Those creative and talented surf-mad students at ECU are at it again...
If it's October it must be time for the Surf Challenge at Yallingups, so dig out your steamer!
All surfers visiting the Margaret River region are invited to particpate in the annual surfing competition established in 2003 by the crew behind the marvellous Surf Science & Technology degree at ECU.
This is one of the funenst comps you'll ever enter - loads of fun, great waves, good times and heaps of groovy prizes!
The event is always a chilled-out enjoyable competition and showcases local wave riding talents amidst wonderful waves at Yallingup Beach. High quality surfing performance at the Yalls amphitheatre provides a magnificent spectacle for families, tourists and spectators alike.
The 2009 Surf Challenge is scheduled for Saturday 17th October.
Three short board divisions are intended for the day; Open Men, Open Women and Junior Boys. We are anticipating last year’s champions Zac Ogram, Michaela Greene and Shaun Green will return to the water to defend their titles against a host of contestants.
The festive atmosphere from previous years will continue with live folk music delivered by Caris Doyle, photographic displays, fun beach activities and a scrumptious sausage sizzle.
Once again, the ECU Surf Challenge has attracted fantastic endorsement from a raft of local businesses. Retravision return this year as our naming rights sponsor and Creatures of Leisure, Al Bean (AB) Surfboards, Evolution Surf and Hillzeez Surf Shop as Gold Sponsors. We have also had generous support from Samudra Yoga, Post Sessions surf photography, the famous Yallingup Beach Holiday Park, Yahoo Surfboards, Busselton Shire, Occy’s Brewery and Surfing WA.
We extend a huge vote of thanks to our backers for their continued sponsorship - without their valued assistance the ECU Surf Challenge would not occur.
With incredible prizes up for grabs and the chance to test yourself in the heat of competition; “You’ve got to be in it to win it!”
Entry forms can be found at local surf shops and on the ECU website at
http://www.ecusurfchallenge.com/ OR http://www.southwest.ecu.edu.au/surf/
Want more info?
Alice Kilgour - Head of Marketing
Email: akilgour@student.ecu.edu.au
Thea McDonald-Lee - Event Director
Email: theam@studnet.ecu.edu.au
Telephone: 0401 464 085
Rob Holt - Surf Science Course Coordinator
Email: r.holt@ecu.edu.au
Telephone: 0400 568 638
Friday, September 18, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
My Brothers Keeper - review
My Brother Keeper – The Official Bra Boys Story by Sean Doherty
Unless you have been living under a rock you’ll be familiar with the Bra Boys.
Every surfer seems to have an opinion of them, be it good or bad.
Doherty’s recent book My Brothers Keeper takes the reader beyond the tabloid headlines, the sensational reportage and into the lives of the blokes who proudly bear the words ‘my brothers keeper’ inked upon their skin.
Primarily about the four Abberton brothers who were born to different fathers and a mother whose soul was twisted by the demons of heroin addiction; it’s a compelling and sometimes despairing, sometimes uplifting tale of their lives growing up in Maroubra and beyond.
Forget the murder cases, the charges, the clashes with police and gangs; while it’s all there, their story is far bigger and more complex.
Doherty has avoided the easy route of offering the usual sex, drugs and rock n roll so beloved of too many surf writers; instead he allows the brothers voices and their sometime different accounts and perspectives of these sometimes shocking, sometimes mundane and often difficult times.
It’s a raw and rough story and often you want to shake them by the scruff of the neck. But in the end, Doherty has written an extremely insightful account of their lives and actions and one that lets you glimpse beneath their public personas.
My Brothers Keeper represents a new level of Doherty’s writing and shows why he is one of the most interesting and intuitive surf writers around.
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books/9780732285548/My_Brothers_Keeper_The_Official_Bra_Boys_Story/index.aspx
Unless you have been living under a rock you’ll be familiar with the Bra Boys.
Every surfer seems to have an opinion of them, be it good or bad.
Doherty’s recent book My Brothers Keeper takes the reader beyond the tabloid headlines, the sensational reportage and into the lives of the blokes who proudly bear the words ‘my brothers keeper’ inked upon their skin.
Primarily about the four Abberton brothers who were born to different fathers and a mother whose soul was twisted by the demons of heroin addiction; it’s a compelling and sometimes despairing, sometimes uplifting tale of their lives growing up in Maroubra and beyond.
Forget the murder cases, the charges, the clashes with police and gangs; while it’s all there, their story is far bigger and more complex.
Doherty has avoided the easy route of offering the usual sex, drugs and rock n roll so beloved of too many surf writers; instead he allows the brothers voices and their sometime different accounts and perspectives of these sometimes shocking, sometimes mundane and often difficult times.
It’s a raw and rough story and often you want to shake them by the scruff of the neck. But in the end, Doherty has written an extremely insightful account of their lives and actions and one that lets you glimpse beneath their public personas.
My Brothers Keeper represents a new level of Doherty’s writing and shows why he is one of the most interesting and intuitive surf writers around.
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books/9780732285548/My_Brothers_Keeper_The_Official_Bra_Boys_Story/index.aspx
Monday, September 7, 2009
Surfing’s Timeless Photographer – Barrie Sutherland
Stunning. Evocative. A timeless tranquility.
Wherever surfers gather, accolades for Barrie Sutherland’s images roll in like a king tide.
If eyes are the window to the soul, then images hold the key to the photographer’s heart.
Looking at a Barrie Sutherland photograph is like stepping back in time. Back to a time when the pace a little slower, the boards a little longer and the waves a heck of lot emptier.
The first thing that strikes you in his images are how devoid of surfers are the waves. Victorian surf breaks that now attract hundred of waveriders, are shown with just a few surfers enjoying the glorious glassy peaks or in the case of his now classic 1965 images of Bells Beach, battling leviathan waves.
Initially enthralled when the 1956 Melbourne Olympics exhibition surf carnival brought Californians Greg Noll, Mike Bright, Tom Zahn and Bobby Burnside to town, Sutherland was hooked. “They paddled out and rode malibus for the first time at Torquay Point”, he says with as much excitement as any grommet. His lifelong addiction to salt water always battled photography for first place in his heart – after girlfriend Madeleine, of course. A stunner then and a silver fox now, Madeleine has lost none of her charm and her warm personality is as strong as ever. She featured in many of Sutherland’s early works and was a talented shooter herself, her image of her husband paddling out on his longboard at Coolangatta in 1966 is considered a classic.
Back then Sutherland’s photographs of Bells Beach first came into prominence when fledgling surfing company Rip Curl decided to use one of his photos early on to promote their business.
From the moment Sutherland picked up a Kodak Box Brownie, it was evident that he had that rare ability to capture what he felt and saw. And it wasn’t long before others realised his talent.
“Rip Curl chose a classic full colour, early morning Bells Beach line-up shot of Barrie’s for our very first magazine advertisement and we captioned it ‘The Dawning of Rip Curl’", recalls company co-founder Doug Warbrick. “The heritage of surfing in Victoria and especially Bells Beach owes so much to the great black and white images shot by Barrie in the 60's and early 70s”, he says. But unlike John Witzig who lays claim to northern Australia, especially Queensland and Jack Eden to New South Wales, many of Sutherland’s Victorian photographs have never been exhibited before. Now after more than 30 years in Western Australia, where Sutherland worked in IT for Alcoa, they have returned to set up the Watermarks Photo Gallery in Torquay.
Sutherland’s connections with Torquay began in the mid-1940s when his grandparents holidayed then moved there. His cousins and later Sutherland’s family soon followed. “Riding surfboards then was out of the question, they were the 16-foot hollow plywood boards that were far too big for kids to ride, let alone ever own”, he says. “The older guys like Rex ‘China’ Gilbert, Vic Tantau, “Mumbles” Walker, Owen Yateman and a young Peter Troy were always on the scene”. Back then, he says, Torquay Point was the place to surf and was always busy with surf skis, boats and the 16-footers plying their way across the waves. When he was 10, Sutherland and his cousin decided to swim out to the main break on the sandbar. Ian made it, but Sutherland almost drowned but for a woman who pulled him out by the hair. “From that experience I learnt a life long lesson; always respect the ocean, never take it for granted and don’t take on any wave if fear strikes you”, says Sutherland. It was a lesson that stood him well some years later when facing huge, uncompromising swell at a Bells Beach competition. “We had watched four surfers paddle out into the huge waves, then Marcus Shaw looked at me and I looked at him and we decided to wait a while before paddling out”, he says. The judges called off the event due to dangerous conditions after several massive waves closed out Bells and caught the other surfers in the Bowl”.
“Bells 1965 blew them away. It was probably six to seven to eight meters and when you scaled it, the face was 25-30 ft (10m),” he says. “No-one ever knew the surf could get that big in Australia, let alone at a contest. A magazine called it the Waimea Bay of Australia,” says Sutherland.
Between 1959 to 1962, Sutherland studied engineering at the Gordon Institute of Technology. One hot day in February 1959, at Graham ‘Macca’ McKenzie’s instigation, Sutherland and some friends took a drive to Bells via the Jarosite track (now a sealed road) and that visit set in motion a deep desire for him to return and surf the powerful waves. After he graduated in civil engineering in 1962, Sutherland purchased a new Barrie Bennett nine-foot Malibu from Marcus Shaw. On the advice of mentor Joe Sweeney (the craftsman who still makes the Rip Curl Pro trophies) he went to Bells and was captivated by the waves. Sutherland purchased a 2nd hand 35mm Practika camera and a rudimentary teleconverter to enable him to start capturing action shots. As the surfing became more intense, Sutherland’s passion to record it increased. Late 1963 he was dissatisfied with the limits of the camera technology, so early 1964, Sutherland invested in a new Minolta SR1 35mm camera and a 400mm lens.
Keen to improve, Sutherland joined the Geelong Camera Club where he learnt photographic composition and dark room technique. Mentored by local photographer, Ian Hawthorne, Sutherland says he was a strict, but fair critic. Setting his ego aside, Sutherland listened carefully and took notes of Hawthorne’s comments and soon became very successful, winning many club competitions. Looking to capture what surfers took for granted as they paddled out, he investigated water housings for his Minolta, but found they were too cumbersome and expensive. Upon Nikon releasing its 35mm underwater camera, Sutherland purchased one of the first in Australia. Sutherland says his proudest photography achievement came when he combined his two loves to capture greatness on a roaring and ruthless Bells Beach in 1965. On Easter Monday 1966, tying his Nikonos camera to his waist, Sutherland made history when he paddled out on a malibu surfboard as close as he could to the impact zone and took the first photographs of Bells from the water.
Now the first water shots taken at Bells and along the Surf Coast are amongst his most famous – and best-selling - images. Sutherland’s photographs appeared in Surfing World and Surfabout magazines and were used by local surf industry pioneers, including Don Loveless at Torquay Surfer Supplies, Fred Pyke Surfboards and Rip Curl.
Despite success, surf photography back then couldn’t support a growing family. Ever a realist, Sutherland kept his passion as a hobby and joined Alcoa in their fledgling IT department at Point Henry in Geelong and a few years later, was transferred to Western Australia for a long and very successful career with Alcoa before he retired in 1999. An unsuccessful foray into a boutique surf shop / gallery, which was way ahead of its time, only made the couple long for the Victorian surf coast. However, it was evident that something was in the air if not the waves; three years earlier, he was contacted by his life-long friend John Panozzo and asked to hold an exhibition at the newly opened SurfWorld Surfing Museum. The duo had surfed along the coast for years, doings dawn patrols when some of the fabulous seascapes were taken. Sutherland took the photos, Panozzo took notes, and both caught more than their fair share of waves! Together with Jack Finlay, they spent a hectic six months and the exhibition opened to great acclaim in December, running until May 1997.
Ten years later, Sutherland and Madeleine returned to where it all began.
Sutherland has also exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art (US), National Maritime Museum (Sydney), Surfworld Surfing Museum (Torquay), at WA’s Dunsborough Festival, Cottesloe Whalebone Classic, Margaret River Library, Margaret River Masters, Piney Lakes Environmental Education Centre and Metro Church. His work has featured in many surf stores and is held in private collections throughout Australia.
“Barrie has an important place in Australian / Victorian surfing history as he was one of the few people of the time to actively catch it on film”, says former Surfing Australia CEO Alan Atkins, who won the Victorian state titles in 1967 when Sutherland snapped him standing alongside Gail Couper and Rod Brook. “Technically Barrie has an excellent eye for a surf shot and fortunately, he has maintained his library over the years; at the time, most surfers were looking for their next wave, recording their antics and surfing exploits were far from their mind (but) Barrie enjoyed his surfing immensely but also found time to record it”, says Atkins.
Down the coast at Port Fairy, Keith Curtain, editor of Australian Surf Business magazine agrees. “What can you say about Barrie Sutherland that hasn’t already been said before?” he asks via email. “Barrie occupies a rare place in Australian surfing history, because he had the presence of mind to capture and catalogue beautiful images of an embryonic surf culture emerging in South West Victoria”, he says. “It was a time before mass surf media, before the internet, each image is a time capsule, a window to our past, each lovingly taken for prosperity and not for profit.”
Over in Western Australia, Rob Holt who manages Edith Cowan University’s Bachelor of Surf Science course includes Sutherland’s images in the curriculum’s surf history unit. “Barrie is undoubtedly a significant figure in Australian surfing folklore”, booms Holt down the phone. “His images of the south coast of Vicco from the 1960s give us a real understanding of our surfing roots and our surfing culture in Australia”, he says. “The photograph that really sticks in my mind is the shot of Rob Conneeley and ‘Nipper’ on that smoking right; that's an archetypal Bells moment”, he says with the wistful tone of a man who may have taken on Bears, Yallingup and Smiths, but yearns to walk down the steep stairs and paddle out to Rincon. “Isn't that one of the fabulous things about photos though? They share such wonderful moments with future generations”, says Holt.
A few weeks earlier, visiting longboarder, talented artist and member of surf band Mal and the Longboarders, Soren Carlbergg popped into Watermarks for “a quick look around”, only to emerge two hours later. “He’s one of the special photographers”, muses Carlbergg. “Barrie is more about the atmospheric, I find them beautiful in composition, simplicity in form, very interesting in the interaction of light, he gives a timeless tranquility in his photos”.
Grant Forbes, former head of design for Rip Curl now owns Tigerfish Gallery down the road reckons Sutherland is unique. “He was actively documenting Victorian surfing when the fledgling surf media was focusing on Sydney and Queensland”, says Forbes. “While the Witzigs and Falzons, masters that they are, created heroes and a subculture through their work and the broad circulation of the surf magazines, Barrie was quietly creating beautiful images, more for the creative satisfaction than the glory of mass exposure”, he says. “So while his work is distinctly historic and ‘retro’, it's as fresh as the day it was taken...many of the images that he has stored as negatives have never been printed until now”. Forbes believes that technically too, his work stands up well in an age when we're assaulted by thousands of throwaway digital images on a daily basis, Sutherland's carefully planned pieces, textured with delicate film grain, beautifully lit and artfully printed, scream ‘quality’. “Victorian surfing is the richer for Barrie Sutherland's work; it shows us that our waves, and our surfers, are worth celebrating”, says Forbes.
Next door at the Bell Street Gallery, photographer Matthew Stevenson agrees with his neighbour. “Barrie was the only Victorian surf photographer at the time, ahead of such renowned photographers and film makers such as Alby Falzon, Jack Eden, Ron Perrot, Bob Weeks and Mal Sutherland who all hailed from NSW”, he says. “His imagery was used in the first Rip Curl advertising in 1969 and we have all grown up knowing his photos which in time where ingrained into our surfing psyche”, he says.
At Manly, Chris Moss of Heritage Surf reckons that a Sutherland image always wears its heart on its sleeve. “Barrie Sutherland gave his heart and soul to take photographs that tell us about Victorian surfing, about where surfing evolved from”, he says.
Earlier, Sutherland turned up late for a photoshoot with master glasser / shaper Peter Ashley (who retired last month. Sutherland explained that 1963 Bells winner Doug Andrew, “just popped in as I was leaving”. Ashley forgives him and the two have a laugh as Sutherland views his image of Peter surfing a wintry Bells in the de rigueur footy jumper and shorts; the faded photo has been on display at Ashley’s shop for over 40 years. Ashley recalls Sutherland taking shots of him at Winkipop (the break left of Bells bowl) in 1964. “I can remember clearly back in the 60's when new surfing vibes were new…clean consistent waves and unspoiled beaches ..very, very few surfers and Barrie always there doing his things he loved; surfing and as well as his profession, was taking photos of seascapes and true-blooded good and gutsy surfers without leg ropes and modern wetsuits ”, says Ashley. “Barrie is so friendly, without commercial ego, he is a pioneer” he adds. “Really I’m very lucky to have (the) one photo of myself surfing at Winkipop last 1964”, he says. Son Stephen, a former state surfer now does most of the shaping and he’s stoked to meet someone whose images he has admired for years.
Today Sutherland who still drives everywhere with a board in the back of his Triton ute in case of waves, sits behind the counter and in between chatting with customers, talks about returning home. “We decided it was time to come back”, says Sutherland, his hair still damp from his morning surf. But he says it was hard to leave WA, he loves being back. Sutherland looks around the gallery and smiles as various images catch his eye and memories come flooding back. An apt description too, for many of his old mates from the 60s and 70s have been rocketing through the door as soon as they heard he was back in town. Torquay may be the fastest growing town in Victoria, but set back off Bell Street, Watermarks is now one of three places that locals in the know pop in to have a yarn with other like-minded souls.
That night at the Surfworld Surfing museum, staff are flat-chat putting the final changes into the Liquid Mountains exhibition. Along with the usual suspects of trophies, posters, big wave guns and tow-in surfboards, the exhibition contains several Sutherland images. The one that draws the biggest crowd shows an intrepid Roger Falahey paddling over a monster wave at Bells Beach Bells during the infamous 1965 event. “He captured a unique time those 1965 shots of bells beach; 25ft the biggest day anyone’s seen there,” says the then director Jeff Arkinstall. “We are exceptionally proud to have Barrie Sutherland images in our collection”, he adds. An unassuming Sutherland beams with delight as he catches up with all the old surfing tribe from back in the day.
“He’s a gentlemen”, confirms Peter Dunn, inaugural president of WA’s Cottesloe Longboard Club and organizer of the annual Whalebone Classic. “He has the feeling of stoke and he’s enlightened a lot of us as to what it what was like in the early surfing days”, he adds.
Barrie images can be seen at http://www.watermarksphotogallery.com.au/
A version of this article first appeared in Slide magazine in 2008.
Wherever surfers gather, accolades for Barrie Sutherland’s images roll in like a king tide.
If eyes are the window to the soul, then images hold the key to the photographer’s heart.
Looking at a Barrie Sutherland photograph is like stepping back in time. Back to a time when the pace a little slower, the boards a little longer and the waves a heck of lot emptier.
The first thing that strikes you in his images are how devoid of surfers are the waves. Victorian surf breaks that now attract hundred of waveriders, are shown with just a few surfers enjoying the glorious glassy peaks or in the case of his now classic 1965 images of Bells Beach, battling leviathan waves.
Initially enthralled when the 1956 Melbourne Olympics exhibition surf carnival brought Californians Greg Noll, Mike Bright, Tom Zahn and Bobby Burnside to town, Sutherland was hooked. “They paddled out and rode malibus for the first time at Torquay Point”, he says with as much excitement as any grommet. His lifelong addiction to salt water always battled photography for first place in his heart – after girlfriend Madeleine, of course. A stunner then and a silver fox now, Madeleine has lost none of her charm and her warm personality is as strong as ever. She featured in many of Sutherland’s early works and was a talented shooter herself, her image of her husband paddling out on his longboard at Coolangatta in 1966 is considered a classic.
Back then Sutherland’s photographs of Bells Beach first came into prominence when fledgling surfing company Rip Curl decided to use one of his photos early on to promote their business.
From the moment Sutherland picked up a Kodak Box Brownie, it was evident that he had that rare ability to capture what he felt and saw. And it wasn’t long before others realised his talent.
“Rip Curl chose a classic full colour, early morning Bells Beach line-up shot of Barrie’s for our very first magazine advertisement and we captioned it ‘The Dawning of Rip Curl’", recalls company co-founder Doug Warbrick. “The heritage of surfing in Victoria and especially Bells Beach owes so much to the great black and white images shot by Barrie in the 60's and early 70s”, he says. But unlike John Witzig who lays claim to northern Australia, especially Queensland and Jack Eden to New South Wales, many of Sutherland’s Victorian photographs have never been exhibited before. Now after more than 30 years in Western Australia, where Sutherland worked in IT for Alcoa, they have returned to set up the Watermarks Photo Gallery in Torquay.
Sutherland’s connections with Torquay began in the mid-1940s when his grandparents holidayed then moved there. His cousins and later Sutherland’s family soon followed. “Riding surfboards then was out of the question, they were the 16-foot hollow plywood boards that were far too big for kids to ride, let alone ever own”, he says. “The older guys like Rex ‘China’ Gilbert, Vic Tantau, “Mumbles” Walker, Owen Yateman and a young Peter Troy were always on the scene”. Back then, he says, Torquay Point was the place to surf and was always busy with surf skis, boats and the 16-footers plying their way across the waves. When he was 10, Sutherland and his cousin decided to swim out to the main break on the sandbar. Ian made it, but Sutherland almost drowned but for a woman who pulled him out by the hair. “From that experience I learnt a life long lesson; always respect the ocean, never take it for granted and don’t take on any wave if fear strikes you”, says Sutherland. It was a lesson that stood him well some years later when facing huge, uncompromising swell at a Bells Beach competition. “We had watched four surfers paddle out into the huge waves, then Marcus Shaw looked at me and I looked at him and we decided to wait a while before paddling out”, he says. The judges called off the event due to dangerous conditions after several massive waves closed out Bells and caught the other surfers in the Bowl”.
“Bells 1965 blew them away. It was probably six to seven to eight meters and when you scaled it, the face was 25-30 ft (10m),” he says. “No-one ever knew the surf could get that big in Australia, let alone at a contest. A magazine called it the Waimea Bay of Australia,” says Sutherland.
Between 1959 to 1962, Sutherland studied engineering at the Gordon Institute of Technology. One hot day in February 1959, at Graham ‘Macca’ McKenzie’s instigation, Sutherland and some friends took a drive to Bells via the Jarosite track (now a sealed road) and that visit set in motion a deep desire for him to return and surf the powerful waves. After he graduated in civil engineering in 1962, Sutherland purchased a new Barrie Bennett nine-foot Malibu from Marcus Shaw. On the advice of mentor Joe Sweeney (the craftsman who still makes the Rip Curl Pro trophies) he went to Bells and was captivated by the waves. Sutherland purchased a 2nd hand 35mm Practika camera and a rudimentary teleconverter to enable him to start capturing action shots. As the surfing became more intense, Sutherland’s passion to record it increased. Late 1963 he was dissatisfied with the limits of the camera technology, so early 1964, Sutherland invested in a new Minolta SR1 35mm camera and a 400mm lens.
Keen to improve, Sutherland joined the Geelong Camera Club where he learnt photographic composition and dark room technique. Mentored by local photographer, Ian Hawthorne, Sutherland says he was a strict, but fair critic. Setting his ego aside, Sutherland listened carefully and took notes of Hawthorne’s comments and soon became very successful, winning many club competitions. Looking to capture what surfers took for granted as they paddled out, he investigated water housings for his Minolta, but found they were too cumbersome and expensive. Upon Nikon releasing its 35mm underwater camera, Sutherland purchased one of the first in Australia. Sutherland says his proudest photography achievement came when he combined his two loves to capture greatness on a roaring and ruthless Bells Beach in 1965. On Easter Monday 1966, tying his Nikonos camera to his waist, Sutherland made history when he paddled out on a malibu surfboard as close as he could to the impact zone and took the first photographs of Bells from the water.
Now the first water shots taken at Bells and along the Surf Coast are amongst his most famous – and best-selling - images. Sutherland’s photographs appeared in Surfing World and Surfabout magazines and were used by local surf industry pioneers, including Don Loveless at Torquay Surfer Supplies, Fred Pyke Surfboards and Rip Curl.
Despite success, surf photography back then couldn’t support a growing family. Ever a realist, Sutherland kept his passion as a hobby and joined Alcoa in their fledgling IT department at Point Henry in Geelong and a few years later, was transferred to Western Australia for a long and very successful career with Alcoa before he retired in 1999. An unsuccessful foray into a boutique surf shop / gallery, which was way ahead of its time, only made the couple long for the Victorian surf coast. However, it was evident that something was in the air if not the waves; three years earlier, he was contacted by his life-long friend John Panozzo and asked to hold an exhibition at the newly opened SurfWorld Surfing Museum. The duo had surfed along the coast for years, doings dawn patrols when some of the fabulous seascapes were taken. Sutherland took the photos, Panozzo took notes, and both caught more than their fair share of waves! Together with Jack Finlay, they spent a hectic six months and the exhibition opened to great acclaim in December, running until May 1997.
Ten years later, Sutherland and Madeleine returned to where it all began.
Sutherland has also exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art (US), National Maritime Museum (Sydney), Surfworld Surfing Museum (Torquay), at WA’s Dunsborough Festival, Cottesloe Whalebone Classic, Margaret River Library, Margaret River Masters, Piney Lakes Environmental Education Centre and Metro Church. His work has featured in many surf stores and is held in private collections throughout Australia.
“Barrie has an important place in Australian / Victorian surfing history as he was one of the few people of the time to actively catch it on film”, says former Surfing Australia CEO Alan Atkins, who won the Victorian state titles in 1967 when Sutherland snapped him standing alongside Gail Couper and Rod Brook. “Technically Barrie has an excellent eye for a surf shot and fortunately, he has maintained his library over the years; at the time, most surfers were looking for their next wave, recording their antics and surfing exploits were far from their mind (but) Barrie enjoyed his surfing immensely but also found time to record it”, says Atkins.
Down the coast at Port Fairy, Keith Curtain, editor of Australian Surf Business magazine agrees. “What can you say about Barrie Sutherland that hasn’t already been said before?” he asks via email. “Barrie occupies a rare place in Australian surfing history, because he had the presence of mind to capture and catalogue beautiful images of an embryonic surf culture emerging in South West Victoria”, he says. “It was a time before mass surf media, before the internet, each image is a time capsule, a window to our past, each lovingly taken for prosperity and not for profit.”
Over in Western Australia, Rob Holt who manages Edith Cowan University’s Bachelor of Surf Science course includes Sutherland’s images in the curriculum’s surf history unit. “Barrie is undoubtedly a significant figure in Australian surfing folklore”, booms Holt down the phone. “His images of the south coast of Vicco from the 1960s give us a real understanding of our surfing roots and our surfing culture in Australia”, he says. “The photograph that really sticks in my mind is the shot of Rob Conneeley and ‘Nipper’ on that smoking right; that's an archetypal Bells moment”, he says with the wistful tone of a man who may have taken on Bears, Yallingup and Smiths, but yearns to walk down the steep stairs and paddle out to Rincon. “Isn't that one of the fabulous things about photos though? They share such wonderful moments with future generations”, says Holt.
A few weeks earlier, visiting longboarder, talented artist and member of surf band Mal and the Longboarders, Soren Carlbergg popped into Watermarks for “a quick look around”, only to emerge two hours later. “He’s one of the special photographers”, muses Carlbergg. “Barrie is more about the atmospheric, I find them beautiful in composition, simplicity in form, very interesting in the interaction of light, he gives a timeless tranquility in his photos”.
Grant Forbes, former head of design for Rip Curl now owns Tigerfish Gallery down the road reckons Sutherland is unique. “He was actively documenting Victorian surfing when the fledgling surf media was focusing on Sydney and Queensland”, says Forbes. “While the Witzigs and Falzons, masters that they are, created heroes and a subculture through their work and the broad circulation of the surf magazines, Barrie was quietly creating beautiful images, more for the creative satisfaction than the glory of mass exposure”, he says. “So while his work is distinctly historic and ‘retro’, it's as fresh as the day it was taken...many of the images that he has stored as negatives have never been printed until now”. Forbes believes that technically too, his work stands up well in an age when we're assaulted by thousands of throwaway digital images on a daily basis, Sutherland's carefully planned pieces, textured with delicate film grain, beautifully lit and artfully printed, scream ‘quality’. “Victorian surfing is the richer for Barrie Sutherland's work; it shows us that our waves, and our surfers, are worth celebrating”, says Forbes.
Next door at the Bell Street Gallery, photographer Matthew Stevenson agrees with his neighbour. “Barrie was the only Victorian surf photographer at the time, ahead of such renowned photographers and film makers such as Alby Falzon, Jack Eden, Ron Perrot, Bob Weeks and Mal Sutherland who all hailed from NSW”, he says. “His imagery was used in the first Rip Curl advertising in 1969 and we have all grown up knowing his photos which in time where ingrained into our surfing psyche”, he says.
At Manly, Chris Moss of Heritage Surf reckons that a Sutherland image always wears its heart on its sleeve. “Barrie Sutherland gave his heart and soul to take photographs that tell us about Victorian surfing, about where surfing evolved from”, he says.
Earlier, Sutherland turned up late for a photoshoot with master glasser / shaper Peter Ashley (who retired last month. Sutherland explained that 1963 Bells winner Doug Andrew, “just popped in as I was leaving”. Ashley forgives him and the two have a laugh as Sutherland views his image of Peter surfing a wintry Bells in the de rigueur footy jumper and shorts; the faded photo has been on display at Ashley’s shop for over 40 years. Ashley recalls Sutherland taking shots of him at Winkipop (the break left of Bells bowl) in 1964. “I can remember clearly back in the 60's when new surfing vibes were new…clean consistent waves and unspoiled beaches ..very, very few surfers and Barrie always there doing his things he loved; surfing and as well as his profession, was taking photos of seascapes and true-blooded good and gutsy surfers without leg ropes and modern wetsuits ”, says Ashley. “Barrie is so friendly, without commercial ego, he is a pioneer” he adds. “Really I’m very lucky to have (the) one photo of myself surfing at Winkipop last 1964”, he says. Son Stephen, a former state surfer now does most of the shaping and he’s stoked to meet someone whose images he has admired for years.
Today Sutherland who still drives everywhere with a board in the back of his Triton ute in case of waves, sits behind the counter and in between chatting with customers, talks about returning home. “We decided it was time to come back”, says Sutherland, his hair still damp from his morning surf. But he says it was hard to leave WA, he loves being back. Sutherland looks around the gallery and smiles as various images catch his eye and memories come flooding back. An apt description too, for many of his old mates from the 60s and 70s have been rocketing through the door as soon as they heard he was back in town. Torquay may be the fastest growing town in Victoria, but set back off Bell Street, Watermarks is now one of three places that locals in the know pop in to have a yarn with other like-minded souls.
That night at the Surfworld Surfing museum, staff are flat-chat putting the final changes into the Liquid Mountains exhibition. Along with the usual suspects of trophies, posters, big wave guns and tow-in surfboards, the exhibition contains several Sutherland images. The one that draws the biggest crowd shows an intrepid Roger Falahey paddling over a monster wave at Bells Beach Bells during the infamous 1965 event. “He captured a unique time those 1965 shots of bells beach; 25ft the biggest day anyone’s seen there,” says the then director Jeff Arkinstall. “We are exceptionally proud to have Barrie Sutherland images in our collection”, he adds. An unassuming Sutherland beams with delight as he catches up with all the old surfing tribe from back in the day.
“He’s a gentlemen”, confirms Peter Dunn, inaugural president of WA’s Cottesloe Longboard Club and organizer of the annual Whalebone Classic. “He has the feeling of stoke and he’s enlightened a lot of us as to what it what was like in the early surfing days”, he adds.
Barrie images can be seen at http://www.watermarksphotogallery.com.au/
A version of this article first appeared in Slide magazine in 2008.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Peter Ashley, Torquay’s master glasser retires
Surfboard shapers have always been regarded by their customers as alchemists, wizards who can produce the perfect board to allow them to surf the perfect wave. 
Master shaper Peter Ashely with his son Stephen in the shaping room. Image by Alison Aprhys.
One such master shaper and glasser, Peter Ashley, has decided to retire so he can spend more time catching waves.
Based in the Australian surf capital of Torquay, Peter has been crafting boards for over half a century. Now hundreds of beautiful surf boards later, he has decided to spend more time catching waves.
Peter started out shaping plywood hollow boards when he was 14. A few years later he was respected as a world-class glasser at Fred Pyke Surfboards, which was then Torquay's first surf factory.
Considered a highly talented and gutsy surfer in the 1960s, Peter can recall paddling into big Bells Beach waves all winter, long before leg ropes and wetsuits were the go. Evidence in the form of a famous Barrie Sutherland image of Peter surfing a leviathan wave at Bells has been on display at Peter’s shop for over 40 years. A modest man, Peter lets his boards do the talking. The result is that many of his customers kept coming back for more. His son Stephen, also a respected surfer who has been shaping with him for many years, will continue to work as a freelancer.
Now an era is coming to a close. For many years, longboards, mals and shortboards bearing Peter’s distinctive yellow hibiscus logo, have been a a popular choice along the Victorian surf coast. And for locals, there will no doubt be a rush to pick up an Ashley surfboard before the end of the month.
We will miss his shaping and glassing, but will look forward to seeing him enjoy more wave time.
Disclaimer - Alison Aprhys bought her very first surfboard, a gorgeous 8’4” mal, from Peter Ashley over 13 years ago.
Master shaper Peter Ashely with his son Stephen in the shaping room. Image by Alison Aprhys.One such master shaper and glasser, Peter Ashley, has decided to retire so he can spend more time catching waves.
Based in the Australian surf capital of Torquay, Peter has been crafting boards for over half a century. Now hundreds of beautiful surf boards later, he has decided to spend more time catching waves.
Peter started out shaping plywood hollow boards when he was 14. A few years later he was respected as a world-class glasser at Fred Pyke Surfboards, which was then Torquay's first surf factory.
Considered a highly talented and gutsy surfer in the 1960s, Peter can recall paddling into big Bells Beach waves all winter, long before leg ropes and wetsuits were the go. Evidence in the form of a famous Barrie Sutherland image of Peter surfing a leviathan wave at Bells has been on display at Peter’s shop for over 40 years. A modest man, Peter lets his boards do the talking. The result is that many of his customers kept coming back for more. His son Stephen, also a respected surfer who has been shaping with him for many years, will continue to work as a freelancer.
Now an era is coming to a close. For many years, longboards, mals and shortboards bearing Peter’s distinctive yellow hibiscus logo, have been a a popular choice along the Victorian surf coast. And for locals, there will no doubt be a rush to pick up an Ashley surfboard before the end of the month.
We will miss his shaping and glassing, but will look forward to seeing him enjoy more wave time.
Disclaimer - Alison Aprhys bought her very first surfboard, a gorgeous 8’4” mal, from Peter Ashley over 13 years ago.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Keeping the momentum over winter
This post is for those of us needing a bit of inspiration! In Torquay the waves are darned cold at the moment and when the winds blow, you can tell that snow is falling somewhere! Winter can mean you settle into a comfort zone. Whether it's 3 ft a-frames or always surfing your mal on 5 ft point breaks and nothing else, you can find yourself surfing the same beaches and the same waves all the time - and then you wonder why your surfing doesn't improve or maybe even begins to slip a bit.
Once you discover your passion for surfing, it can be a weird mixture of fun and frustration, excitement and exasperation as you struggle to master your surfboard. One friend decided to abandon learnign from mates and take classes. She said that it was heaps more fun than falling off on her own. “Group lessons offered a safety buffer, we would all laugh and choke on water together and it made the surf seem less intimidating”, she recalls. Another decided to make a committment to meet a friend every morning for a surf check as an antidote to staying in bed.
“Having someone to encourage you really helps you persevere, especially through the times when you want to improve and you’d just get too frustrated on your own”.
Another solution is finding a coach to help you improve and have fun out there. Selecting one with the right personality is as important as choosing your surfboard – get the wrong type and you’ll be floundering and miserable. Find one whom you gell with and lessons can become a highlight of your week. Coaches are also good to return to on a regular basis to ensure you don’t lose your momentum.
Alsion's Winter Rules
Surf at least 3-4 times a week - arthritus allowing!
Yoga helps flexibility
Weight training and push-ups assist strength
Watch surfing videos & DVDs for motivation / inspiration
Read 'The Surfer’s Mind' by Richard Bennett
Remember, it's all about having fun!
Once you discover your passion for surfing, it can be a weird mixture of fun and frustration, excitement and exasperation as you struggle to master your surfboard. One friend decided to abandon learnign from mates and take classes. She said that it was heaps more fun than falling off on her own. “Group lessons offered a safety buffer, we would all laugh and choke on water together and it made the surf seem less intimidating”, she recalls. Another decided to make a committment to meet a friend every morning for a surf check as an antidote to staying in bed.
“Having someone to encourage you really helps you persevere, especially through the times when you want to improve and you’d just get too frustrated on your own”.
Another solution is finding a coach to help you improve and have fun out there. Selecting one with the right personality is as important as choosing your surfboard – get the wrong type and you’ll be floundering and miserable. Find one whom you gell with and lessons can become a highlight of your week. Coaches are also good to return to on a regular basis to ensure you don’t lose your momentum.
Alsion's Winter Rules
Surf at least 3-4 times a week - arthritus allowing!
Yoga helps flexibility
Weight training and push-ups assist strength
Watch surfing videos & DVDs for motivation / inspiration
Read 'The Surfer’s Mind' by Richard Bennett
Remember, it's all about having fun!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Vale Karen Van Der Sluis, beloved sursista, 10 June 2009
A wonderful, generous, intelligent, gorgeous woman and surfing gal-pal, Karen was a founding member of the South Steyne Surf Sistas (SSSS), an informal group of female surfers who lived in Manly and whom weather permitting, could be found most days laughing as we caught – and wiped out from - a few waves somewhere along Manly beach.
Karen lived down the road and we met in 2001 while descending the stairs at south Manly one dawn, surfed together and from then saw each other in the water and out, several times a week.
A keen surfer, Karen was devastated when diagnosed with breast cancer.
Do to ongoing treatment she was unable to surf, so the SSSS - Sophie, Laura, Alison, Belinda and Eilidh - decided that every time we went out surfing alone or together, we’d ‘catch a wave for Karen’.
Unfortunately, after her initial diagnosis she was rarely well enough to get back on her beloved surfboard, but was always keen to hear about the waves that the rest of the sistas had been riding.
A 'glass-half-full’ person, Karen was a gifted teacher and was as much an inspiration on the waves as she was in the classroom. A loving mother to Josh and Sarah, who caught the surfing bug from her and her former husband Tony, Karen loved nothing better than taking them to the beach and watching the joy on their faces as they slid doen the face of little waves.
A few years ago, Karen met and married Martin, for whom she said made the sun come out again in her life.
Family and friends are invitedto attend a Celebration of Karen's life to be held in its entirety at St Matthew's Anglican Church, The Corso, Manly, on Monday (June 15, 2009) at 2 p.m.
Prior to the service, a viewing of Karen will be held from1.20 to 1.50 p.m.Karen has requested that, instead of flowers, a collection be taken on the day to support her sponsored child in Indonesia.Karen has also requested no black to be worn at this celebration of her life.
Karen was just 48; a wonderful friend who was much loved by so many and she will be sadly missed wherever and whenever the sistas surf.
Karen lived down the road and we met in 2001 while descending the stairs at south Manly one dawn, surfed together and from then saw each other in the water and out, several times a week.
A keen surfer, Karen was devastated when diagnosed with breast cancer.
Do to ongoing treatment she was unable to surf, so the SSSS - Sophie, Laura, Alison, Belinda and Eilidh - decided that every time we went out surfing alone or together, we’d ‘catch a wave for Karen’.
Unfortunately, after her initial diagnosis she was rarely well enough to get back on her beloved surfboard, but was always keen to hear about the waves that the rest of the sistas had been riding.
A 'glass-half-full’ person, Karen was a gifted teacher and was as much an inspiration on the waves as she was in the classroom. A loving mother to Josh and Sarah, who caught the surfing bug from her and her former husband Tony, Karen loved nothing better than taking them to the beach and watching the joy on their faces as they slid doen the face of little waves.
A few years ago, Karen met and married Martin, for whom she said made the sun come out again in her life.
Family and friends are invitedto attend a Celebration of Karen's life to be held in its entirety at St Matthew's Anglican Church, The Corso, Manly, on Monday (June 15, 2009) at 2 p.m.
Prior to the service, a viewing of Karen will be held from1.20 to 1.50 p.m.Karen has requested that, instead of flowers, a collection be taken on the day to support her sponsored child in Indonesia.Karen has also requested no black to be worn at this celebration of her life.
Karen was just 48; a wonderful friend who was much loved by so many and she will be sadly missed wherever and whenever the sistas surf.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Baby, it’s cold outside
Hi my name is Alison and I'm an ice-queen.
Winter has descended onto Torquay.
Not with a roaring, stormy, squally rush, but with a gentle glacial chill.
Despite the lack of wind, the drizzle and plummeting temperature mean that if you haven’t already dusted off your 4/3 steamer, booties, hood and hot-water bottle, it’s only matter of days.
Recently I was getting into my wetsuit (should have suited up before I left the house) at the point car park one wintry Sunday dawn, I overheard a rugged-up-to-the-max dog-walker say to another as they glanced over at me, 'what makes these people go there when it's so bloody cold?'I wanted to call out, “passion, my friend, passion”.
But as I struggled with the back zip and inserted my earplugs, I had to admit that it’s more a heady mixture of passion and sheer bloody determination to down the last of your coffee from the insulated mug, kick off your woolly slippers, shed a toasty polar fleece jumper hastily donned over your PJs to drag on an often still-damp wetsuit, run across sand so cold it burns your feet despite booties and relish the warm (by comparison) ocean.
Although, when an offshore westerly signals snow dumps to cheer the hearts of skiers even as it penetrates your wetsuit, snap-freezes your spine and the waves refuse to break, you do occasionally wonder what in hell’s name you are doing out there.
Sometimes it can be bleak out there in the water with the other desperados, while everyone else appears to be at home reading the weekend papers and enjoying another slice of hot buttered raisin toast. But when the swell arrives, be it at Possos, Juc or places further south, when you paddle those numb hands and catch that icy wave and tear down its glassy face, you wouldn't change your place with kings.
It takes a special kind of person to surf through winter.
OK, I’d like to think that as someone who willingly wakes before five o’clock in the morning twelve months of the year, leaps into their swimmers without even checking the surf report and
despite modern conveniences such as surfcams and online weather reports, bundles her boards, wax, a towel and a yawning husband into the car (not in that order) before driving off to the local beach with supreme confidence that today it will be pumping despite howling winds or hail; I’d like to think that this kind of person is, well, someone cool.
But I suspect it really boils down to being obsessed and as stubborn as all get out.
Sure, it’s easy to rise before dawn during Torquay’s seemingly endless summers and spend the day alternating between the glassy waves and the shade from the wind-twisted trees at Point Danger.
But come that first autumnal hint, then the non-committed turn away from the ocean and take up squash, skiing or footy until November.
Thank goodness.
Like those who purport to follow Richmond, but in reality only cheer them when they are winning, these fickle folk don’t realize what they are missing as winter surf is exhilarating time! Not only are the waves less crowded, they are heaps more fun to ride.
Fewer surfers mean less competition and a far mellower vibe.
Any foolish rivalry, either real or imagined between the tribes shortboarders, longboarders, mal riders, waveskiers, kneeboarders, standup paddlers and bodyboarders, for the most part disappears as we all sit there, hands tucked under armpits, teeth chattering together.
As you bob up and down with your fellow desperados, you feel scorn for those who non-believers who pull into the carpark, shake their heads and return home, warm , dry and without a wave to their name.
Some of the more mature longboarders even don neoprene rubber caps, looking strangely like medieval butchers or extras from ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ as they swiftly paddle past. Perhaps it’s because I learned to surf here in Victoria where the water might be just 10 degrees whilst the wind chill factor you’d swear under oath is no more than 11, that I shake my head at the bleats from my friends in Sydney some 1000 km north, when they complain about winter.
Still, you know how cold it is by the time it takes for your feet to numb up - when you can’t feel your toes; it’s definitely time to paddle in.
Emerging, the wind whips through you as you pelt up the sand.
In the car park you thaw your frozen feet and hands by pouring the remains of the thermos flask contents over them or a specially prepared hot water bottle; the rick is to wrap it in a towel, then plastic bag and place it under your car.
This enables you can defrost your hands to get your keys hanging on a lanyard around your neck and insert it into the car lock without help from strangers passing by), and hurriedly place said towel on the seat so you can drive home rubber-clad. On the days when my husband has the car and I cycle to the beach, I wear gloves so I can maintain grip on the handlebars and coming back, I peddle as hard as I can to get the blood going.
Dashing inside, you jump in the shower, turn the water on hot, hot, hot and are revived in the heat rush.
Later, rugged up and sipping miso soup or tea, then gobbling porridge, crumpets or poached eggs (some days you feel so starved you’d consume it all) by the fire, you relive every wave and email or text your girlfriends about the amazing rides you caught, wiped out on and the Harvey wallbanger sunrise you were privileged to witness.
Who cares about mortgages, the falling economy, your idiot boss or newspaper headlines?
Its winter waves ahoy.
The surf is up and so are my spirits.
Winter has descended onto Torquay.
Not with a roaring, stormy, squally rush, but with a gentle glacial chill.
Despite the lack of wind, the drizzle and plummeting temperature mean that if you haven’t already dusted off your 4/3 steamer, booties, hood and hot-water bottle, it’s only matter of days.
Recently I was getting into my wetsuit (should have suited up before I left the house) at the point car park one wintry Sunday dawn, I overheard a rugged-up-to-the-max dog-walker say to another as they glanced over at me, 'what makes these people go there when it's so bloody cold?'I wanted to call out, “passion, my friend, passion”.
But as I struggled with the back zip and inserted my earplugs, I had to admit that it’s more a heady mixture of passion and sheer bloody determination to down the last of your coffee from the insulated mug, kick off your woolly slippers, shed a toasty polar fleece jumper hastily donned over your PJs to drag on an often still-damp wetsuit, run across sand so cold it burns your feet despite booties and relish the warm (by comparison) ocean.
Although, when an offshore westerly signals snow dumps to cheer the hearts of skiers even as it penetrates your wetsuit, snap-freezes your spine and the waves refuse to break, you do occasionally wonder what in hell’s name you are doing out there.
Sometimes it can be bleak out there in the water with the other desperados, while everyone else appears to be at home reading the weekend papers and enjoying another slice of hot buttered raisin toast. But when the swell arrives, be it at Possos, Juc or places further south, when you paddle those numb hands and catch that icy wave and tear down its glassy face, you wouldn't change your place with kings.
It takes a special kind of person to surf through winter.
OK, I’d like to think that as someone who willingly wakes before five o’clock in the morning twelve months of the year, leaps into their swimmers without even checking the surf report and
despite modern conveniences such as surfcams and online weather reports, bundles her boards, wax, a towel and a yawning husband into the car (not in that order) before driving off to the local beach with supreme confidence that today it will be pumping despite howling winds or hail; I’d like to think that this kind of person is, well, someone cool.
But I suspect it really boils down to being obsessed and as stubborn as all get out.
Sure, it’s easy to rise before dawn during Torquay’s seemingly endless summers and spend the day alternating between the glassy waves and the shade from the wind-twisted trees at Point Danger.
But come that first autumnal hint, then the non-committed turn away from the ocean and take up squash, skiing or footy until November.
Thank goodness.
Like those who purport to follow Richmond, but in reality only cheer them when they are winning, these fickle folk don’t realize what they are missing as winter surf is exhilarating time! Not only are the waves less crowded, they are heaps more fun to ride.
Fewer surfers mean less competition and a far mellower vibe.
Any foolish rivalry, either real or imagined between the tribes shortboarders, longboarders, mal riders, waveskiers, kneeboarders, standup paddlers and bodyboarders, for the most part disappears as we all sit there, hands tucked under armpits, teeth chattering together.
As you bob up and down with your fellow desperados, you feel scorn for those who non-believers who pull into the carpark, shake their heads and return home, warm , dry and without a wave to their name.
Some of the more mature longboarders even don neoprene rubber caps, looking strangely like medieval butchers or extras from ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ as they swiftly paddle past. Perhaps it’s because I learned to surf here in Victoria where the water might be just 10 degrees whilst the wind chill factor you’d swear under oath is no more than 11, that I shake my head at the bleats from my friends in Sydney some 1000 km north, when they complain about winter.
Still, you know how cold it is by the time it takes for your feet to numb up - when you can’t feel your toes; it’s definitely time to paddle in.
Emerging, the wind whips through you as you pelt up the sand.
In the car park you thaw your frozen feet and hands by pouring the remains of the thermos flask contents over them or a specially prepared hot water bottle; the rick is to wrap it in a towel, then plastic bag and place it under your car.
This enables you can defrost your hands to get your keys hanging on a lanyard around your neck and insert it into the car lock without help from strangers passing by), and hurriedly place said towel on the seat so you can drive home rubber-clad. On the days when my husband has the car and I cycle to the beach, I wear gloves so I can maintain grip on the handlebars and coming back, I peddle as hard as I can to get the blood going.
Dashing inside, you jump in the shower, turn the water on hot, hot, hot and are revived in the heat rush.
Later, rugged up and sipping miso soup or tea, then gobbling porridge, crumpets or poached eggs (some days you feel so starved you’d consume it all) by the fire, you relive every wave and email or text your girlfriends about the amazing rides you caught, wiped out on and the Harvey wallbanger sunrise you were privileged to witness.
Who cares about mortgages, the falling economy, your idiot boss or newspaper headlines?
Its winter waves ahoy.
The surf is up and so are my spirits.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Not The Dream Tour…taking the rose-tinted glasses off pro surfing
Surfing for a living…ah.
I can feel the sun disappear as I glide into long Bells barrel.
As I emerge after what seems an age, the loudspeaker booms congratulations as the judges award me a 9.2, Gilmore looks furious and Layne gives ma thumbs-up from the beach. Walking up the sands through the cheering crowds, execs from leviathan companies rush up, all eager to sign me on to amazing sponsorship deals and Santa Claus royalties.
A life of endless summers awaits…
That crash you just heard was me hitting a reality check.
Writing this from my office in Jan Juc, any view of the ocean today obliterated by autumnal fog and more than my newspaper deadlines, (alas money and talent lead the list) prohibit me from packing up my boards, buying a ticket, leaving my husband a note reminding him to feed the cat and chickens and heading off to surfing fame and fortune.
And after reading Tunnel Vision: the true story of my probably insane quest to become a professional surfer by Margaret River local Sullivan McLeod, I’m not sure it’s the dream life so many of us think.
After a surfing mate at Reuters (thanks Jim) put me onto this book, (which opens opens with the line “I decided to become a professional surfer a few years ago in a sauna in Norway”) I've been thinking long and hard about what it takes to make the WQS, let alone the hallowed waves of the WCT.
And despite reporting on all kinds of surfing topics, events and profiles for over decade, I really had no idea that it was so easy…well, not easy but let’s say uncomplicated, to go on the WQS.
You pays your money to register, you commit to competing, you attend the events and surf and you get rated.
Yep, that’s how it works.
Of course there’s a million more factors, mostly things that an go wrong, such as being jailed, living out of suitcases, lost luggage, missing flights, losing boards, stolen wallets, hangovers, weird competitors, you name it.
Not to mention actually surfing.
By the end of 2006, McLeod was rated 567th on the WQS – he’d actually put his money where his mouth was and had a crack at something most of us only admit to after our 3rd wine or 8th beer.
Tunnel Vision is a fly-on-the-wall look at the surfing events and athletes that don’t make the covers of Tracks or Surfer magazines; who aren’t up on the podium holding up the trophy while bookmarked by bikini-babes; who live on rice and veggies while sharing dodgy hotel rooms, loan and borrow gear and strive and suffer to get points, keep form and overcome all the head-games that the lower levels of pro-surfing demands. It’s certainly not the flash life that so many dream of as they paddle out at Kirra, Yalls, Winki or Narra.
So the next time you fantacise about throwing in your IT job or plumbing apprenticeship and having a go at the good life as enjoyed by Steph and Mick, grab a copy of Tunnel Vision first. And if do decide to chase the dream, it's a good look at what could be ahead.
It’s a fun and sometimes sobering tale and should be compulsive reading for anyone contemplating the WQS - or looking for an excuse not to.
http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781741757132
I can feel the sun disappear as I glide into long Bells barrel.
As I emerge after what seems an age, the loudspeaker booms congratulations as the judges award me a 9.2, Gilmore looks furious and Layne gives ma thumbs-up from the beach. Walking up the sands through the cheering crowds, execs from leviathan companies rush up, all eager to sign me on to amazing sponsorship deals and Santa Claus royalties.
A life of endless summers awaits…
That crash you just heard was me hitting a reality check.
Writing this from my office in Jan Juc, any view of the ocean today obliterated by autumnal fog and more than my newspaper deadlines, (alas money and talent lead the list) prohibit me from packing up my boards, buying a ticket, leaving my husband a note reminding him to feed the cat and chickens and heading off to surfing fame and fortune.
And after reading Tunnel Vision: the true story of my probably insane quest to become a professional surfer by Margaret River local Sullivan McLeod, I’m not sure it’s the dream life so many of us think.
After a surfing mate at Reuters (thanks Jim) put me onto this book, (which opens opens with the line “I decided to become a professional surfer a few years ago in a sauna in Norway”) I've been thinking long and hard about what it takes to make the WQS, let alone the hallowed waves of the WCT.
And despite reporting on all kinds of surfing topics, events and profiles for over decade, I really had no idea that it was so easy…well, not easy but let’s say uncomplicated, to go on the WQS.
You pays your money to register, you commit to competing, you attend the events and surf and you get rated.
Yep, that’s how it works.
Of course there’s a million more factors, mostly things that an go wrong, such as being jailed, living out of suitcases, lost luggage, missing flights, losing boards, stolen wallets, hangovers, weird competitors, you name it.
Not to mention actually surfing.
By the end of 2006, McLeod was rated 567th on the WQS – he’d actually put his money where his mouth was and had a crack at something most of us only admit to after our 3rd wine or 8th beer.
Tunnel Vision is a fly-on-the-wall look at the surfing events and athletes that don’t make the covers of Tracks or Surfer magazines; who aren’t up on the podium holding up the trophy while bookmarked by bikini-babes; who live on rice and veggies while sharing dodgy hotel rooms, loan and borrow gear and strive and suffer to get points, keep form and overcome all the head-games that the lower levels of pro-surfing demands. It’s certainly not the flash life that so many dream of as they paddle out at Kirra, Yalls, Winki or Narra.
So the next time you fantacise about throwing in your IT job or plumbing apprenticeship and having a go at the good life as enjoyed by Steph and Mick, grab a copy of Tunnel Vision first. And if do decide to chase the dream, it's a good look at what could be ahead.
It’s a fun and sometimes sobering tale and should be compulsive reading for anyone contemplating the WQS - or looking for an excuse not to.
http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781741757132
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Every surf day is mother’s day – surfing mums
On Sunday 10 May 2009 - Mother’s Day in Australia – many surfers will follow their usual ritual; come back from their dawn patrol, drink some coffee, enjoy some poached eggs on spinach toast and then ring their mums.
But even so, a few surfers won’t call until closer til lunchtime, and not because their mums are sleeping in.
Or that they can’t be bothered.
Far from it.
For quite a few of them will be ripping at beach near you.
And many of them will belong to http://www.surfingmums.com/
So here's the low down on this quiet revolution...
According to the Surfing Mums website, it’s “not only the dream but the need to surf that is like needing the air we breath or the water we drink. As a surfer before children, we were only limited by our work, or by other commitments, but there was always some time during the day when you could make it down to the surf. Then we had children and suddenly we had a 24 hour 7 day a week commitment, children didn’t give us time off for an early or late surf, they sure didn’t care when the surf was good and we would have been happy with just a 20 minute paddle. No these little bundles of joy did not give any leave way for a surfing mum. Sure we got the occasional paddle on weekends when a partner or friends would look after our little ones, but was that really enough? It was not enough for two women living in a town blessed with endless waves and one of the most perfect right handers in Australia”.
Now a national movement, Surfing Mums began when Vanessa and Julia who live in Byron Bay on the East Coast of Australia decided that motherhood while a privilege, was no going to mean that wave riding passed them by. So the two friends set up a partnership where one mum would watch the two children on the beach while the other one got in a 30 minute surf, and vice versa. This saw them go from the occasional desperate surf to surfing everyday.
Of course word soon got around town so Surfing Mums was formed.
According to SM, parents often "how will I know if my child is safe while I am in the water?". Sm's advise that geitgn involved is the best way to judge.
"The only way to do this is to form the relationships with the other mums before you start 'beach sitting'. Meet up a few times on the beach before you leave your child with your new surfing mum friend, then maybe start with a few short sessions, as your confidence builds you'll soon be surfing for up to an hour before its your turn to swap and let the other mum go out for a surf.", they advise.
The SM website allows you to meet other mums in the Forum section, or check out if anyone in your area has similar profiles to yours in the profile section. Catch up on surfing news that relates to women or kids in the articles, or surf reports for your area.
Surfing Mums Inc is a not for profit association that supports a network of mums that surf and who meet at the beach to alternate childcare duties enabling mums to enjoy some time in the surf.
Surfing Mums Inc groups are situated where ever mothers surf and involve mothers of varying surfing abilities and different surf crafts (longboards, shortboards, bodyboards, kneeboards, stand up paddle boards bodysurfing etc), and mothers of children of different ages (from 1 day old-18 years).
Surfing Mums encourage fathers and other careers to belong to the groups. The association is valid in Australia and New Zealand only.
http://www.surfingmums.com
But even so, a few surfers won’t call until closer til lunchtime, and not because their mums are sleeping in.
Or that they can’t be bothered.
Far from it.
For quite a few of them will be ripping at beach near you.
And many of them will belong to http://www.surfingmums.com/
So here's the low down on this quiet revolution...
According to the Surfing Mums website, it’s “not only the dream but the need to surf that is like needing the air we breath or the water we drink. As a surfer before children, we were only limited by our work, or by other commitments, but there was always some time during the day when you could make it down to the surf. Then we had children and suddenly we had a 24 hour 7 day a week commitment, children didn’t give us time off for an early or late surf, they sure didn’t care when the surf was good and we would have been happy with just a 20 minute paddle. No these little bundles of joy did not give any leave way for a surfing mum. Sure we got the occasional paddle on weekends when a partner or friends would look after our little ones, but was that really enough? It was not enough for two women living in a town blessed with endless waves and one of the most perfect right handers in Australia”.
Now a national movement, Surfing Mums began when Vanessa and Julia who live in Byron Bay on the East Coast of Australia decided that motherhood while a privilege, was no going to mean that wave riding passed them by. So the two friends set up a partnership where one mum would watch the two children on the beach while the other one got in a 30 minute surf, and vice versa. This saw them go from the occasional desperate surf to surfing everyday.
Of course word soon got around town so Surfing Mums was formed.
According to SM, parents often "how will I know if my child is safe while I am in the water?". Sm's advise that geitgn involved is the best way to judge.
"The only way to do this is to form the relationships with the other mums before you start 'beach sitting'. Meet up a few times on the beach before you leave your child with your new surfing mum friend, then maybe start with a few short sessions, as your confidence builds you'll soon be surfing for up to an hour before its your turn to swap and let the other mum go out for a surf.", they advise.
The SM website allows you to meet other mums in the Forum section, or check out if anyone in your area has similar profiles to yours in the profile section. Catch up on surfing news that relates to women or kids in the articles, or surf reports for your area.
Surfing Mums Inc is a not for profit association that supports a network of mums that surf and who meet at the beach to alternate childcare duties enabling mums to enjoy some time in the surf.
Surfing Mums Inc groups are situated where ever mothers surf and involve mothers of varying surfing abilities and different surf crafts (longboards, shortboards, bodyboards, kneeboards, stand up paddle boards bodysurfing etc), and mothers of children of different ages (from 1 day old-18 years).
Surfing Mums encourage fathers and other careers to belong to the groups. The association is valid in Australia and New Zealand only.
http://www.surfingmums.com
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Born to be Wilde
Sean Wilde handshaped boards are putting the soul back into surfing
“I’m not a ‘cowabunga’ surfer”, states Sean Wilde as he slowly smoothes down a rail on a custom longboard. Glancing up, he smiles and explains that he’s more low-key. Indeed, Sean is well known on the Sydney northern beaches and increasingly beyond, as a creator of beautiful, high quality longboards that he lovingly shapes by hand. While many surfboard manufacturers, from the leviathan to the backyard, have taken to using DSD (digital surfboard design computer software), Sean continues to put soul into his surfboards, choosing to restrict his output in order to maintain his high standards of quality.
“I consider a board a work of art not just a sporting item”, he says.
At 5.30 am on a summer weekday at north Avalon and the usual dawn patrol crew are pulling up to check the waves. Michael Meadows leans against his car and quickly scans the ocean to assess the swell. Satisfied that all is as it should be, he unties his surfboard from the roof rack and deftly starts waxing up a Wilde longboard.
“We share the same philosophy in board design”, he says.
“Sean’s boards are crafted not mass produced, they are individual to the rider and have an amazing quality”, he says.
Michael, who has been surfing some 32 years, met Sean through the Palm Beach Longboarders, a chilled-out group of surfers known for their friendly attitude and cool wave riding style.
“I’ve a couple of Sean’s boards in my quiver and have been his boards for a few years”. When he decides on new board, he and Sean sit down and debate what features are required such as if it to a board for maneuvers such as nose-riding in a competition or is for free (non-competitive) surfing.
“It’s a joint effort, a discussion where we talk about what I’d like and what he thinks works best”, explains Michael.
Watching him paddle out with his mate David Mitchell who also surfs a Wilde, it’s obvious that the boards fir their style like a glove. They swoop energetically down the wave face, now hanging five, now turning down the undulating green swell.
At just 36, Sean’s longboards are highly coveted by surfers all over Australia and he is as highly regarded as many who have been shaping some 20 years longer. His boards are ridden by several surfers including northern beaches surfers Leesa and Lars Laug. Leesa, who competes on the Australian women’s pro-am longboard circuit, is at 5’1”, dwarfed by her board on the beach, but once she catches a wave, her petite figure easily guides it through many spectacular waves and maneuvers.
“I started looking at surfing magazines when I was about 12 in Sydney”, he recalls. “My uncle who surfed in the 1960s took me down to Cronulla beach and from the first wave I caught, I thought it was all pretty cool”.
His first surfboard was a 6’1” twin fin. “It was a backyard board (so called as it was made by an amateur) with no logo, so even then I was not into mainstream board riding”, he says. However he admits he was becoming obsessed with surfing and would spend hours looking at boards and wondering at their construction.
Undeterred when he dinged it, Sean went out a bought a book on surfboard repair and so unwittingly started off on the journey that would make his career.
“When I was 16, my dad got a transfer to the US and we ended up living at Huntington Beach in California”, says Sean. At first he did not want to go because he loved Australia and surfing with his mates but he soon changed his mind when on arrival, his new school had surfing on the curriculum as sport. “The school surf team was number one in the state the as soon as the surfing coach heard my Aussie accent, he assumed I must be really good”, recalls Sean with amusement.
“He sent me out to surf with the top six surfers in this massive eight foot swell and we had the paddle out through the pier pylons”, he says shaking his head. Sean may not have made the team, but his solid expertise in ding repairs quickly gained him serious cred with his new school mates.
“One my teachers introduced me to a friend who needed someone to help out with surfboard repairs”, says Sean. “This guy did all the local surf shops and I ended up doing 100 ding repairs a week after school”, he says. Sean credits the intense part-time work with exposing him to an enormous variety of board shapes and designs. “It was great being able to see how different designs came together, different constructions and manufacture and what made a good or a bad board.
An ephifany occured when Sean made his first board after deciding it was just the gift for his girlfriend Renee’s 19th birthday.
“It came out quite well for a first effort”, he says modestly.
It must been a ripper because she later married him.
“I thought well, maybe I can make a career out of this”.
This led to Sean then shaping a board for himself. When a mate borrowed it after snapping his own during a contest then went on to win, it gave Sean tremendous confidence. A short while later, another friend who was opening a surf store in Equator asked Sean to supply his business.
“It was perfect timing and a great experience”, he says.
After making around 1,000 boards, Sean felt it was time to move on. A couple of shaping jobs later, a neighbour needing assistance with his work at the Robert August surfboard factory recommended Sean.
“At the time, Endless Summer 2 had just come out and they were flat chat”, says Sean. He couldn’t believe his luck in working for one of the longboard icons. “You can’t turn that kind of opportunity down!” he says.
However, it was a baptism of fire when Sean found that he was expected to shape 15 four-stringer boards. (A stringer is the wooden strip that lies in the centre of the surfboard and gives it both strength and flexibility). Most boards have a single stringer, so four stringer boards are a real test of a craftman's workmanship and ability.
“I worked really late all week thinking I can’t let them down and I have to prove myself”, he says. “l could see the opportunity of working with Robert August through this intense apprenticeship as his factory produced every kind of surfboard from shortboards all the way through to big longboards”, he says. “They also made many different pro-surfer models under license for brands such as Corky Carroll and Mike Doyle”.
In the afternoons after work, Sean and his colleagues would have a beer and he loved hearing all the stories of surfing Hawaii and California in the old days before surfing became the mega-million business it is now.
It was an exhilarating time and Sean who was just 22, was stoked to be chosen to make boards for surfing icon Paul Strauch Jr. “Straugh invented the bottom hand turn! And Robert ‘Wingnut’ Weaver, (Robert August’s exuberant co-star in Endless Summer 2) was a good guy because although well-known, he was young and I could relate to him on a different level” says Sean with enthusiasm.
However, by 1996, Sean and his wife Renee decided to move to Australia.
“We would come back for holidays and think this is a lot better; there’s less people, better surf and less crowded waves, so we decided to move back”.
Sean moved over first and he stayed with his folks while looking for someone they could live, work and surf.
“I wanted to find a place that I loved, close to a surfing hub”, he says.
At that stage Sydney’s Brookvale and Mona Vale on the northern beaches were the two main areas where surfing businesses had congregated since the late 1950s. His brother drove him to Avalon and as soon as they pulled into the car park, Sean knew this was it.
“I approached Robert and said I want to move back to Oz, how about I do the RA boards there; they had someone in Japan and Europe and he said that would be great”.
While Renee sorted out their move, Sean flew over to Sydney with Robert to a barrage of publicity.
“It was the first time Robert had been back since the original Endless Summer in 1963 so we got a lot of media coverage”, he says. The due also went around to the main surfing stores and received a deluge of orders. But two years on, making boards under license fulltime and shaping his own brand part-time made Sean realize that his dream was to simply make his own boards. “I realized that I also disliked wholesaling to surf shops due to the small margins and many shops wanting boards done their way, so at some point I appreciated that I’m not happy unless I make boards my way”, he says.
“Reaching a nexus where I had all this knowledge and experience, I didn’t need to keep doing other people’s boards, I could do own thing”.
What defines a Sean Wilde board?
Walking around his shaping studio in Mona Vale, Sean explains that he does not like the marketing be a major feature, for example he’s not into massive logos on boards, preferring the shape, pigments and tints to tell the story. They have a classic, yet refined looks; imagine a cool 60’s board with a modern twist.
Sean admits that for him, the worst part of the job is when a potential client wants a board that does not fit in with his philosophy. “If a customers wants a custom board that I know is against all my principles, then I’d prefer not to make it”, he gently explains. “I admit that as I get older I get more set in my ways and if someone does not like my ideas, then they don’t have to buy them you can buy another board – I don’t force anyone to buy mine”. However, he agrees that most of his customers come to him because they are in agreement with his board designs which range from retro to neo.
“Luckily the majority of people who come to me leave the final outcome it up to me”, he says. “They might suggest colours they might suggest colours
“Before shaping I like to watch them surf”, he adds. Sean also asks them key questions about type of surfer they are and want to be, their current surfboard and what they like and dislike about it.
“My output is currently two boards a week and now I have found an excellent glasser whom I really trust, I want to boost that up to five”, he says.
And when the call of the ocean lures Sean away from his work, he can do so with a clear conscience.
“If we bludge work to go surfing, then it’s definitely customer research and development”, he says with a grin. “I don’t know how many times I have gone off work for a surf and have met someone who wants a board like the one I have out there”, he explains. “My dream would be that one day to have a house overlooking a point break with a shaping shack out the back”, he says.
Sean Wilde Surfboards 0405 254 497
This article first appeared in Australian Sea Change
“I’m not a ‘cowabunga’ surfer”, states Sean Wilde as he slowly smoothes down a rail on a custom longboard. Glancing up, he smiles and explains that he’s more low-key. Indeed, Sean is well known on the Sydney northern beaches and increasingly beyond, as a creator of beautiful, high quality longboards that he lovingly shapes by hand. While many surfboard manufacturers, from the leviathan to the backyard, have taken to using DSD (digital surfboard design computer software), Sean continues to put soul into his surfboards, choosing to restrict his output in order to maintain his high standards of quality.
“I consider a board a work of art not just a sporting item”, he says.
At 5.30 am on a summer weekday at north Avalon and the usual dawn patrol crew are pulling up to check the waves. Michael Meadows leans against his car and quickly scans the ocean to assess the swell. Satisfied that all is as it should be, he unties his surfboard from the roof rack and deftly starts waxing up a Wilde longboard.
“We share the same philosophy in board design”, he says.
“Sean’s boards are crafted not mass produced, they are individual to the rider and have an amazing quality”, he says.
Michael, who has been surfing some 32 years, met Sean through the Palm Beach Longboarders, a chilled-out group of surfers known for their friendly attitude and cool wave riding style.
“I’ve a couple of Sean’s boards in my quiver and have been his boards for a few years”. When he decides on new board, he and Sean sit down and debate what features are required such as if it to a board for maneuvers such as nose-riding in a competition or is for free (non-competitive) surfing.
“It’s a joint effort, a discussion where we talk about what I’d like and what he thinks works best”, explains Michael.
Watching him paddle out with his mate David Mitchell who also surfs a Wilde, it’s obvious that the boards fir their style like a glove. They swoop energetically down the wave face, now hanging five, now turning down the undulating green swell.
At just 36, Sean’s longboards are highly coveted by surfers all over Australia and he is as highly regarded as many who have been shaping some 20 years longer. His boards are ridden by several surfers including northern beaches surfers Leesa and Lars Laug. Leesa, who competes on the Australian women’s pro-am longboard circuit, is at 5’1”, dwarfed by her board on the beach, but once she catches a wave, her petite figure easily guides it through many spectacular waves and maneuvers.
“I started looking at surfing magazines when I was about 12 in Sydney”, he recalls. “My uncle who surfed in the 1960s took me down to Cronulla beach and from the first wave I caught, I thought it was all pretty cool”.
His first surfboard was a 6’1” twin fin. “It was a backyard board (so called as it was made by an amateur) with no logo, so even then I was not into mainstream board riding”, he says. However he admits he was becoming obsessed with surfing and would spend hours looking at boards and wondering at their construction.
Undeterred when he dinged it, Sean went out a bought a book on surfboard repair and so unwittingly started off on the journey that would make his career.
“When I was 16, my dad got a transfer to the US and we ended up living at Huntington Beach in California”, says Sean. At first he did not want to go because he loved Australia and surfing with his mates but he soon changed his mind when on arrival, his new school had surfing on the curriculum as sport. “The school surf team was number one in the state the as soon as the surfing coach heard my Aussie accent, he assumed I must be really good”, recalls Sean with amusement.
“He sent me out to surf with the top six surfers in this massive eight foot swell and we had the paddle out through the pier pylons”, he says shaking his head. Sean may not have made the team, but his solid expertise in ding repairs quickly gained him serious cred with his new school mates.
“One my teachers introduced me to a friend who needed someone to help out with surfboard repairs”, says Sean. “This guy did all the local surf shops and I ended up doing 100 ding repairs a week after school”, he says. Sean credits the intense part-time work with exposing him to an enormous variety of board shapes and designs. “It was great being able to see how different designs came together, different constructions and manufacture and what made a good or a bad board.
An ephifany occured when Sean made his first board after deciding it was just the gift for his girlfriend Renee’s 19th birthday.
“It came out quite well for a first effort”, he says modestly.
It must been a ripper because she later married him.
“I thought well, maybe I can make a career out of this”.
This led to Sean then shaping a board for himself. When a mate borrowed it after snapping his own during a contest then went on to win, it gave Sean tremendous confidence. A short while later, another friend who was opening a surf store in Equator asked Sean to supply his business.
“It was perfect timing and a great experience”, he says.
After making around 1,000 boards, Sean felt it was time to move on. A couple of shaping jobs later, a neighbour needing assistance with his work at the Robert August surfboard factory recommended Sean.
“At the time, Endless Summer 2 had just come out and they were flat chat”, says Sean. He couldn’t believe his luck in working for one of the longboard icons. “You can’t turn that kind of opportunity down!” he says.
However, it was a baptism of fire when Sean found that he was expected to shape 15 four-stringer boards. (A stringer is the wooden strip that lies in the centre of the surfboard and gives it both strength and flexibility). Most boards have a single stringer, so four stringer boards are a real test of a craftman's workmanship and ability.
“I worked really late all week thinking I can’t let them down and I have to prove myself”, he says. “l could see the opportunity of working with Robert August through this intense apprenticeship as his factory produced every kind of surfboard from shortboards all the way through to big longboards”, he says. “They also made many different pro-surfer models under license for brands such as Corky Carroll and Mike Doyle”.
In the afternoons after work, Sean and his colleagues would have a beer and he loved hearing all the stories of surfing Hawaii and California in the old days before surfing became the mega-million business it is now.
It was an exhilarating time and Sean who was just 22, was stoked to be chosen to make boards for surfing icon Paul Strauch Jr. “Straugh invented the bottom hand turn! And Robert ‘Wingnut’ Weaver, (Robert August’s exuberant co-star in Endless Summer 2) was a good guy because although well-known, he was young and I could relate to him on a different level” says Sean with enthusiasm.
However, by 1996, Sean and his wife Renee decided to move to Australia.
“We would come back for holidays and think this is a lot better; there’s less people, better surf and less crowded waves, so we decided to move back”.
Sean moved over first and he stayed with his folks while looking for someone they could live, work and surf.
“I wanted to find a place that I loved, close to a surfing hub”, he says.
At that stage Sydney’s Brookvale and Mona Vale on the northern beaches were the two main areas where surfing businesses had congregated since the late 1950s. His brother drove him to Avalon and as soon as they pulled into the car park, Sean knew this was it.
“I approached Robert and said I want to move back to Oz, how about I do the RA boards there; they had someone in Japan and Europe and he said that would be great”.
While Renee sorted out their move, Sean flew over to Sydney with Robert to a barrage of publicity.
“It was the first time Robert had been back since the original Endless Summer in 1963 so we got a lot of media coverage”, he says. The due also went around to the main surfing stores and received a deluge of orders. But two years on, making boards under license fulltime and shaping his own brand part-time made Sean realize that his dream was to simply make his own boards. “I realized that I also disliked wholesaling to surf shops due to the small margins and many shops wanting boards done their way, so at some point I appreciated that I’m not happy unless I make boards my way”, he says.
“Reaching a nexus where I had all this knowledge and experience, I didn’t need to keep doing other people’s boards, I could do own thing”.
What defines a Sean Wilde board?
Walking around his shaping studio in Mona Vale, Sean explains that he does not like the marketing be a major feature, for example he’s not into massive logos on boards, preferring the shape, pigments and tints to tell the story. They have a classic, yet refined looks; imagine a cool 60’s board with a modern twist.
Sean admits that for him, the worst part of the job is when a potential client wants a board that does not fit in with his philosophy. “If a customers wants a custom board that I know is against all my principles, then I’d prefer not to make it”, he gently explains. “I admit that as I get older I get more set in my ways and if someone does not like my ideas, then they don’t have to buy them you can buy another board – I don’t force anyone to buy mine”. However, he agrees that most of his customers come to him because they are in agreement with his board designs which range from retro to neo.
“Luckily the majority of people who come to me leave the final outcome it up to me”, he says. “They might suggest colours they might suggest colours
“Before shaping I like to watch them surf”, he adds. Sean also asks them key questions about type of surfer they are and want to be, their current surfboard and what they like and dislike about it.
“My output is currently two boards a week and now I have found an excellent glasser whom I really trust, I want to boost that up to five”, he says.
And when the call of the ocean lures Sean away from his work, he can do so with a clear conscience.
“If we bludge work to go surfing, then it’s definitely customer research and development”, he says with a grin. “I don’t know how many times I have gone off work for a surf and have met someone who wants a board like the one I have out there”, he explains. “My dream would be that one day to have a house overlooking a point break with a shaping shack out the back”, he says.
Sean Wilde Surfboards 0405 254 497
This article first appeared in Australian Sea Change
Monday, May 4, 2009
Surfing’s Seven Virtues
Back in the day before leg-ropes, thrusters, multinational surfing companies and over-priced branded accessories made in third-world countries, all a surfer needed was their board, some water skills and a few good waves. Times may have changed, the beaches - and the waves – are certainly more crowded, surf magazines scream merchandise and encourage consumerism and it sometimes seems that everyone from rapacious banks to big auto is using our activity to align themselves as cooler than they really are; it’s easy to think that all the good things about surfing went out with the tide in the good old days. That’s where the seven virtues come in. So the next time you are sitting out the back waiting for a wave, consider how many of surfing virtues you can commit to…
Faith – You have to have faith that the ocean will deliver; that when you give away a good wave to someone else, that another will come along for you, either today or tomorrow. It also means faith in your own surfing skills and ability, in having a positive attitude to surfing and your life beyond it.
Hope – This is essential when the surf hits a flat spot, when synoptic charts show highs like tadpoles in a pond, when all you can see is flatsky. Stay faithful to surfing, eventually the waves will return and surfing will be faithful to you.
Charity – you must be charitable. A leaner runs into you? Recall your own beginner days when you were as graceful as a buffalo on roller-skates. A surfer’s leg-rope snaps? You help them recover their board. Someone unfamiliar with the beach? You point out the rips and sweeps. A jerk drops in? Easier to pull off and get the next one, rather than upset your good mood by getting into fisticuffs (see Justice). But don’t confuse charity with washiness. Which leads us to…
Fortitude – This is what gets us up at dawn on a freezing winter weekend, compels us to enter the icy waves and paddle out despite losing any feeling in toes and fingers while enduring an ice-cream headache. It’s about pressing on when you feel your’e never going to get the hang of a cutback or hang five. It’s also about enjoying your surfing despite the fact you probably won’t be giving Layne or Kelly any competition anytime soon and being comfortable with that. It’s also about being strong and resisting bullies on the wave or on the beach. Anyone stupid enough to drop in on someone keen enough to surf mid-winter chop is asking for trouble.
Justice – Being fair and equitable with other surfers and yourself. After waiting for ages, a fabulous wave comes along and banishes all memory of cold, choppy and junky surf endured before; when you scrape and save to buy a new (or second hand) board and it makes you into the surfer you have always dreamed of being; when that nasty bully-boy who’s been a blight on the waves by hassling others, wipes out big time; when the underdog wildcard gets up and makes good.
Prudence – not surfing the sulky, sucky, reef-exposing 12ft surf despite your mates taunting; checking your leg-rope before paddling out; not leaving your key on your back tyre in the car park; carrying a spare pair of contacts lens in your board bag; checking the surf before paddling out; looking out for your mates; not surfing alone, before dawn, after dusk, with a dog or on a river mouth – you know the drill.
Temperance – Keeping fit and healthy so you can enjoy your surfing. Being able to paddle out in rough surf, emerge unscathed from wipe-outs and help another surfer in trouble is all part of the deal. Temperance does not mean not enjoying your food or wine, it means being healthier in mind, body and sou so you’ll get more stoke from your surfing.
Faith – You have to have faith that the ocean will deliver; that when you give away a good wave to someone else, that another will come along for you, either today or tomorrow. It also means faith in your own surfing skills and ability, in having a positive attitude to surfing and your life beyond it.
Hope – This is essential when the surf hits a flat spot, when synoptic charts show highs like tadpoles in a pond, when all you can see is flatsky. Stay faithful to surfing, eventually the waves will return and surfing will be faithful to you.
Charity – you must be charitable. A leaner runs into you? Recall your own beginner days when you were as graceful as a buffalo on roller-skates. A surfer’s leg-rope snaps? You help them recover their board. Someone unfamiliar with the beach? You point out the rips and sweeps. A jerk drops in? Easier to pull off and get the next one, rather than upset your good mood by getting into fisticuffs (see Justice). But don’t confuse charity with washiness. Which leads us to…
Fortitude – This is what gets us up at dawn on a freezing winter weekend, compels us to enter the icy waves and paddle out despite losing any feeling in toes and fingers while enduring an ice-cream headache. It’s about pressing on when you feel your’e never going to get the hang of a cutback or hang five. It’s also about enjoying your surfing despite the fact you probably won’t be giving Layne or Kelly any competition anytime soon and being comfortable with that. It’s also about being strong and resisting bullies on the wave or on the beach. Anyone stupid enough to drop in on someone keen enough to surf mid-winter chop is asking for trouble.
Justice – Being fair and equitable with other surfers and yourself. After waiting for ages, a fabulous wave comes along and banishes all memory of cold, choppy and junky surf endured before; when you scrape and save to buy a new (or second hand) board and it makes you into the surfer you have always dreamed of being; when that nasty bully-boy who’s been a blight on the waves by hassling others, wipes out big time; when the underdog wildcard gets up and makes good.
Prudence – not surfing the sulky, sucky, reef-exposing 12ft surf despite your mates taunting; checking your leg-rope before paddling out; not leaving your key on your back tyre in the car park; carrying a spare pair of contacts lens in your board bag; checking the surf before paddling out; looking out for your mates; not surfing alone, before dawn, after dusk, with a dog or on a river mouth – you know the drill.
Temperance – Keeping fit and healthy so you can enjoy your surfing. Being able to paddle out in rough surf, emerge unscathed from wipe-outs and help another surfer in trouble is all part of the deal. Temperance does not mean not enjoying your food or wine, it means being healthier in mind, body and sou so you’ll get more stoke from your surfing.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Not the usual suspects
Nine of Australia’s most significant surf people you’ve probably never heard of...
Most surfers are familiar with the usual suspects when it comes to who’s who in surfing. Mick, Layne, Steph, Pancho, Slater, Bruce, Parko…like Madonna and Elvis, they need no surname to indicate their importance.
Yet while these pro surfers wend their way on the WCT, living the life that millions can only dream, there’s a legion of talented, dedicated and hard-working movers and shakers whose contribution to surfing is significant – without their involvement, surfing would a heck of a lot poorer, culturally and financially.
They’re not the head honchos pulling down the mega-salaries, but there’s no doubting their influence. Of course, this list could be six times as long, so while there’s no disrespect meant to those who aren’t on it, here’s the list in no particular order…
Rob Holt
As coordinator of the Surf Science & Technology degree course at Edith Cowan University’s Bunbury and Margaret River campuses in Western Australia, Holt’s heard just about every joke about his studying surfing that can imagine. But it hasn’t tempered his enthusiasm for teaching students who after graduation, are working across the spectrum of surfing and environmental careers. A dedicated and popular lecturer, this core surfer loves nothing more than grabbing a board and heading out to Three Bears, Smiths or a secret spot somewhere on the serrated WA coast.
http://southwest.ecu.edu.au/surf/staff/holt.html
Craig ‘Gonzo’ Baird
Curator of Surfworld (which claims to be the worlds largest surfing museum), Gonzo is one of the most knowledgeable, accessible and friendly surf experts in the country, if not the planet. A talented board artist in his own right, he’s Surfworld’s intelligent backbone. Known for his wicked sense of humor and incredible (read darned difficult) surf trivia quizzes, the genial Gonzo has made the day of a many a visitor with a fascinating personal tour. Rumour has it he’s currently overseeing the cataloguing the mind-boggling contents of Surfworld’s amazing collection.
http://www.surfworld.org.au/ and www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2008/09/11/18139_echo_features.html
Barrie Sutherland
Back in the days before sealed wetsuits, leg ropes and shortboards, a younger Barrie Sutherland paddled out at Bells with his Nikonis camera tied to his waist with string and took the first images of the beach from the now world famous wave. A fledging wetsuit company called Rip Curl saw the results and used one of his images in their first ever print advertisement. The rest, as they say is history. Still surfing every day, Sutherland’s images are in the private collections of many surf company executives and world champions, as well as local surfers and blokes battleing to get in a wave or three in between work and family duties. When not catching waves he roams the south-west coast, still using his beloved old film camera, still shooting in black and white, stil driving his beloved VW Beetle. His retail outlet, the Watermarks Gallery in Torquay is an insiders club and is a destination for any visiting celeb waverider (Barrie's old mate Tim Winton popped in while in town) and boardriders young and old, no matter the kind of board they paddle out on. And he’s always up for a chat about surfing’s past, present and future.
http://www.watermarksphotogallery.com.au/
Gally (AKA as Graeme Galbraith)
When wildcard Adam Robertson blitzed through heats that chewed out many a mega-sponsored giant to take on Parko in the finals at the 2009 Rip Curl Pro last Easter, a lot of people were looking askance and asking “Adam who?” But for those who knew that Robertson was being coached by the formidable Gally, it was a cert that his natural talent would be boosted by the highly experienced local coach. The holder of three Australian, multiple Victorian and several masters’ titles and co-director of the respected Torquay Surf Academy, Gally knows Bells like his favourite surfboard and is no slouch when it comes to turning on and tuning up the competitive engine. Considered a secret weapon for many pros who want to get the Bowl and Rincon wired, Gally and his business partner Christian, a former WQS competitor and gun surfer himself, are constantly evaluating their coaching and surfing skills and ensuring that their surfers are mentally, physically and emotionally prepared for the best – and the worst – that the south-west waves can throw.
http://www.torquaysurf.com.au/aboutus.html
Max Wells
If you’ve ever been to a WCT event and marveled at just how the whole damn thing works, then it’s guys like Wells who oversee the transformation of the (almost) deserted beach one week, to full-scale comp venue and thriving community the next. Not only can he relate to everyone from local security, building contractors and navigate red-tape like it's confetti, he's also able to soothe temperamental pros, nervous first-timers and their various entourages. As Wells juggles several dozen balls in the air without losing his cool, he's the man responsible for it all comining together. No matter the time of day (or night), he's there, sorting out moles before they become mountains. Highly respected, he’s dedicated to surfing in all its aspects. Wells and his team get behind just about every surfing event in the state, be it the annul Rip Curl Pro or a local girls go surfing day.
http://www.surfingaustralia.com/school.aspx?siteid=7&org=450
Mick Mock
Considered the doyen of surf collectors, Mock is the country’s leading authority on surf history and culture. He’s also the man that other professionals such as the Sydney Maritime Museum contact when an unknown longboard or single-fin needs identification or provenance confirmed. Mock runs the annual and popular Sydney Surf Auction, his amazing shop Little Dragon (named after Bruce Lee) in Newport on Sydney’s northern beaches is chock-full of surfing memorabilia and ephemera. Honest, knowledgeable, kind, generous and hard working, Mock’s word is respected. In a world where the seriously dodgy can fool you into thinking that a worthless twin-fin is a sound financial investment, Mock can identify a retro from a reproduction faster than Fanning can make a cutback.
http://thebigchair.com.au/news/water-cooler/image-makers-catching-a-wave-of-opportunity and you can contact Mock via Facebook
Marine Cole & Dane Sharp
The dynamic media duo – Coles manages PR, Sharp international media - from Rip Curl successfully placate disorganized or disgruntled media, organize newsfeeds, images, interviews and data and sort out deadline driven reporters without losing their cool or their smiles. If you’ve ever seen a photo or read an article about the Rip Curl Pro at Bells, the MP Classic or West Coast Classic (just ti name a few) in a newspaper, magazine or online, then it’s a good bet that either of these two had a calm helping hand in getting it out there. While the pro surfers get the column inches and magazine covers, Cole and Sharp keep the Rip Curl event and brand out there.
http://www.ripcurl.com.au/?aboutbells
Martin Grose
As national development manager for Surfing Australia, Grose’s mission is get information about the sport as much as possible. A font of statistical and factual information for surf media, club organisers and individuals, Grose is also the man to have on the team at your board riding club’s trivia night. His commonsense approach was revealed to the public, when a surf school teacher who failed to alert his students to a nearby shark made national headlines last January; Grose said pretty much what everyone as thinking. Efficient and organised with a ‘glass half full’ approach, in an increasingly surf-rages world, Grose is doing a great job of promoting surfing across boards of all shapes and sizes.
http://www.surfingaustralia.com/info.aspx?siteid=1&mode=stats
Most surfers are familiar with the usual suspects when it comes to who’s who in surfing. Mick, Layne, Steph, Pancho, Slater, Bruce, Parko…like Madonna and Elvis, they need no surname to indicate their importance.
Yet while these pro surfers wend their way on the WCT, living the life that millions can only dream, there’s a legion of talented, dedicated and hard-working movers and shakers whose contribution to surfing is significant – without their involvement, surfing would a heck of a lot poorer, culturally and financially.
They’re not the head honchos pulling down the mega-salaries, but there’s no doubting their influence. Of course, this list could be six times as long, so while there’s no disrespect meant to those who aren’t on it, here’s the list in no particular order…
Rob Holt
As coordinator of the Surf Science & Technology degree course at Edith Cowan University’s Bunbury and Margaret River campuses in Western Australia, Holt’s heard just about every joke about his studying surfing that can imagine. But it hasn’t tempered his enthusiasm for teaching students who after graduation, are working across the spectrum of surfing and environmental careers. A dedicated and popular lecturer, this core surfer loves nothing more than grabbing a board and heading out to Three Bears, Smiths or a secret spot somewhere on the serrated WA coast.
http://southwest.ecu.edu.au/surf/staff/holt.html
Craig ‘Gonzo’ Baird
Curator of Surfworld (which claims to be the worlds largest surfing museum), Gonzo is one of the most knowledgeable, accessible and friendly surf experts in the country, if not the planet. A talented board artist in his own right, he’s Surfworld’s intelligent backbone. Known for his wicked sense of humor and incredible (read darned difficult) surf trivia quizzes, the genial Gonzo has made the day of a many a visitor with a fascinating personal tour. Rumour has it he’s currently overseeing the cataloguing the mind-boggling contents of Surfworld’s amazing collection.
http://www.surfworld.org.au/ and www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2008/09/11/18139_echo_features.html
Barrie Sutherland
Back in the days before sealed wetsuits, leg ropes and shortboards, a younger Barrie Sutherland paddled out at Bells with his Nikonis camera tied to his waist with string and took the first images of the beach from the now world famous wave. A fledging wetsuit company called Rip Curl saw the results and used one of his images in their first ever print advertisement. The rest, as they say is history. Still surfing every day, Sutherland’s images are in the private collections of many surf company executives and world champions, as well as local surfers and blokes battleing to get in a wave or three in between work and family duties. When not catching waves he roams the south-west coast, still using his beloved old film camera, still shooting in black and white, stil driving his beloved VW Beetle. His retail outlet, the Watermarks Gallery in Torquay is an insiders club and is a destination for any visiting celeb waverider (Barrie's old mate Tim Winton popped in while in town) and boardriders young and old, no matter the kind of board they paddle out on. And he’s always up for a chat about surfing’s past, present and future.
http://www.watermarksphotogallery.com.au/
Gally (AKA as Graeme Galbraith)
When wildcard Adam Robertson blitzed through heats that chewed out many a mega-sponsored giant to take on Parko in the finals at the 2009 Rip Curl Pro last Easter, a lot of people were looking askance and asking “Adam who?” But for those who knew that Robertson was being coached by the formidable Gally, it was a cert that his natural talent would be boosted by the highly experienced local coach. The holder of three Australian, multiple Victorian and several masters’ titles and co-director of the respected Torquay Surf Academy, Gally knows Bells like his favourite surfboard and is no slouch when it comes to turning on and tuning up the competitive engine. Considered a secret weapon for many pros who want to get the Bowl and Rincon wired, Gally and his business partner Christian, a former WQS competitor and gun surfer himself, are constantly evaluating their coaching and surfing skills and ensuring that their surfers are mentally, physically and emotionally prepared for the best – and the worst – that the south-west waves can throw.
http://www.torquaysurf.com.au/aboutus.html
Max Wells
If you’ve ever been to a WCT event and marveled at just how the whole damn thing works, then it’s guys like Wells who oversee the transformation of the (almost) deserted beach one week, to full-scale comp venue and thriving community the next. Not only can he relate to everyone from local security, building contractors and navigate red-tape like it's confetti, he's also able to soothe temperamental pros, nervous first-timers and their various entourages. As Wells juggles several dozen balls in the air without losing his cool, he's the man responsible for it all comining together. No matter the time of day (or night), he's there, sorting out moles before they become mountains. Highly respected, he’s dedicated to surfing in all its aspects. Wells and his team get behind just about every surfing event in the state, be it the annul Rip Curl Pro or a local girls go surfing day.
http://www.surfingaustralia.com/school.aspx?siteid=7&org=450
Mick Mock
Considered the doyen of surf collectors, Mock is the country’s leading authority on surf history and culture. He’s also the man that other professionals such as the Sydney Maritime Museum contact when an unknown longboard or single-fin needs identification or provenance confirmed. Mock runs the annual and popular Sydney Surf Auction, his amazing shop Little Dragon (named after Bruce Lee) in Newport on Sydney’s northern beaches is chock-full of surfing memorabilia and ephemera. Honest, knowledgeable, kind, generous and hard working, Mock’s word is respected. In a world where the seriously dodgy can fool you into thinking that a worthless twin-fin is a sound financial investment, Mock can identify a retro from a reproduction faster than Fanning can make a cutback.
http://thebigchair.com.au/news/water-cooler/image-makers-catching-a-wave-of-opportunity and you can contact Mock via Facebook
Marine Cole & Dane Sharp
The dynamic media duo – Coles manages PR, Sharp international media - from Rip Curl successfully placate disorganized or disgruntled media, organize newsfeeds, images, interviews and data and sort out deadline driven reporters without losing their cool or their smiles. If you’ve ever seen a photo or read an article about the Rip Curl Pro at Bells, the MP Classic or West Coast Classic (just ti name a few) in a newspaper, magazine or online, then it’s a good bet that either of these two had a calm helping hand in getting it out there. While the pro surfers get the column inches and magazine covers, Cole and Sharp keep the Rip Curl event and brand out there.
http://www.ripcurl.com.au/?aboutbells
Martin Grose
As national development manager for Surfing Australia, Grose’s mission is get information about the sport as much as possible. A font of statistical and factual information for surf media, club organisers and individuals, Grose is also the man to have on the team at your board riding club’s trivia night. His commonsense approach was revealed to the public, when a surf school teacher who failed to alert his students to a nearby shark made national headlines last January; Grose said pretty much what everyone as thinking. Efficient and organised with a ‘glass half full’ approach, in an increasingly surf-rages world, Grose is doing a great job of promoting surfing across boards of all shapes and sizes.
http://www.surfingaustralia.com/info.aspx?siteid=1&mode=stats
Friday, April 17, 2009
Never underestimate the underdog
We all love backing the underdog.
Nothing like seeing a new face battle it out with the seasoned pros.
Inexperience versus veteran.
David versus Goliath.
Battling up and comer versus multi-sponsored athlete.
And don’t think that those at the top of the heap underestimate the wildcards for an instant.
At the media conference for the 2009 Rip Curl Pro, when a journalist asked Stephanie Gilmore if she had any advice for women’s event wildcard, 14 year old surfing sensation Nikki Van Dijk, she smiled and shook her head. To Van Dijk’s obvious astonishment and delight, Gilmore said she felt the younger woman could be a serious threat and did not to give her any advantages.
Smart woman.
Wildcards have a history of toppling champions - you don’t want to give them any opportunity.
Look at Mick Fanning.
He burst through as a skinny kid who blitzed through the seemingly invincible field to take out the 2001 Rip Curl Pro.
And this year’s event saw the usual finals suspects topple faster than the economy. Kelly Slater eliminated by Owen Wright, now dubbed the ‘Slater Slayer’; Taj Burrow who won in 2007 , seven times world champ and recently retired Layne Beachley, current world champ Stephanie Gilmore and Chelsea Hodges all departed earlier than expected.
So when Jan Juc’s Adam Robertson who’s listed at 76th on the WQS took his wildcard opportunity through nine grueling heats to emerge as the highest ever ranked Victorian surfer at the world’s longest running surfing competition, it’s a cause to celebrate.
Coached by one of Australia's most respected surfers, Grayeme 'Gally' Galbraith (current Australian over 50s title holder and co-director of Torquay Surf Acaedmy http://www.torquaysurf.com.au/) saw Robertson fit, focussed and on fire.
After out surfing some of the best performers on the WCT, including Hawaiian Kekoa Bacalso, Australians Tom Whitaker and Bede Durbidge, Robertson came up against the polished technique of the highly experienced Gold Coaster Joel Parkinson in the final. Despite a home ground advantage, not to mention 99 per cent of the crowd cheering him on, Robertson emerged runner-up.
But he can hold his head up high.
He entered the event without a key sponsor, but no doubt the marketing execs have sat up and paid attention.
Hopefully, he’ll get some backing to match his passion and dedication.
On the podium, he was a good sport, acknowledging his rival and joining in the clapping and cheering when Parkinson rang the bell for the second time in his career. The man who’s taken out the first two WCT events this year spoke generously of Robertson and there’s no doubt that from the beginning, he took the wildcard seriously.
Paddling out earlier today, Parkinson was possibly recalling the day nearly a decade ago when as a 17 year old wildcard he became the youngest every surfer to win the Billabong Pro at Jeffrey’s Bay.
The bell on Robertson’s own trophy for second place no doubt sounded sweet enough to someone whom the bookies would have given heavy odds to make the semis, let alone the final.
But the look in his eyes says it all.
Underdog no longer.
He’ll be back.
Nothing like seeing a new face battle it out with the seasoned pros.
Inexperience versus veteran.
David versus Goliath.
Battling up and comer versus multi-sponsored athlete.
And don’t think that those at the top of the heap underestimate the wildcards for an instant.
At the media conference for the 2009 Rip Curl Pro, when a journalist asked Stephanie Gilmore if she had any advice for women’s event wildcard, 14 year old surfing sensation Nikki Van Dijk, she smiled and shook her head. To Van Dijk’s obvious astonishment and delight, Gilmore said she felt the younger woman could be a serious threat and did not to give her any advantages.
Smart woman.
Wildcards have a history of toppling champions - you don’t want to give them any opportunity.
Look at Mick Fanning.
He burst through as a skinny kid who blitzed through the seemingly invincible field to take out the 2001 Rip Curl Pro.
And this year’s event saw the usual finals suspects topple faster than the economy. Kelly Slater eliminated by Owen Wright, now dubbed the ‘Slater Slayer’; Taj Burrow who won in 2007 , seven times world champ and recently retired Layne Beachley, current world champ Stephanie Gilmore and Chelsea Hodges all departed earlier than expected.
So when Jan Juc’s Adam Robertson who’s listed at 76th on the WQS took his wildcard opportunity through nine grueling heats to emerge as the highest ever ranked Victorian surfer at the world’s longest running surfing competition, it’s a cause to celebrate.
Coached by one of Australia's most respected surfers, Grayeme 'Gally' Galbraith (current Australian over 50s title holder and co-director of Torquay Surf Acaedmy http://www.torquaysurf.com.au/) saw Robertson fit, focussed and on fire.
After out surfing some of the best performers on the WCT, including Hawaiian Kekoa Bacalso, Australians Tom Whitaker and Bede Durbidge, Robertson came up against the polished technique of the highly experienced Gold Coaster Joel Parkinson in the final. Despite a home ground advantage, not to mention 99 per cent of the crowd cheering him on, Robertson emerged runner-up.
But he can hold his head up high.
He entered the event without a key sponsor, but no doubt the marketing execs have sat up and paid attention.
Hopefully, he’ll get some backing to match his passion and dedication.
On the podium, he was a good sport, acknowledging his rival and joining in the clapping and cheering when Parkinson rang the bell for the second time in his career. The man who’s taken out the first two WCT events this year spoke generously of Robertson and there’s no doubt that from the beginning, he took the wildcard seriously.
Paddling out earlier today, Parkinson was possibly recalling the day nearly a decade ago when as a 17 year old wildcard he became the youngest every surfer to win the Billabong Pro at Jeffrey’s Bay.
The bell on Robertson’s own trophy for second place no doubt sounded sweet enough to someone whom the bookies would have given heavy odds to make the semis, let alone the final.
But the look in his eyes says it all.
Underdog no longer.
He’ll be back.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Shake it up baby – Surfing’s continual musical wave
Surf music is an incredibly diverse genre. Ever since its inception on the beaches of Southern California in the late 50s and its speedy adoption in Australia, surfers have been listening to a wide variety of music that falls into the ‘surfing sounds’ category. So lets put down our sticks and wade into the surf music debate…
Ask a non-surfer to define surf rock and you’ll get conventional answers with the Beach Boys in high rotation. Ask the same question to a bunch of surfers and you’ll get answers as varied as their boards.“The Atlantics rule”, says a shortboarder who must have been born a good two decades after Bombora first rocked the airwaves.
“Jack Johnson, Xavier Rudd and the Beautiful Girls”, says a longboarder.
“Midnight Oil”, proclaims her friend on a mal.
“Paul Kelly’s Gunnamatta”, calls out a silver surfer as he paddles by on a custom 9’2” Peter Ashley.
“Beau Young’s Last Wave of Summer”, chips in a wahine on a carver.
And after hurtling down a wave and dropping in on me, a young bodyboarder grins. “It’s what old people listen to”, he offers.
He’ll keep.
From its beginning in the late 50’s, surf music always had the ability to mean different things to different people at different times. Once surfing music was very identifiable with a distinct resonance, but now, a wide range of musical styles fall into the surf music category at concerts, accompany surfing films and on surf inspired CD compilations.
You can think of surf music in two categories; vocal and instrumental. Jan and Dean's hits Deadman’s Curve and Surf City paved the way for groups such as The Beach Boys harmonic vocals leaned more towards the mainstream pop-rock style of music, often referred to as ‘beach music’ or ‘surf pop’. Whereas, instrumental groups like The Atlantics often comprised one or two guitar players, a bass player and a drummer and were inspired by Dick Dale, the original ‘King of the surf guitar’. Dale pioneered instrumental surf music and was the first to play Leo Fender’s breakthrough guitar, the Fender Stratocaster. Dale reckons that his distinctive sound came from his desire to recreate the sound of Gene Krupa the famous jazz drummer that created the sounds of the native dancers in the jungles along with the roar of mother nature's creature's and the roar of the ocean.
Today Dale and Jan and Dean are still performing after overcoming huge personal and professional odds, with Dale overcoming cancer and Jan Berry terrible brain injuries in a near fatal auto accident in 1966. Some 12 years later, he was finally able to tour again with Dean when they supported the Beach Boys, some 15 years after they first played together.
Like longboarders, surf musicians seem to go on forever.
Surf music’s current resurgence means that it is listened by more than those who can recall Phyllis O’Donnell winning the first woman’s world championship in1964. Surfers of all ages as well as their non-beach going mates are turning up their radios – or iPods – to catch the surfing sounds. Surf music is also full of players who would not know a good wave from a wipeout. The Atlantics were from Sydney’s eastern suburbs and took their name from a petrol sign, not the ocean as many supposed. Dale confessed that while he did surf, he wasn’t great and paradoxically, Dennis Wilson, famously the only Beach Boy who actually surfed, drowned in 1983. However, despite their lack of ability as a group to grab a wave, the Beach Boys certainly managed to hijack the genre.
You don’t have to be a surfer to enjoy the music that’s been inspired by the wave-walking lifestyle. No matter if your tribe is into Foo Fighters, Powderfinger, a Coastal Chill collection or the whole Blue Crush soundtrack, it seems that they all concord into the surf music category. And it’s not just the beachside suspects singing about sex, surf and sun; take the Vivesectors who describe themselves as ‘a Lo-fi Psychosurf band from the Deep Russian Underground’, or Denmark’s The Baywatchers, a surf rock n’ roll punk ensemble founded in Copehagen and now based in Berlin. It seems that if surfers (or those who like the idea of surfing) listen to it, then its surf music.
Just as Australia’s surfers tended to follow the lead shown by their US counterparts when it came to board construction and design, we also followed their musical influences. 1963 was the year when surf music exploded in Australia, with eight of the national top 10 hits surf related. The Denvermen’s ‘Surfside' was the first Australian surf song, but it only hit the charts after American songs ‘Pipeline’ by The Shantays and ‘Wipeout’ by The Surfaris livened up the airways.
On the local scene, surfers and landlocked youngsters alike were stomping along to Little Pattie (Patricia Amphlett now the president of the Media Alliaince) who was then as famous as any recent Australian Idol winner. In 1963 her first single He's My Blonde Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy/Stompin' At Maroubra reached #2 on the Top 40 charts, beaten only by The Beatles at #1. Once The Atlantics recorded 'Bombora' it seemed that every major recording artist was recording a 'Surf' record – including crooner Barry Crocker and ballet dancer Sir Robert Helpman.
But sometimes being a local band wasn’t a virtue,
"When ‘Bombora’ was first released, a lot of people especially in the music industry thought we were American”, comments drummer Peter Hood. “Since then, we've met a lot of deejays who have confessed that if they had known we were an Australian band then they would never have played our records." The late ‘60’s shortboard revolution kick started by Bob McTavish, Nat Young and George Greenough was in tandem with traditional surf music losing popularity to rock, despite strong bands such as the Sydney northern beaches group Tamam Shud, who contributed four songs to legendary surf movie 'Morning of the Earth, which is enjoying a resurgence and fecently played a number of sell-out concerts around the country to an audiance comprising mostly surfers who could rememebr the 60s and beyond.
But then, suddenly surf music was old hat and the music from your tranny was more likely to be from the ‘British Invasion’; the Rolling Stones, the Animals or the Beatles. Like longboards, surf music was regarded by the mainstream as the sign of the old timer, while punk, rock and heavy metal stood sway.
The current revival slowly came to mainstream ears when Midnight Oil released 'Wedding Cake Island' and it slowly gained momentum in mid-80s when Quentin Tarantino used Dale's ‘Miserlou’ in Pulp Fiction. Suddenly, baby boomers rediscovered the longboards they abandoned along with bands such as the Atlantics (who by the way are still going strong and for the most part, look as fit and hip now as they did back then). Despite having their first hit in 1961, like any good surf break they are still rocking. In 2000, the Sydney Olympics closing ceremony featured ‘Bombora’, while 100 lifesavers dragged a giant lifesaving reel into the arena and their support during the Beach Boys tour in 2003 showed that they had not lost their passion or ability to put on a stunning performance.
Another more grass-roots venue for surfing musicians are surf film events held in RSL’s, school halls and surf clubs all over the country. Whether it’s the local board-riders running a fund raiser or part of a mega surf brand competition, these events allow both local musicians and the broader surfing community to come together. At the 2005 Australian Surf Movie Festival, the live music at the Palm Beach Sydney show came from local band Token View with surf film soundtrack stalwart Pico playing at intermission to an audience that ranged from under six to 60 plus. Mostly wearing surf themed t-shirts, boardshorts, loud shirts and thongs.
Events such as the Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival have showcased the emergence of talented artists such as Jack Johnson, Xavier Rudd, John Butler, The Beautiful Girls, Ben Harper and his pro-surfing pal and singer-songwriter Donovan Frankenreiter, whose mellow tunes and lyrical sounds appear to have totally re-invented the surf music sound. Johnson is typical when he says that his diverse musical influences includes; Nick Drake, The Beatles, Hendrix, Tribe Called Quest, Dylan, Ben Harper, Radio Head, G. Love, Special Sauce, Otis Redding, Neil Young, Marley, Kurosawa and Tom Curren.
This new surf wave with their blues-roots sound and eclectic influences have encouraged many local and internal surfers to make waves in the recording studio. Beau Young, former 2000 and 2003 world longboarding champion, has shown he’s not just incredible in the water, as his first release 'It Ain’t Easy' on the Weekend Sessions CD proves. “In my mind, music in my life is just as important as surfing.” His first album Waves of Change was a critical and commercial success and Still, album number two shows he's as unstoppable in the studio as he is on a wave. Friend and fellow longboard champ Lucas Proudfoot’s band, Max Judo released their first CD in 2005 and it went gangbusters in Japan. Even Kelly Slater is getting into it with his imaginatively named band ‘The Surfers’.
Even the Rip Curl Pro the longest running profesisonal surf comp in the world, now subtitles their event a 'surf & music festival'; the 2009 lineup included Ash Gunwald, The Goons of Doom and a host of talemt as diverse as the waves Bells can produce.
But the classic surf sounds endure.
Paul Kelly’s glorious release Gunnamatta is reminiscent of early surf instrumentals and ‘Mal & the Longboarders’, a gang of cool dudes who surf – what else – longboards in the 2nd Wind Longboard Club based at Federal near Byron Bay, play their own songs alongside more traditional music and are in huge demand at surfing comps and parties up and down Australia’s east coast. Member Soz Carlberg is so devoted to music, he even named his son Strat, after his favourite Fender guitar. Their new album 'The Other Side 'is selling strongly to longtime wax-heads as well as kids were weren’t even born when the band first rode a wave – or wrote a note. “It’s all about fun in the sun and catching waves”, says their bass guitarist Mal Walker.
“Like surfing, surf music is all about good times”.
Aloha to that.
More Info
Waltzing the Plank – the illustrated encyclopedia of Australian surf music 1963-2003 by Stephen J McParland www.garyusher.com/cmusic.html This encyclopedic work is an essential publication for anyone interested in the history of Australian surf music
Must have surf sounds
Atlantics – Bombora and Point Break
Beach Boys – Surfin’ Safari
Ben Harper – Diamonds on the Inside
Beau Young Waves of Change
Blue Crush soundtrack
Chantays – Pipleline
Coastal Chill – any compilation
Donovan Frankenreiter - Donovan Frankenreiter
The Sandals - Endless Summer soundtrack
G-Love & Special Sauce - The Best of G. Love and Special Sauce
Jack Johnson – Brushfire Fairytales
John Butler Trio - Living
Mal & the Longboarders – The Other Side and Sticky Feet
Midnight Oil – Wedding Cake Island
Paul Kelly - Gunnamatta
The Surfaris – Wipeout!
Weekend Sessions (any compilation)
Wetsuits – Golden Tones of the Wetsuits
Xavier Rudd – Live at the Grid
Ask a non-surfer to define surf rock and you’ll get conventional answers with the Beach Boys in high rotation. Ask the same question to a bunch of surfers and you’ll get answers as varied as their boards.“The Atlantics rule”, says a shortboarder who must have been born a good two decades after Bombora first rocked the airwaves.
“Jack Johnson, Xavier Rudd and the Beautiful Girls”, says a longboarder.
“Midnight Oil”, proclaims her friend on a mal.
“Paul Kelly’s Gunnamatta”, calls out a silver surfer as he paddles by on a custom 9’2” Peter Ashley.
“Beau Young’s Last Wave of Summer”, chips in a wahine on a carver.
And after hurtling down a wave and dropping in on me, a young bodyboarder grins. “It’s what old people listen to”, he offers.
He’ll keep.
From its beginning in the late 50’s, surf music always had the ability to mean different things to different people at different times. Once surfing music was very identifiable with a distinct resonance, but now, a wide range of musical styles fall into the surf music category at concerts, accompany surfing films and on surf inspired CD compilations.
You can think of surf music in two categories; vocal and instrumental. Jan and Dean's hits Deadman’s Curve and Surf City paved the way for groups such as The Beach Boys harmonic vocals leaned more towards the mainstream pop-rock style of music, often referred to as ‘beach music’ or ‘surf pop’. Whereas, instrumental groups like The Atlantics often comprised one or two guitar players, a bass player and a drummer and were inspired by Dick Dale, the original ‘King of the surf guitar’. Dale pioneered instrumental surf music and was the first to play Leo Fender’s breakthrough guitar, the Fender Stratocaster. Dale reckons that his distinctive sound came from his desire to recreate the sound of Gene Krupa the famous jazz drummer that created the sounds of the native dancers in the jungles along with the roar of mother nature's creature's and the roar of the ocean.
Today Dale and Jan and Dean are still performing after overcoming huge personal and professional odds, with Dale overcoming cancer and Jan Berry terrible brain injuries in a near fatal auto accident in 1966. Some 12 years later, he was finally able to tour again with Dean when they supported the Beach Boys, some 15 years after they first played together.
Like longboarders, surf musicians seem to go on forever.
Surf music’s current resurgence means that it is listened by more than those who can recall Phyllis O’Donnell winning the first woman’s world championship in1964. Surfers of all ages as well as their non-beach going mates are turning up their radios – or iPods – to catch the surfing sounds. Surf music is also full of players who would not know a good wave from a wipeout. The Atlantics were from Sydney’s eastern suburbs and took their name from a petrol sign, not the ocean as many supposed. Dale confessed that while he did surf, he wasn’t great and paradoxically, Dennis Wilson, famously the only Beach Boy who actually surfed, drowned in 1983. However, despite their lack of ability as a group to grab a wave, the Beach Boys certainly managed to hijack the genre.
You don’t have to be a surfer to enjoy the music that’s been inspired by the wave-walking lifestyle. No matter if your tribe is into Foo Fighters, Powderfinger, a Coastal Chill collection or the whole Blue Crush soundtrack, it seems that they all concord into the surf music category. And it’s not just the beachside suspects singing about sex, surf and sun; take the Vivesectors who describe themselves as ‘a Lo-fi Psychosurf band from the Deep Russian Underground’, or Denmark’s The Baywatchers, a surf rock n’ roll punk ensemble founded in Copehagen and now based in Berlin. It seems that if surfers (or those who like the idea of surfing) listen to it, then its surf music.
Just as Australia’s surfers tended to follow the lead shown by their US counterparts when it came to board construction and design, we also followed their musical influences. 1963 was the year when surf music exploded in Australia, with eight of the national top 10 hits surf related. The Denvermen’s ‘Surfside' was the first Australian surf song, but it only hit the charts after American songs ‘Pipeline’ by The Shantays and ‘Wipeout’ by The Surfaris livened up the airways.
On the local scene, surfers and landlocked youngsters alike were stomping along to Little Pattie (Patricia Amphlett now the president of the Media Alliaince) who was then as famous as any recent Australian Idol winner. In 1963 her first single He's My Blonde Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy/Stompin' At Maroubra reached #2 on the Top 40 charts, beaten only by The Beatles at #1. Once The Atlantics recorded 'Bombora' it seemed that every major recording artist was recording a 'Surf' record – including crooner Barry Crocker and ballet dancer Sir Robert Helpman.
But sometimes being a local band wasn’t a virtue,
"When ‘Bombora’ was first released, a lot of people especially in the music industry thought we were American”, comments drummer Peter Hood. “Since then, we've met a lot of deejays who have confessed that if they had known we were an Australian band then they would never have played our records." The late ‘60’s shortboard revolution kick started by Bob McTavish, Nat Young and George Greenough was in tandem with traditional surf music losing popularity to rock, despite strong bands such as the Sydney northern beaches group Tamam Shud, who contributed four songs to legendary surf movie 'Morning of the Earth, which is enjoying a resurgence and fecently played a number of sell-out concerts around the country to an audiance comprising mostly surfers who could rememebr the 60s and beyond.
But then, suddenly surf music was old hat and the music from your tranny was more likely to be from the ‘British Invasion’; the Rolling Stones, the Animals or the Beatles. Like longboards, surf music was regarded by the mainstream as the sign of the old timer, while punk, rock and heavy metal stood sway.
The current revival slowly came to mainstream ears when Midnight Oil released 'Wedding Cake Island' and it slowly gained momentum in mid-80s when Quentin Tarantino used Dale's ‘Miserlou’ in Pulp Fiction. Suddenly, baby boomers rediscovered the longboards they abandoned along with bands such as the Atlantics (who by the way are still going strong and for the most part, look as fit and hip now as they did back then). Despite having their first hit in 1961, like any good surf break they are still rocking. In 2000, the Sydney Olympics closing ceremony featured ‘Bombora’, while 100 lifesavers dragged a giant lifesaving reel into the arena and their support during the Beach Boys tour in 2003 showed that they had not lost their passion or ability to put on a stunning performance.
Another more grass-roots venue for surfing musicians are surf film events held in RSL’s, school halls and surf clubs all over the country. Whether it’s the local board-riders running a fund raiser or part of a mega surf brand competition, these events allow both local musicians and the broader surfing community to come together. At the 2005 Australian Surf Movie Festival, the live music at the Palm Beach Sydney show came from local band Token View with surf film soundtrack stalwart Pico playing at intermission to an audience that ranged from under six to 60 plus. Mostly wearing surf themed t-shirts, boardshorts, loud shirts and thongs.
Events such as the Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival have showcased the emergence of talented artists such as Jack Johnson, Xavier Rudd, John Butler, The Beautiful Girls, Ben Harper and his pro-surfing pal and singer-songwriter Donovan Frankenreiter, whose mellow tunes and lyrical sounds appear to have totally re-invented the surf music sound. Johnson is typical when he says that his diverse musical influences includes; Nick Drake, The Beatles, Hendrix, Tribe Called Quest, Dylan, Ben Harper, Radio Head, G. Love, Special Sauce, Otis Redding, Neil Young, Marley, Kurosawa and Tom Curren.
This new surf wave with their blues-roots sound and eclectic influences have encouraged many local and internal surfers to make waves in the recording studio. Beau Young, former 2000 and 2003 world longboarding champion, has shown he’s not just incredible in the water, as his first release 'It Ain’t Easy' on the Weekend Sessions CD proves. “In my mind, music in my life is just as important as surfing.” His first album Waves of Change was a critical and commercial success and Still, album number two shows he's as unstoppable in the studio as he is on a wave. Friend and fellow longboard champ Lucas Proudfoot’s band, Max Judo released their first CD in 2005 and it went gangbusters in Japan. Even Kelly Slater is getting into it with his imaginatively named band ‘The Surfers’.
Even the Rip Curl Pro the longest running profesisonal surf comp in the world, now subtitles their event a 'surf & music festival'; the 2009 lineup included Ash Gunwald, The Goons of Doom and a host of talemt as diverse as the waves Bells can produce.
But the classic surf sounds endure.
Paul Kelly’s glorious release Gunnamatta is reminiscent of early surf instrumentals and ‘Mal & the Longboarders’, a gang of cool dudes who surf – what else – longboards in the 2nd Wind Longboard Club based at Federal near Byron Bay, play their own songs alongside more traditional music and are in huge demand at surfing comps and parties up and down Australia’s east coast. Member Soz Carlberg is so devoted to music, he even named his son Strat, after his favourite Fender guitar. Their new album 'The Other Side 'is selling strongly to longtime wax-heads as well as kids were weren’t even born when the band first rode a wave – or wrote a note. “It’s all about fun in the sun and catching waves”, says their bass guitarist Mal Walker.
“Like surfing, surf music is all about good times”.
Aloha to that.
More Info
Waltzing the Plank – the illustrated encyclopedia of Australian surf music 1963-2003 by Stephen J McParland www.garyusher.com/cmusic.html This encyclopedic work is an essential publication for anyone interested in the history of Australian surf music
Must have surf sounds
Atlantics – Bombora and Point Break
Beach Boys – Surfin’ Safari
Ben Harper – Diamonds on the Inside
Beau Young Waves of Change
Blue Crush soundtrack
Chantays – Pipleline
Coastal Chill – any compilation
Donovan Frankenreiter - Donovan Frankenreiter
The Sandals - Endless Summer soundtrack
G-Love & Special Sauce - The Best of G. Love and Special Sauce
Jack Johnson – Brushfire Fairytales
John Butler Trio - Living
Mal & the Longboarders – The Other Side and Sticky Feet
Midnight Oil – Wedding Cake Island
Paul Kelly - Gunnamatta
The Surfaris – Wipeout!
Weekend Sessions (any compilation)
Wetsuits – Golden Tones of the Wetsuits
Xavier Rudd – Live at the Grid
Confessions of an ice queen
When I was getting into my wetsuit at the Torquay car park one chilly dawn last winter, I overheard a rugged-up-to-the-max dog-walker say to another as they glanced over at me, 'what makes these people go there when it's so bloody cold?'I wanted to call out, “passion, my friend, passion”. But as I struggled with the back zip and inserted my earplugs, I had to admit that it’s more a heady mixture of passion and sheer bloody determination to down the last of your coffee from the insulated mug, kick off your wooly slippers, shed a toasty polar fleece jumper hastily donned over your PJs to drag on an often still-damp wetsuit, run across sand so cold it burns your feet despite booties and relish the warm (by comparison) ocean. Although, when an offshore westerly signals snow dumps to cheer the hearts of skiers even as it penetrates your wetsuit, chills your spine and the waves refuse to break, you do occasionally wonder what in hell you are doing out there. Sometimes it can be bleak out there in the water with the other desperados, while everyone else appears to be at home reading the weekend papers and enjoying another slice of hot buttered raisin toast. But when the swell arrives, be it at Possos, Juc or places further south, when you paddle those numb hands and catch that icy wave and tear down its glassy face, you wouldn't change your place with kings.
It takes a special kind of person to surf through winter. I’d like to think that as someone who willingly wakes before five o’clock in the morning twelve months of the year, leaps into their swimmers without even checking the surf report and
despite modern conveniences such as surfcams and online weather reports, bundles her boards, wax, a towel and a yawning husband into the car (not in that order) before driving off to the local beach with supreme confidence that today it will be pumping despite howling winds or hail; I’d like to think that this kind of person is, well, someone cool. But I suspect it really boils down to being obsessed and as stubborn as all get out. Sure, it’s easy to rise before dawn during Torquay’s seemingly endless summers and spend the day alternating between the glassy waves and the shade from the twisted trees at Point Danger. But come that first autumnal hint, then the non-committed turn away from the ocean and take up squash, skiing or footy until November.
Thank goodness.
Like those who purport to follow Richmond, but in reality only cheer them when they are winning, they don’t realize what they are missing as winter surf is exhilarating time! Not only are the waves less crowded, they are heaps more fun to ride. Fewer surfers mean less competition and a far mellower vibe. Any foolish rivalry, either real or imagined between the tribes shortboarders, longboarders, mal riders, waveskiers, kneeboarders, standupd and bodyboarders, for the most part disappears as we all sit there, hands tucked under armpits, teeth chattering together. As you bob up and down with your fellow desperados, you feel scorn for those who non-believers who pull into the carpark, shake their heads and return home, warm, dry and without a wave to their name.
Some of the more mature longboarders even don neoprene rubber caps, looking strangely like medieval butchers or extras from ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ as they swiftly paddle past. Perhaps it’s because I learned to surf here in Victoria where the water might be just 10 degrees whilst the wind chill factor you’d swear under oath is no more than -11, that Sydney’s winters seems very mild by comparison. Still, you know how cold it is by the time it takes for your feet to numb up - when you can’t feel your toes; it’s definitely time to paddle in.
Emerging, the wind whips through you as you pelt up the sand. In the car park you thaw your frozen feet under a cold shower or by pouring the remains of the thermos flask contents over them and hurriedly place a towel on the seat so you can drive home rubber clad. On the days when my husband has the car and I cycle to the beach, I wear gloves so I can maintain grip on the handlebars and I peddle as hard as I can to get the blood going. Dashing inside, you jump in the shower, turn the water on hot, hot, hot and are revived in the heat rush. Later, rugged up and sipping miso soup or tea, then gobbling porridge, crumpets or poached eggs (some days you feel so starved you’d consume it all) by the fire, you relive every wave and email or text your girlfriends about the amazing rides you caught, wiped out on and the Harvey wallbanger sunrise you were privileged to witness.
Who cares about mortgages, the falling economy, your idiot boss or newspaper headlines?
Its winter waves ahoy.
The surf is up and so are my spirits.
It takes a special kind of person to surf through winter. I’d like to think that as someone who willingly wakes before five o’clock in the morning twelve months of the year, leaps into their swimmers without even checking the surf report and
despite modern conveniences such as surfcams and online weather reports, bundles her boards, wax, a towel and a yawning husband into the car (not in that order) before driving off to the local beach with supreme confidence that today it will be pumping despite howling winds or hail; I’d like to think that this kind of person is, well, someone cool. But I suspect it really boils down to being obsessed and as stubborn as all get out. Sure, it’s easy to rise before dawn during Torquay’s seemingly endless summers and spend the day alternating between the glassy waves and the shade from the twisted trees at Point Danger. But come that first autumnal hint, then the non-committed turn away from the ocean and take up squash, skiing or footy until November.
Thank goodness.
Like those who purport to follow Richmond, but in reality only cheer them when they are winning, they don’t realize what they are missing as winter surf is exhilarating time! Not only are the waves less crowded, they are heaps more fun to ride. Fewer surfers mean less competition and a far mellower vibe. Any foolish rivalry, either real or imagined between the tribes shortboarders, longboarders, mal riders, waveskiers, kneeboarders, standupd and bodyboarders, for the most part disappears as we all sit there, hands tucked under armpits, teeth chattering together. As you bob up and down with your fellow desperados, you feel scorn for those who non-believers who pull into the carpark, shake their heads and return home, warm, dry and without a wave to their name.
Some of the more mature longboarders even don neoprene rubber caps, looking strangely like medieval butchers or extras from ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ as they swiftly paddle past. Perhaps it’s because I learned to surf here in Victoria where the water might be just 10 degrees whilst the wind chill factor you’d swear under oath is no more than -11, that Sydney’s winters seems very mild by comparison. Still, you know how cold it is by the time it takes for your feet to numb up - when you can’t feel your toes; it’s definitely time to paddle in.
Emerging, the wind whips through you as you pelt up the sand. In the car park you thaw your frozen feet under a cold shower or by pouring the remains of the thermos flask contents over them and hurriedly place a towel on the seat so you can drive home rubber clad. On the days when my husband has the car and I cycle to the beach, I wear gloves so I can maintain grip on the handlebars and I peddle as hard as I can to get the blood going. Dashing inside, you jump in the shower, turn the water on hot, hot, hot and are revived in the heat rush. Later, rugged up and sipping miso soup or tea, then gobbling porridge, crumpets or poached eggs (some days you feel so starved you’d consume it all) by the fire, you relive every wave and email or text your girlfriends about the amazing rides you caught, wiped out on and the Harvey wallbanger sunrise you were privileged to witness.
Who cares about mortgages, the falling economy, your idiot boss or newspaper headlines?
Its winter waves ahoy.
The surf is up and so are my spirits.
Surf Tribes
Down here in Torquay the Rip Curl Pro is on at Bells and town is full of all kinds of surfers from all over the globe. The water temperature’s dropping like the economy;- if you’re not thinking about wearing a wetsuit, then you don’t own one. To those poor souls who've never ridden a wave, we rubber-clad surfers may all appear alike, but the waves are home to a surprising diversity of tribes. Here's a short guide on the different surfing clans and how to identify us...
Soul surfers
Come from every walk of life and surf every kind of board. No longer driving only clapped-out VW vans, they’re as likely to drive a sand-filled station wagon as the latest Audi or 4WD. While spotted at chilled out Wattegos to the most insane that Bells or Narrabeen can pump out, they generally prefer the less crowded breaks. Choosing careers in a trade or running their own consultancy to achieve maximum water-time, they are still after every wave they can ride! Like the core surfer, they’re uninterested in surf company hype, highly skeptical of advertising gimmicks and unimpressed by surf rage or “label lemmings”. Committed to getting their kids involved in surfing and the environment, they plan to retire to a beach community that offers good waves – see Silver Surfer.
Soul sista
Spotted everywhere from Jan Juc to Noosa via Yallingups, the female soul surfer is a class act. Doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, she’s secure and confident enough to be the only woman paddling out the back at dawn with the local guys – but she’s not taking any shit either. Fit, positive, with a healthy sense of humour, she’s not taken in by surf advertising hype. Confident with her own style which comprises a chic blend of surf labels, quality fashion and gear she’s had forever. While amused by hyped-up surfychicks, she doesn’t look down on them as she remembers her own grommet years and is happy to encourage the younger girls. If she’s a career woman, then she chooses a job that won’t own her and if a parent does everything she can to encourage her partner and kids into the water – after all, better they all be surfing together than having to run them to netball or footy just when the waves are really kicking in.
Surfychick
The young female grommet lives, breathes and talks surfing – and she’s got all the gear to prove it. While a lot more fashion savvy than the “label lemming” or grommet, the surfychick loves to wear surf gear top to toe and if she’s in school uniform, will still carry the Roxy backpack and sport a tide watch. Unlike her older soul or core sistas, she’s never been exposed to the old ‘boys on the boards / chicks on the beach’ paradigm and as a consequence, is a confident wave-rider as her male counterparts. Fit, sassy and determined to surf well, she’s often started out in nippers before progressing to the local boardriders club where she sees the guys her surfing mates as much as her galpals. Habitat – check your local beach.
Grommet
Young, energetic, cheeky and totally wave-obsessed, the grommet dream is to surf professionally. This period of a surfer’s life is critical in determining their eventual growth to weekend warrior, soul, core or angry. Easily identified at any beach I nthe country as the kid peddling to the beach for a surf check on a winter’s dawn clad in flannelette skull and cross bone PJ’s, slippers, polar-fleece jumper and beanie, only water so flat you could water-ski or circling sharks will deter – and sometimes not even then. The lifeblood of boardriding clubs up and down the coast, they consume huge amounts of junk food and remain rail thin, until they hit 15, when suddenly that cute kid you always beat for a wave, suddenly morphs in to a deep voiced, kick-arse surfer. While stirred by older brethren, groms are much envied for their uncomplicated approach – see wave, surf wave – and should be encouraged to develop into core or soul.
Red Neck surfer
Unimaginative, boorish and aggressive, these guys (it’s a 99.9% male virus) generally ride a shortboard and are both immature and insecure. This arrogant and ignorant boor is so convinced of his tribes’ superiority, he’s unable to visualize surfing anything else. A real (but denied) fear of standing out from the crowd sees him attack verbally and occasionally physically, anyone he sees as not conforming. He relies heavily on his peers who ride the same boards, listen to same music and wear the same surf clothing labels. Think ‘Life of Brian’s’ ‘we’re all individuals’. While the majority thankfully grows out of this to become somewhat human and embrace the wonderful diversity surfing offers, there are still a few demented tragics who persevere with this pitiful red neck attitude. Unaware that they are simultaneously pitied and despised by other surfers, they curiously resist extinction. Locale – unfortunately, many beaches have this dinosaur.
Core
Wintry solid 8ft a-frames at Winki or 11 degree and junky on-shore 2 ft lumps at Avalon, the core surfer will be out there getting their daily wave fix as long as there’s swell. The boards they surf are no indicator of ability or talent; they can be found riding everything from epoxy shortboards to retro single fins, swallow-tailed fish to 60s longboards, George Greenough inspired kneeboards, standups, mals or waveskis. Unimpressed by advertising, the core surfer has been around long enough to know that the latest board shorts won’t improve their surfing – besides, they’d rather save up for a new custom board from a local shaper who really knows their surfing style and local conditions. Contemptuous of the red neck surfer, the core regards them as blight on the ocean and wishes they’d go away and take up lawn bowls or something.
Weekend warrior
A core whose work, family or study commitments mean that unless it’s daylight saving, they can’t get out during the week, so they make up for it on weekends. Often a middle or senior exec, the weekend warrior has often been known to arrange for the company sales conference to be held at Torquay or Terrigal, rather than Canberra or Castlemaine, so that they can sneak out in the mornings for a few waves. The limited time they have available means they encourage their kids and partner to get involved and always, always, always will holiday by the beach.
Label lemming
Found at every beach. The surf company’s cash cow, this dream customer just has to have the latest wetsuit / boardshorts / surfboard and they want it now and amazingly (unless they live in the surf capital of Torquay and have access to all the discount shops) will pay full retail price. As soon as they see their idol accepting a trophy or in a magazine advertisement, they simply have to have the same t-shirt / shoe / fin / sunglasses / board - and they feel left out if all their mates have the cool new surf watch while are still wearing last years model. A pack animal, LL’s can be a great surfer, albeit one with a misguided consumption habit. While the global fincial crisis has put the handbrake on their shopping addiction, they are still out there spending up, while the savvy wait a few weeks fo them to appear for 1 per cent of the original price at the local op shop. Often a short but critical stage between Grommet and Core, most will move onto when puberty is over and common sense kicks in or when their parents stop footing the bill.
Competitive surfer
These boardriders are more motivated than a grommet! Immersed in surfing 24/7, they are constantly thinking about winning, which in turn will help then get a sponsor or keep their current supporters happy. Every weekend is spent attending competitions up and down the coast, every spare moment is spent in the ocean or cross-training, and even in their sleep, they dream of stardom at Bells, Margaret River or Teahupoo. Aiming to make it in the junior pro events and get noticed by the by surf companies, they understand that there’s only a short time to make it the World Qualifying Series before stepping up into the major league of the World Championship Tour. Their walls are covered by posters of their single name idols – Fanning and Slater / Layne and Chelsea – whom they regularly watch on DVD and whom they want to emulate so much they can taste it. Recognizing that half of success is a head-game, they’re willing to do what it takes, often leaving education and relationships, determinedly surviving on a pittance to follow their dream. Habitat – the best beaches.
Alternative Surfer
Not afraid of being different they’re over the ‘I have to be part of he surfing mainstream’ mentality, they are comfortable being the only knee-boarder / body boarder / waveskier / paddle surfer in the pack out the back. These surfers are often way ahead and aware of surf design innovations as they beyond the usual surf mob thinking. Often in career in creative fields such as photography / music / art / media, they’re happy to achieve their own dream while surfing to the beat of a different drum. While sometimes targeted by the angry surfer, the alternative is cool enough to defuse any potential surf rage and is uninterested in getting into a blue. They generally give off a positive vibe and are genuinely stoked to see other surfers catch a good wave. Habitat – they prefer the secret spots up and down the coast.
Silver Surfer
Semi or fully retired, they prove that snow on the roof doesn’t mean you can’t rip. Now work is a distant memory, they can finally concentrate on what’s important – the waves. Sporting a perpetual smile, chilled out and laid back, they know who they are, want to enjoy the moment and are happiest surfing with their friends. Found at most beaches and often riding a longer or retro board, while they can now afford the custom quiver of their dreams, somehow they seem to end up surfing with a couple of old favorites. As well as finally taking that luxury Indo surfari, they also attend a few longboarding festivals to catch up with old mates. Living by the beach, they are as renown for their surfing as their ability to pick and predict swell, you can find them at any beach hanging ten and encouraging the next generation.
Green Surfer
While just about every surfer is concerned about global warming, the green variety does more than simply adding another bumper sticker to their car, even supposing they have one. Green surfers may be identified by the board rack on their bicycle as they peddle to the beach. They may wear the same gear as the LL, but their boardshorts probably cost $4 at the local op shop rather than 20 times that amount from a leviathan surf store. Often spotted wearing an old Surfrider Foundation t-shirt, vintage straw hat and eagerly going through council hard rubbish collections in search of collectable boards thrown out by less perceptive surfers, they also pick litter up off the beach when walking out of the waves to the car park. Often the backbone of local conservation groups, they have an inclusive approach to other surfers, enjoy a good laugh in between sets and look for practical solutions rather than moaning about the problem. Habitat – most beaches, they are the ones picking up rubbish in the car park.
Soul surfers
Come from every walk of life and surf every kind of board. No longer driving only clapped-out VW vans, they’re as likely to drive a sand-filled station wagon as the latest Audi or 4WD. While spotted at chilled out Wattegos to the most insane that Bells or Narrabeen can pump out, they generally prefer the less crowded breaks. Choosing careers in a trade or running their own consultancy to achieve maximum water-time, they are still after every wave they can ride! Like the core surfer, they’re uninterested in surf company hype, highly skeptical of advertising gimmicks and unimpressed by surf rage or “label lemmings”. Committed to getting their kids involved in surfing and the environment, they plan to retire to a beach community that offers good waves – see Silver Surfer.
Soul sista
Spotted everywhere from Jan Juc to Noosa via Yallingups, the female soul surfer is a class act. Doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, she’s secure and confident enough to be the only woman paddling out the back at dawn with the local guys – but she’s not taking any shit either. Fit, positive, with a healthy sense of humour, she’s not taken in by surf advertising hype. Confident with her own style which comprises a chic blend of surf labels, quality fashion and gear she’s had forever. While amused by hyped-up surfychicks, she doesn’t look down on them as she remembers her own grommet years and is happy to encourage the younger girls. If she’s a career woman, then she chooses a job that won’t own her and if a parent does everything she can to encourage her partner and kids into the water – after all, better they all be surfing together than having to run them to netball or footy just when the waves are really kicking in.
Surfychick
The young female grommet lives, breathes and talks surfing – and she’s got all the gear to prove it. While a lot more fashion savvy than the “label lemming” or grommet, the surfychick loves to wear surf gear top to toe and if she’s in school uniform, will still carry the Roxy backpack and sport a tide watch. Unlike her older soul or core sistas, she’s never been exposed to the old ‘boys on the boards / chicks on the beach’ paradigm and as a consequence, is a confident wave-rider as her male counterparts. Fit, sassy and determined to surf well, she’s often started out in nippers before progressing to the local boardriders club where she sees the guys her surfing mates as much as her galpals. Habitat – check your local beach.
Grommet
Young, energetic, cheeky and totally wave-obsessed, the grommet dream is to surf professionally. This period of a surfer’s life is critical in determining their eventual growth to weekend warrior, soul, core or angry. Easily identified at any beach I nthe country as the kid peddling to the beach for a surf check on a winter’s dawn clad in flannelette skull and cross bone PJ’s, slippers, polar-fleece jumper and beanie, only water so flat you could water-ski or circling sharks will deter – and sometimes not even then. The lifeblood of boardriding clubs up and down the coast, they consume huge amounts of junk food and remain rail thin, until they hit 15, when suddenly that cute kid you always beat for a wave, suddenly morphs in to a deep voiced, kick-arse surfer. While stirred by older brethren, groms are much envied for their uncomplicated approach – see wave, surf wave – and should be encouraged to develop into core or soul.
Red Neck surfer
Unimaginative, boorish and aggressive, these guys (it’s a 99.9% male virus) generally ride a shortboard and are both immature and insecure. This arrogant and ignorant boor is so convinced of his tribes’ superiority, he’s unable to visualize surfing anything else. A real (but denied) fear of standing out from the crowd sees him attack verbally and occasionally physically, anyone he sees as not conforming. He relies heavily on his peers who ride the same boards, listen to same music and wear the same surf clothing labels. Think ‘Life of Brian’s’ ‘we’re all individuals’. While the majority thankfully grows out of this to become somewhat human and embrace the wonderful diversity surfing offers, there are still a few demented tragics who persevere with this pitiful red neck attitude. Unaware that they are simultaneously pitied and despised by other surfers, they curiously resist extinction. Locale – unfortunately, many beaches have this dinosaur.
Core
Wintry solid 8ft a-frames at Winki or 11 degree and junky on-shore 2 ft lumps at Avalon, the core surfer will be out there getting their daily wave fix as long as there’s swell. The boards they surf are no indicator of ability or talent; they can be found riding everything from epoxy shortboards to retro single fins, swallow-tailed fish to 60s longboards, George Greenough inspired kneeboards, standups, mals or waveskis. Unimpressed by advertising, the core surfer has been around long enough to know that the latest board shorts won’t improve their surfing – besides, they’d rather save up for a new custom board from a local shaper who really knows their surfing style and local conditions. Contemptuous of the red neck surfer, the core regards them as blight on the ocean and wishes they’d go away and take up lawn bowls or something.
Weekend warrior
A core whose work, family or study commitments mean that unless it’s daylight saving, they can’t get out during the week, so they make up for it on weekends. Often a middle or senior exec, the weekend warrior has often been known to arrange for the company sales conference to be held at Torquay or Terrigal, rather than Canberra or Castlemaine, so that they can sneak out in the mornings for a few waves. The limited time they have available means they encourage their kids and partner to get involved and always, always, always will holiday by the beach.
Label lemming
Found at every beach. The surf company’s cash cow, this dream customer just has to have the latest wetsuit / boardshorts / surfboard and they want it now and amazingly (unless they live in the surf capital of Torquay and have access to all the discount shops) will pay full retail price. As soon as they see their idol accepting a trophy or in a magazine advertisement, they simply have to have the same t-shirt / shoe / fin / sunglasses / board - and they feel left out if all their mates have the cool new surf watch while are still wearing last years model. A pack animal, LL’s can be a great surfer, albeit one with a misguided consumption habit. While the global fincial crisis has put the handbrake on their shopping addiction, they are still out there spending up, while the savvy wait a few weeks fo them to appear for 1 per cent of the original price at the local op shop. Often a short but critical stage between Grommet and Core, most will move onto when puberty is over and common sense kicks in or when their parents stop footing the bill.
Competitive surfer
These boardriders are more motivated than a grommet! Immersed in surfing 24/7, they are constantly thinking about winning, which in turn will help then get a sponsor or keep their current supporters happy. Every weekend is spent attending competitions up and down the coast, every spare moment is spent in the ocean or cross-training, and even in their sleep, they dream of stardom at Bells, Margaret River or Teahupoo. Aiming to make it in the junior pro events and get noticed by the by surf companies, they understand that there’s only a short time to make it the World Qualifying Series before stepping up into the major league of the World Championship Tour. Their walls are covered by posters of their single name idols – Fanning and Slater / Layne and Chelsea – whom they regularly watch on DVD and whom they want to emulate so much they can taste it. Recognizing that half of success is a head-game, they’re willing to do what it takes, often leaving education and relationships, determinedly surviving on a pittance to follow their dream. Habitat – the best beaches.
Alternative Surfer
Not afraid of being different they’re over the ‘I have to be part of he surfing mainstream’ mentality, they are comfortable being the only knee-boarder / body boarder / waveskier / paddle surfer in the pack out the back. These surfers are often way ahead and aware of surf design innovations as they beyond the usual surf mob thinking. Often in career in creative fields such as photography / music / art / media, they’re happy to achieve their own dream while surfing to the beat of a different drum. While sometimes targeted by the angry surfer, the alternative is cool enough to defuse any potential surf rage and is uninterested in getting into a blue. They generally give off a positive vibe and are genuinely stoked to see other surfers catch a good wave. Habitat – they prefer the secret spots up and down the coast.
Silver Surfer
Semi or fully retired, they prove that snow on the roof doesn’t mean you can’t rip. Now work is a distant memory, they can finally concentrate on what’s important – the waves. Sporting a perpetual smile, chilled out and laid back, they know who they are, want to enjoy the moment and are happiest surfing with their friends. Found at most beaches and often riding a longer or retro board, while they can now afford the custom quiver of their dreams, somehow they seem to end up surfing with a couple of old favorites. As well as finally taking that luxury Indo surfari, they also attend a few longboarding festivals to catch up with old mates. Living by the beach, they are as renown for their surfing as their ability to pick and predict swell, you can find them at any beach hanging ten and encouraging the next generation.
Green Surfer
While just about every surfer is concerned about global warming, the green variety does more than simply adding another bumper sticker to their car, even supposing they have one. Green surfers may be identified by the board rack on their bicycle as they peddle to the beach. They may wear the same gear as the LL, but their boardshorts probably cost $4 at the local op shop rather than 20 times that amount from a leviathan surf store. Often spotted wearing an old Surfrider Foundation t-shirt, vintage straw hat and eagerly going through council hard rubbish collections in search of collectable boards thrown out by less perceptive surfers, they also pick litter up off the beach when walking out of the waves to the car park. Often the backbone of local conservation groups, they have an inclusive approach to other surfers, enjoy a good laugh in between sets and look for practical solutions rather than moaning about the problem. Habitat – most beaches, they are the ones picking up rubbish in the car park.
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