to be anything you really want it to be for you at a certain time in your life. Like even if your dog bites you and your wife hates you, you can still always go and find a wave, so it's got that great quality as well as being able to make you feel like a king."

So much more was discussed during our time together, such as Nat's views on the current ASP tour, judging, the essence of surfing and the long running feud which has existed between himself and Midget Farrelly, but something which really stands out was how passionately he stressed the importance of looking after the ocean. "All that really matters is making sure that's preserved," he said. "I would say as long as we look after the ocean and keep it all pointed in the right direction, the ocean is still going to be around for a place for future generations to play in."

The Youngs will always hold a key position in surfing's history. Not just thanks to Nat's own surfing achievements, which reads like a what's what of remarkable feats, nor just through the way he helped document the main events which have taken place in surfing through his book and video, 'Nat Young's History Of Australian Surfing', but because he's passed on the love of surfing so strongly to his offspring. This will ensure their name will be remembered well into the 21st century.

For most of us Nat still remains a surfing icon - someone to look up to. For his children that admiration is even greater.

As we left Nat's place and began to make the journey home, I asked Beau what it was like being his son, aware he'd probably been asked the same thing countless times. "I wouldn't want to compare myself to him at all 'cause I can't," he replied. "He's just my dad and I dig him (laughs). I just appreciate the fact he's gotten me into surfing 'cause I love it." With the road rushing past I wondered how many others would owe similar thanks to Nat for turning them onto the surfing lifestyle. I couldn't even comprehend such a figure. --Jesse Faen