Davey Cathels has seen a lot of Hawaii this time round.

In the dying days of a five-week tour of duty, the 17-year-old from Narrabeen has bounced between three Rip Curl team houses, done a week on Kauai, and caught possibly the best wave of his short life.

“This is my fifth trip to Hawaii,” says Davey. “I first came here when I was 13 with my family, and I’ve been here every year since.” But in a day and age when you can be a North Shore veteran at age 17, there’s always someone over here to put you in your place… even if they’ve come all the way from your home beach to do so.

“I ended up sharing a house with Hog and Davo. So the three of us from Narrabeen were all there, and it was pretty funny. It was like just being at home again. I washed every dish in that house and copped a few beatings along the way, but it was all cool. They’re good guys and they’re doing it in good spirit. It was funny more than anything, the three of us in the same house.”

Davey’s a kid who knows that despite having surfed five Hawaiian winters, he’s still the grommet on this trip, and he’s resigned to playing the role. It’s his Narrabeen training. “I’ve come down here to the Off The Wall house with Mick and Taylor and the boys, and got straight onto the dishes. I feel pretty lucky that I’m in this house, looking out over Off The Wall, so I don’t want to freeload. Whenever anything’s lying around I’ll pick it up and bin it. I’m the youngest guy here, I gotta do it. I’m pretty sure as soon as there’s a younger kid in the house, I’m gonna pass on all the chores to him.”

“Between houses I did a little trip to Kauai. I’ve got a mate who lives over there, Alex Smith, whose also on the Rip Curl team. I went and stayed with him over there for a week. It was a lot of fun. The waves on Kauai are different to the waves here on the North Shore. It’s more like home, there’s more beaches, long stretches of sand.”

“The best wave of my trip though was at Off The Wall the other day. Pipe was 6-to-8 the but really crowded, so I paddled over to Off The Wall. It was only like three guys out, and it was really uncrowded. I waited my turn and got a sick six-footer. It’s been pretty much the best wave I’ve ever had in Hawaii.”

Starting to mix it with the big guys out Off The Wall and being upgraded to room at the Off The Wall A-team house, Davey knows his days as the grommet dishpig are coming to an end. Pretty soon there’ll be another little punk to lug the rubbish, pick up beer bottles, and be a general dogs body. 

“I’m looking forward to passing it on the grom abuse to some other kid. When I’m 30 and there’s a 17-year-old kid in the house over here, that kid’s probably going to hate me. I’m probably going to be a wanker. I don’t want to be doing dishes when I’m 30. I reckon I’d have done my lifetime quota by then. We definitely need to get some younger kids over here, soon, I’m sick of it being me.” //SEAN DOHERTY

She was a brunette, six foot tall, with legs up to her arms and arms down to her microphone. “To score in golf,” she said, looking into the camera, as we looked into her eyes, “…you really have to clean your balls and take care of your shaft.”

It was unfortunate for my golfing partners that I heard that. I couldn’t focus on golf for the rest of the day, so it was lucky we were playing four-ball, best-ball – a golf format where four people hit, and you continuously play your best shot. Pancho Sullivan, Ben Dunn and recent inductee to the WCT, Kekoa Bacalso joined me on team Rip Curl for this year’s Triple Crown Charity Golf Day… and we did everything but keep our balls clean.

Firstly, we are playing with professional surfers, not golfers, so if anyone was driving down Ke Nui highway around 10.15am when Pancho packed a power fade on to the road, he apologises. If someone was snorkelling around Turtle Bay and found a Titleist 1, please leave it at the desk for Kekoa. And if we catch the person who knocked my beer over on hole 10, you owe me… another free beer. Anyway, Dunny played accurately, Pancho played long and Kekoa played comically.

While we scored well (3-under by end of day), the real challenge lay in keeping “the blue ball.” With one given to every team, it had to make its way around the course without being lost. If the blue ball made it back to the clubhouse, it went into a Powerball-type draw. This was our chance to win. We cursed, hit, pushed and pulled that blue ball around the course all day, making it into the $2000 jackpot amongst just a few other teams. When the brunette drew the winner, cupping the weight of the ball in her soft hands, bringing it sensually to her eyes, all of a sudden, there wasn’t a ball in the house that hadn’t turned blue.

In any case, it was good to get off this narrow strip of surf and do something different for a day, where golf, humour and local charities were the winners.