Introduction
This interview with Subbies contest director Peter Drouyn was conducted by in April 1977 by Tracks editor Phil Jarratt and published that month, later reprinted by editor Paul Holmes in Best of Tracks,1978.
In his introduction Holmes notes that although Drouyn attempted to dispense with the drop-in rule, making surfing a contact sport, the rule was dropped from the Stubbies format in subsequent years.

The most radical, and long-lasting, change in competitive surfing was limiting each event to just two surfers, making the result clearer for the judges and more interesting for the spectators.
Previously, events had been usually contested by four to eight surfers, potentialy confusing for the officials and the public, however in the 1966 Makaha International the heats were crowded with as many as 23 contestants.
If the surf was consistent, the waves large or the rides long, then having only two competitors in the water meant that many waves went un-ridden and the system was not adopted in the quality waves of Hawaii.
In the 21st century, contest organisers provided motorised jet-skis to ferry competitors back to the take-off zone.

The man-on-man format had been suggested over a decade earlier by Tom Morey, later famous as the creator of the Morey Boogie board.
Morey had recently had some success in California with his timed Nose-riding Contest and in an article in Surfer in 1966, as then the serving President of the USSA, suggested a system of "paired eliminations" where it is easy for judges to pick a winner when two excellent surfers are matched against each other in one heat.
It is unknown if Drouyn ever read or was aware of Morey's article, but it appears that the format was used at some contests on the East coast of the USA. (according to Randy Rarick???)

Paired heats were instituted the first Stubbies Contest at  Burleigh Heads in 1977, then described as Peter Drouyn’s Man-on-Man system.
The format was widely adopted following its initial success, including women's events, becoming the standard system for most professional contests .

By 1908, Outrigger Canoe Club contest officials were aware that interference was  as a potential problem, specifying a double penalty: the man knocked off gets credit and the man that fouls another is discredited.
With advances in board design and performance, by the end of the 1960s, most contest rules incorporated a drop-in rule enforcing a one surfer-one wave principle.
The issue first came to prominence in the final of the first World Championships held at Many Beach, Australia, in 1964 where head judge Phil Edwards reportedly demoted Joey Cabell to third place, behind local Midget Farrelly and California's Mike Doyle, for unsportsmanlike conduct.
In 1965, the Hawaiian Surfing Association contest rules disqualified a competitor for shoulder hopping in front of another rider if clear interference.

In his review of the Stubbies Contest in the following edition, Paul Holmes noted that in practice cheating was only witnessed in 3 of the total 32 heats which constituted the contest.
Most surfers found that when there's only two guys out at Burleigh there's no need to drop in on your opponent — if anything it's better to be paddling out while he's surfing so that you can see how-hot his wave is!
Not only was Drouyn's concept of physical contact between competitors withdrawn from future events, but it was virtually eliminated with the the introduction (in 198?) of the priority buoy, giving (mostly) unfettered wave choice to the first rider to paddle around it.

After serving as the first Stubbies contest director, Peter Drouyn was replaced by Bill Bolman.
The photographs of Drouyn and of him and Paul Neilsen demonstrating effective cheating at Burleigh Point were shot by Martin Tullemans.
Drouyn's suggestion that California's Micki Dora could surf well under this system, is not without merit.
 
The article's title puns on the expression Don't worry, be happy used by the Indian mystic Meher Baba, often printed on inspirational cards and posters during the 1960s.
Inspired by Meher Baba, American musician Bobby McFerrin released Don't Worry, Be Happy in September 1988, a worldwide hit it was the first a cappella song to reach number one on the US Billboard chart.

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Paul Holmes (Editor): Introduction to the Interviews. 
Best of Tracks, page 4.

Peter Drouyn was interviewed in April 1977 at a time when this top competitor in his own right had opted to stay on the beach and be contest director for the first Stubbies event held that year at his local break of Burleigh Heads.
Drouyn  has been a well known personality in Australian surfing for the better part of ten years and his flamboyant presence has created high spirits at more than a few contests over the years.
Drouyn's extreme nature led him into flirtations with acting as a career and his feeling for drama was not doubt the basis of the new format he dreamed up for the Stubbies.
The man-on-man format he introduced for that event has stood the test of time and is now used at most world class pro contests.
In  the first Stubbies, however Drouyn dispensed with the drop-in rule and introduced surfing as contact sport with his "effective and ineffective cheating" clause which allowed surfers to try to obstruct each others'  rides during their heats.
Drouyn described  the format  (which despite success was dropped from the Stubbies format in subsequent years) to TRACKS then editor Phil Jarratt.

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These are radical rules that have never been tried before and yet some of your judges have amateur event background where sportsmanship is all-important.
Do you think they're going to be able to adapt to this system?
I know that this is a pretty far-out trip I'm on.
I'm probably thinking about five years in advance and I know it's going to be hard for these judges to get onto it.
But I'm the sort of guy who can put enough pressure on the judges to make them forget their backgrounds and their little nothing seagull trips and lift them to a point where they become really top, responsible people who are influencing the future of surfing.

The Surfabout judges study the rules and discuss them for months before the contest.
Your judges won't have the time to do that.
Well, when you talk about the Coke system — the pinball system — I don't think that system's hard to surf to or to judge.
Sure, my judges won't have much time to study it but they won't need to.
It's just surfing in two categories — physical and creative.
The cheating rule is the most important for them to understand because that rule will give the contest character.

It reminds me of a memorable wave you and Nat caught in the Coke contest a couple of years ago.
It was a spectacular wave and a spectacular exhibition of gamesmanship.
Is that the sort of thing you've got in mind?
I think the frustration you saw on that wave is the kind of thing Nat and I are trying to get across.
A bit of bloody flair.
We're sick and tired of getting out there year after year and trying to impress a small group of people to win a contest.
We want something concrete, some physical and mental contact where we can vibrate off each other.
Like in boxing, we want to be able to touch the other guy.
Let him look at me and say, "well fuck you", or "I love you" or "let's fight it out to the end".
Let's have some contact going.
That's what Nat and I did and maybe we didn't understand what we were doing but it was an expression of how we want contests to be.

You want the surfers in this contest to be human. Yeah, exactly. Until we have some sort of contact in surfing contests it's going to be the same thing year after year. It's stagnated even though the prize money is bigger these days. Sponsors don't really see the value in surfing contests. They just see the value in selling their goods to young people. Tennis sponsors like tennis. In surfing the sponsors think surfing contests are ridiculous, they don't understand. A guy can actually whip a guy off the wave, beat him up, come onto the beach and have a fight if you like. That's okay. We won't give any bonus points for it, but the important thing is that they can beat each other up. This is the sort of contact that can be done along rhythmic lines. Like Ali dancing round his opponent for the entire first round or Arthur Ashe throwing his racquet over net. Yeah. Ali might dance around the ring for the first two minutes but there must eventually be physical contact for a win. There's got to be a blow thrown. Now if they wanted to those boxers could dance for 15 rounds without throwing a punch and gonna win? But surely you're not suggesting surfing is a real contact sport? Phil, it can be. I feel it's the only way surfing is going to reach into big money in competition. Contact, both physically and mentally like boxing. A blow must be thrown. Surfing's the same. I mean I could dance around a ring showing my style and my aggression and what's the judge going say? Oh, he's got a lot of style. He would have done well if there's a fight. There must be contact in surfing. You've discussed this with a lot of pro surfers around the world over past few months. What do they think of it? Let it be known that every surfer I've talked to has been for it, simply because there's no other way to turn. They realise there's gotta be a radical change and the time is right for it. They've all expressed this to you? I'm sure they have, in many erent ways. In silent ways, in loud ways, in overtones and undertones. Do you expect much out-of-the-water aggro or psyching out? Obviously. A lot of surfers won't want to come into contact so they be trying to psyche the other guy out to avoid it. You might get a situation where Col Smith will be Joe Frazier. He'll want to rip and tear and cheat as much as possible to win. Midget, on the other hand, might dance. He'd be Ali and he'll want to avoid contact, to win his way. I'm sure Midget'll dance. Which surfers will benefit most from this system? I don't think there's any particular surfer who'll benefit more than the rest. The ability will be brought out in all surfers, the ability to think and outsmart. That might sound like it's for university students but it's not. It's the board under your feet that's your brain. It's all part of talent and ability. But there must be some surfers who function better in crowds than others and who'll be ready for contact. Sure. The underdogs, the people who aren't written up in magazines and featured in the movies. The people who have been thrown out of game because they have that ability to outsmart. Who? Name names. I reckon a guy like Bob McTavish could surf well under this system. Russell Hughes or Ben Aipa. Dora maybe. Of the current stars maybe Terry Richardson, Nat, Midget. There are a lot of young surfers around who are being wiped out because of their flair. Were you pleased when the Bells organisers decided to adopt your system in part? Absolutely stoked. Do you think other contests will follow suit? I really hope so. I'm not in it for my own piece of the action. I'd rather turn into obscurity. I'm doing it for surfing. I'm doing it for a lot of good surfers that even you don't know about. I'm doing it for the public. I'm doing it for the good people in surfing who want to buy houses and blocks of land and get into businesses and get knocked back by governments and police because they've got board racks on top of the car. My aim stretches so far for the good of young people generally and surfers in particular that there's not enough time for Peter Drouyn. What will you do if the system fails? In the past I've tended to be over-optimistic about things and I've been let down something bloody shocking. I'm taking a neutral approach with this contest; if it doesn't work Drouyn bows out for another year, but hell be back. You'll hear from me again. - Phil Jarratt

Page 19 1. First you drop in on your opponent ... 2. ... then you cut right around him ... 3. ... and turn hard on his heels .... 4. ... back at the top with this much to spare .. 5.  ... and you're in front of him again .. 6. ... and you've psyched him out, you've effectively cheated.

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Phil Jarratt: Sponsor Axes Drouyn, November 1977.
Best of Tracks, page 83.

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Effective cheating by Micki Dora, Malibu 1969.

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Tracks Number 79 April, 1977. Best of Tracks   Number 3?  1978.

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