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
Thursday, May 21, 2009
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
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