PETER Drouyn never fitted in with the professional surfing crowd despite being one of the world's best.
The night before the Surfers Paradise boy was due to compete in his first Australian Junior Championship in 1965 he was bashed.
He went on to win, surfing with cuts and bruises all over his body.
The motivation for the attack was unclear. Perhaps it was because he was in Manly and was one of the first Queenslanders to ever threaten NSW surfers for the win. Or it could have been simply because he was different, and the macho blokes in the surf scene knew it.
Mr Drouyn no longer exists. In his place is Tweed Heads transsexual lawyer Westerly Windina who says Mr Drouyn was never a real boy or man.
"I'd always had a deep suspicion something wasn't right," said Ms Windina.
"I was always an emotional butterfly, very sensitive. My mum put high heels on me and painted my nails as a child and I was in awe of her beauty and glamour, I wanted to be like her.
"I never fitted into the conceptual notion of a male, I was always one step forward or to the side.
"Because of the thing between my legs I was classified as a male and a male all over, but the doctor and my mum could see a girl. I could see a girl."
"I was treated badly back in those days," she said.
"They could read my face. They could see the sensitivity and they knew I wasn't like them.
"It was all part of the horror show I experienced trying to be male in a male world."
Mr Drouyn chose to persist because the one place he ever managed to feel successful was in the ocean.
"Surfing was my only therapy," said Ms Windina.
"Winning was my only confidence building thing. On the land, my confidence was shredded."
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