Layne Beachley begins each day with a visit to her happy place. Ideally she spends no less than an hour surfing her local break at Freshwater on Sydney’s northern beaches after the “briefcase bandits and schoolkids” have been and gone. Today she tweaks her morning routine to make time to meet in the Royal Botanic Garden on the other side of Sydney Harbour.
With 12 surfboards in the garage and almost five decades of the daily ritual in her arms and legs, the seven-time world surfing champion is prepared for any and all conditions in the water. When the waves are not quite to her liking, or on a rare occasion when she accepts she has too much else to do, Beachley still finds time to slip into the ocean.
