ONEWAVE is all it takes...

When I was 14 and my Dad Brucey taught me how to surf, I didn’t realise that one-day surfing would save my life. When I was diagnosed with bipolar and moved back to New Zealand, I struggled to find doctors I could trust and I struggled to find the right medication. One thing that always made me feel better was being in the ocean.  The ocean was the one place I could forget about all the bad vibes from my manic episode and I could just chill the fuck out. It didn’t take long for me to work out that I had discovered the raddest doctor going round…his name is Huey and he dials up these things called waves and once you catch a fun one you can't stop grinning. Surfing gave me hope, that things could get better and I could beat the funk I was in. I call it saltwater therapy and it honestly changed my life.  

I knew from the time I was diagnosed with bipolar that I wanted to do something to get more people talking about mental health. I decided the only way I would ever get over having bipolar was by trying to help others. I didn’t want my friends and family to experience what I did. I had a few ideas, but after some advice from a few wise humans, I decided I should probably focus on getting myself better first.

After a short trip to the States to see my little bro, I moved back to Sydney in June last year. I was so stoked to get back at first, but then I struggled big-time. It brought so many bad memories, I had no job and all my family were in NZ. I was so lucky to have some really amazing friends who had my back. These legends and surfing pulled me through the tough times.

The game changer for me while staying in Sydney and beating the funk was bumping into Sammy Samsum in October, when I was coming out of the surf in Bondi. Sam was the bar manager from the Backroom where I got super loose, the night before I ended up in hospital. I didn’t know Sammy that well then. We had had shared a fair few tequila shots at Backroom, so were pretty much party friends.  I told him the full story about what had happened to me and how I was super keen to start something to kick the stigma of mental health. Sammy the legend was really keen to get involved from the get go. Yeww thanks brother!!!

We surfed a bunch over the next few months and started throwing around some ideas around about what we could do to raise awareness for mental health. It was out in the surf one day that we realised - I had personal experience of tackling bipolar through surfing and Sammy's was a surf instructor, who had experienced how stoked people got from catching their first wave.  We decided lets combine the two and start teaching people how to surf and share the positive effect surfing can have on mental health.

In Feb this year we launched ONEWAVE Surf Community on Instagram @onewaveisallittakes and www.facebook.com/onewaveisallittakes with the following description – ONEWAVE is a non-profit surf community, taking depression and other funks by the balls and throwing them into a Waimea shorey. Let’s do this!

We want people surfing more, talking more and smiling more to help tackle the funk of mental health issues.  ONEWAVE is all it takes… to make your day, make your week or even change your life.

We decided the best way to get people talking about mental health, was by surfing in random attire.  So I got up early on the Friday morning and rocked a shirt and tie with my boardies. I got some random looks, some smiles but mostly people were keen to find out why I was dressed like I was off to a board meeting on the top and party on the bottom. I explained we were doing it to raise awareness for mental health and shared my story with a few people. I was blown away by the amazing support. We decided every Friday morning at 6.30am we would hold a ONEWAVE board meeting…on a surfboard where all board meetings should be.

The first board meeting we were lucky that Beau Jones (SOBO Image) and UGE (Aquabumps) were down shooting. UGE captured the image above.  Thanks to these guys sharing the board meeting pictures we got people asking what the hell is ONEWAVE all about? One of these legends is Joel Pilgrim aka Yewwman. I had never met Joel until ONEWAVE Board Meeting #2. I rocked down to South Bondi with my bowtie on and then this absolute frother comes down the hill with a tuxedo on. We just hugged it out, fuck why not? Joel couldn’t even surf because his back was screwed, but he worked as a Ocupational Therapist in mental health and he was psyched on helping kick the stigma of mental health.  Yewwman you absolute legend!!

Every Friday the crew got bigger and the dress up gold wilder and then we discovered fluro zinc on Anzac Day. The next day board meetings became Fluro Fridays. Now every Friday at 6.30am the ONEWAVE community hits Bondi Beach and Manly for Fluro Fridays. Thanks to the support of some amazing people Fluro Fridays have now taken place at… Tathra, Byron Bay, Jan Juc, Newcastle, WA, NZ, Indonesia, Hawaii, LA, NY, Spain, Fiji, Tahiti.

Thanks to all you legends, we now have this epic little community, who are tackling the funk of mental health issues with surfing, fluro, good vibes and a whole lot of love. ONEWAVE at a time, we are making it easier for people to open up about mental health issues and we are only just getting started. OW!

I heard a guy saying on the radio late last year, that when you start helping others, you forget about your own problems. At the time I was still struggling to deal with my bipolar and coping with working a full time job. Not long after this I quit my job so we could launch ONEWAVE. Every week since then I have started to feel better and better. Sure I still have my down days, but that is just life. I use to get angry about everything I lost because of bipolar. Now I feel I have bipolar for a reason and that is to share my story and my recipe for beating bipolar, so hopefully I can make it a little easier for others dealing with the funk of mental illness. Thanks for all your amazing support...love you long time!!