Late Career
At the start of 1976, Peterson went to New Zealand for the first event in the new IPS professional world tour; although, many of his well-known fellow surfers chose to participate in Hawaii's more prestigious Duke contest. Peterson won the event, but Townend was the eventual winner of the series that year.
In 1977, the inaugural Stubbies contest, organised by Peter Drouyn, was held at Burleigh Heads. Drouyn had devised a "man on man" heats system for the contest, a system that is used in ASP World Tour contests today. Peterson comfortably reached the semi-final round, in which he competed against Bartholomew. Scoring was based on the entire heat and the judges were split in their final decision; however, Peterson attained the winning score; the decision was a contentious topic for many years afterwards. The final placed Peterson in competition against a young Mark Richards and Peterson eventually won the AUS$5,000 prize after a close match.
The Stubbies event was Peterson's last major contest victory. Peterson subsequently lived a reclusive lifestyle, alternating between period of illicit drug use and abstinence. Peterson reportedly camped at the base of Mount Warning, along with health food, to achieve a period of abstinence and detoxification. His solicitor later stated in a court case that Peterson had tried to detoxify on approximately 30 occasions. Peterson did surf intermittently during those years and also commenced windsurfing as an alternative recreational pursuit.
Read more about this topic: Michael Peterson (surfer)
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