KILLALEA DECLARED NATIONAL SURFING RESERVE

On Saturday 6 June, Killalea was officially declared as a National Surfing Reserve. This declaration will mean The Farm and Mystics, two of the South Coast’s most popular surfing breaks, and listed in Tracks Magazines 101 Best Australian waves will become protected surfing areas.

The reserve covers 500m out to sea from the average high-tide mark at The Farm and extends southwards 3.5km to include Mystics. Surfing reserves recognise sites of environmental, cultural and historic significance in Australian surf culture.
View Larger MapThis recognition helps raise awareness about the importance of protecting our precious coastal environment National surfing reserves honour surfing and its unique place in the Australian way of life. Australian surfers, and our surf breaks, are famous throughout the world while in New South Wales surfing is part of the social and economic fabric of many coastal communities. The legal protection government provides a national surfing reserve highlights the significance of the Crown land estate in ensuring our beaches are accessible to surfers and everyone else who wants to enjoy them. The other four surfing reserves in New South Wales are: Cronulla Beach National Surfing Reserve Angourie National Surfing Reserve (near Yamba) Crescent Head National Surfing Reserve Lennox National Surfing Reserve

Google map of area

thanks to Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan for sending us this item.

Wave Pools: Good or Bad for the Sport of Surfing?

A very interesting article from 5ones.com. In a recent ESPN article, Kelly Slater listed somethings he would like to see changed as to the way the ASP runs and operates, including the introduction of wave pools. The author of this article agrees. Interesting to hear RealSurfers’ thought on the matter.

Click to read: Wave Pools: Good or Bad for the Sport of Surfing?

Shari

Stand Up Paddle Surfing to be included in Surfing Australia’s Australian National Titles

One of Australia’s best, Queensland’s James Weston (Burleigh Heads), a likely contender at the first ever Stand Up Paddle Australian Surfmasters.

Surfing Australia Head Office Casuarina Precinct NSW —  For Immediate Release: Australian Titles will this year be decided for the first time in the rapidly growing and now well established discipline of Stand Up Paddle (SUP) Surfing.

Surfing Australia announced the inclusion of the Open SUP division into the Country Energy Australian Surfmasters to be run at Port Macquarie during August.

Globally, Stand Up Paddle Surfing has grown in popularity incredibly over the past three years with an abundance of surfers, longboard and shortboard surfers, including a stand up paddleboard in their essential quivers and many dedicating themselves 100% to this discipline.

“The quality of Stand Up Paddle surfers emerging throughout Australia and the world is exciting and there’s many past and present champions of the sport of surfing now very competent and devoted Stand Up Paddle surfers” said Surfing Australia Chief Executive Officer Andrew Stark.

“Take the two finalists at the recent Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Joel Parkinson and Adam Robertson, both often seen in the line up riding waves on Stand Up Paddleboards, and then look at past champions like Luke Egan, Tom Carroll and Simon Anderson, all keen riders” added Stark.

“Stand Up Paddle Surfing has established itself in our sport and we are delighted to incorporate it into our Australian Surfmasters this year – the inaugural champion will take a special place in surfing’s history!”

Judging criteria for the Stand Up Paddle surfers have been formulated by the International Surfing Association with an emphasis on use of paddle in performance surfing and radical manoeuvres. The criteria will shortly be available via www.surfingaustralia.com

Twelve surfers will make up the division this year, three from host state NSW, two from Qld, Vic, SA and WA and one from Tasmania.

The Country Energy Australian Surfing Festival, which incorporates the Australian Longboard Titles along with the Australian Surfmasters will run from August  16 through to August 29 as a mobile event through the surf rich region surrounding Port Macquarie.

One family’s global surfing Odyssey

Dorian Paskowitz and eight of his nine surfing children: David, Jonathan, Abraham, Izzy, Moses, Adam, Salvador and Navah.

This incredible tale appeared in the Telegraph UK a couple of days ago and I had to share it with you. Incredible story.

Fifty years ago, Dr Dorian Paskowitz dropped out of society and embarked on a 14-year global surfing safari, raising nine children in a 24ft camper van, and catching every wave he could. He dreamt that they could all live untainted by money, school and fatty foods, and never imagined the wipeout that followed.

Click her to read the full story.

Top o’ the day,

Shari

VID: Layne nails Ours

If you haven’t seen it yet, Layne Beachley at Cape Solander (video hosted on surfline.com)(aka “ours”). It was shot by none other than Tim Bonython. Very, very impressive pit!

Pic grabbed from online ver. of video by Tim Bonython.

Celebrating 100 Years of Surfboard Riding at Manly Beach.

Picked this item up from our forums… posting here in case you missed it. Looks very good!

Celebrating 100 Years of Surfboard Riding at Manly Beach.
1909-2009.
To celebrate the centenary of surfboard riding at Manly Beach the Manly Life Saving Club Australian Surfing Museum present an illustrated account of the early developments in surfboard riding in Australia by Geoff Cater at the Manly Life Saving Club on Sunday 19th April 2009.

Synopsis
Tommy Walker and his Hawaiian Surfboard, 1909.
In 1908, Manly surfer, Tommy Walker, purchased his first surfboard while visiting Hawaii and upon his return in 1909, began riding the board at Manly Beach. Other local surfers joined Walker and the popularity of surfboard riding saw a growing concern for the potential danger to swimmers. While some wanted an outright ban, others sought to regulate surfboard riding and in 1912 an amendment to the NSW Local Government Act provided for council beach inspectors to regulate surfboard use, depending on prevailing conditions. By the summer of 1911-1912, Walker had honed his skill to the extent that at the Freshwater Carnival in January, the Telegraph reported:
“A clever exhibition of surf board shooting was given by Mr. Walker, of the Manly Seagulls Surf Club. With his Hawaiian surf board he drew much applause for his clever feats, coming in on the breaker standing balanced on his feet or his head.”

Tommy Tanna and the Introduction of Body Surfing, 1890s.
Walker was one of the first generation of body surfers following the introduction of the ancient Polynesian art by South Sea Islander, Tommy Tanna, at South Steyne in the 1890s. Tanna inspired several local surf-bathers including Eric Moore, Arthur Lowe and the first acknowledged expert, Freddie Williams. These early enthusiasts promoted their newly acquired skills with public demonstrations at local surf carnivals and representative visits along the East Coast. In addition, by 1907 bodysurfing was actively promoted in the press as a healthy and inexpensive recreation, with articles including basic “surf-shooting” instruction and action photographs.

Duke Kahanamoku, 1914-1915.
While the number of surfboard riders steady increased and spread progressively along the East Coast, in December 1914 surfboard riding became front page news with the arrival of Olympic champion, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku. Ostensibly in Australia for a series of swimming competitions and exhibitions, Duke’s fame as a surfboard rider initiated a series of surfboard riding exhibitions, the first at Freshwater Beach on 24th December. Further demonstrations followed in the New Year at Freshwater, Manly, Dee Why, and Cronulla. Duke’s impressive performances dramatically lifted surfboard riding’s profile and, despite the outbreak of WWI, it continued to flourish. In Sydney, the world’s first surfing newspaper, The Surf, issued twenty weekly issues in the summer of 1917-1918.

The Pacific Games, Honoulu, 1939.
By the 1930s, surfboard riding was firmly entrenched and in 1939 Australian surfboard riders confidently accepted a challenge to compete against Hawaii’s best. Before the competition journalist Harry Hay, the swimming coach to Olympic Champion and Manly surfer, “Boy” Charlton, claimed “Australian’s Are ‘Tops’ in Surf Board Riding,” predating similar contentious articles such as John Witzig’s “We’re Tops Now” in 1966 and “Busting Down the Door” by Wayne “Rabbit” Batholomew in 1977. A team of twenty-two competitors and officials arrived in Hawaii in July to compete in an extensive series of events including competition with surfboards, surf boats, outrigger canoes and the surf ski, as well as a full swimming program. The representative surfboard riders were Dick Chapple (North Bondi), Keightly “Blue” Russell (Palm Beach), and Lou Morath (Manly). The Australians also received the full benefits of Hawaiian hospitality, overseen by the then Sheriff of Honolulu, Duke Kahanamoku, and upon their return to Sydney in August, the Telegraph reported, perhaps not surprisingly, “Surf Tourists Find Real Work Unpleasant.” The carnival’s success initiated plans for another in Sydney in 1940, which failed to eventuate with the outbreak of WWII.

Other Surfcraft.
While the essential focus is on surfboard riding, the development by Australian surfers of alternative wave riding craft will also be addressed. For example the surf boat, pioneered by Manly’s Sly family in 1903, the surf canoe, the surf ski by Harry McLaren in 1928 at Port Macquarie, and Dr Ernest Smithers’ surfoplane at Bronte in 1932.

Celebrating 100 Years of Surfboard Riding at Manly Beach, 1909-2009.
Geoff Cater
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/index.html

Presented by Manly Beach the Manly Life Saving Club Australian Surfing Museum.
Manly Life Saving Club, The Esplanade, Manly NSW.
2.00pm Sunday 19th April 2009.

Please direct inquiries to Geoff Cater.
02 44487490
geoff@surfresearch.com.au

Join the conversation about this on RealSurf’s forums by CLICKING HERE

Bombora: The Story of Australian Surfing

Bombora poster

Screen Australia chose the Bondi Icebergs for its gala launch of Bombora, a two-part TV series that aims to tell the definitive history of surfing in Australia.

As the last rays of the setting sun illuminated the offshore but tiny waves of south Bondi, Producer and Director Paul Clarke invited Bob McTavish, one of the series’ star interviewees to preface the showing with a few remarks.

Your correspondent whipped out his trusty phone cam and captured the inimitable Mr McTavish’s amusing musings on surf addiction (see below).

Then it was on with the first episode. We see some very cool early footage of Australian beach culture and early surfin’ (check out the water shots from Waikiki c. 1920), but this effort is much more than a worthy recitation of surf history. I think it really gives the viewer a persuasive picture of how surfing naturally took root in a place where beach culture was rapidly coming into being – namely the east coast of Australia.

The deft intercutting of interviews, the judicious blending of archival footage and not over the top re-enactment along with Jack Thompson’s dulcet narration, come together in what strikes me as a well edited and pacey history. Film of course is the most collaborative of all the arts, so it’s generally pretty pointless to single out any one person’s contribution. That said, I think the writers (Paul Clarke, Nick Carroll and Greg Appel) deserve a significant share of the credit for giving the production such a robust and coherent structure.

This is a fine piece of work and I’m looking forward to seeing it again on Thursday the 26th of March at 830 pm on ABC1.

Surfing’s Stan Couper Inducted Into Australian Surfing Hall of Fame

Wayne Lynch (Left) presents the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame award to Stan Couper’s wife Vi with daughter Gail.

Stan Couper was today posthumously inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame at Surf World, Torquay.

Vi Couper, Stan’s wife was on hand to accept the Inductee trophy along with daughter Gail and son Geoffrey. Stan Couper is the 31^stInductee into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame and now joins his daughter Gail Couper who was inducted in 2000.

1988 Australian Surfing Hall of Fame Inductee Wayne Lynch presented the trophy to Vi on behalf of the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame along with Gail Couper. Geoffrey Couper spoke on behalf of the family ‘offering his thoughts on his father and his love of surfing’. The induction ceremony was attended by a number of those who have had a bearing on the development of surfing including former Australian Surfing Association President Tony Olsen, Rip Curl’s Brian Singer amongst others.

Joe Sweeney who crafts the timber Induction trophy spoke about Stan’s passion not just for surfing but his love of other sports and the region. Also sharing his thoughts on Stan and his contribution to surfing was local legend and Inductee Wayne Lynch.

The induction of Stan Couper previews the upcoming Australian Surfing Awards incorporating the Hall of Fame which is to be held on Tuesday 3^rd March at the Stars Room at Twin Towns Services Club in Coolangatta. This awards ceremony is to recognize individuals and organizations that have made contributions to the surfing industry in a number of areas including performance, administration, culture, movies and photos.  These awards will also feature the induction of another “major contributor” to surfing.

The awards will also feature the presentation of the inaugural Stan Couper Administration Award and the Peter Troy Lifestyle Award.

Background

Stan Couper was instrumental in the development of Surfing in Australia and his induction recognizes his “significant contribution” to the development of surfing. Stan was a Surfing Australia President (then Australian Surfriders Association) and long time Victorian President and office-bearer, outstanding administrator, contest director and judge in the 60’s and early 70’s. 

Credited with documenting Australian Surfriders Association rules and being a major force for stability during a period of competition development plus the emergence of country soul surfing which questioned competition relevance.  Influential in the establishment and maintenance of the first surfing reserve for surfers’ exclusive use, the Bells Beach Surfing Recreation Reserve. He was also a major contributor to the administration of the World Surfing Championships in 1970 at Bells Beach.

Gerry Lopez & Jock Sutherland talkin’ Pipe

Came across this very interesting video of Gerry Lopez and Jock Sutherland talking about the history and their experiences of Pipeline. It’s part one of six and in this episode they give us brief bios before Gerry talks about trying to surf Pipe the first time in 1962 – and meeting Jock, who already had it wired. Although we see the two champions bantering on a dimly lit stage (they’re actually at the Patagonia surf shop in Cardiff, California) , their chat is liberally illustrated with great stills pictures from Jeff Divine and Surfer magazine.

Discovery credit goes to dailysurfvideo.com which looks like a site to add to the bookmarks!

More about Mr Lopez in my post entitled Where’s Gerry

Where’s Gerry?

Ever wondered what happened to Mr Pipeline? Well, it turns out that he’s been living inland since the early 90′s. A long way inland as it happens.

Gerry Lopez (picture Bend Oregon News)

Last year he published a book of essays entitled Surf Is Where You Find It and, according to a profile piece in his hometown paper, he’s going to be doing a book signing in town on Thursday.

So, if you happen to be anywhere near Bend, Oregon, you should drop in to Between the Covers and pick yourself up a signed copy.

Here’s a grab from the article…

Lopez began snowboarding in the late 1980s, and by the winter of 1992-93, he, his wife, Toni, and son, Alex, moved from Hawaii to Bend, believing it would be a good place to have a family.

“And it has been,” Lopez said. Today, son Alex — a snowboarder, not a surfer, says Lopez — is in his second year at Central Oregon Community College.

As for Dad, when The Bulletin caught up with him late last week, he was hoping the fog wouldn’t hamper his trip to Canada, where he planned to go snowboarding at Blue River, British Columbia.

From On his own wavelength: World-famous surfing icon, a Bend resident, now an author By David Jasper / The Bulletin

See Gerry and Jock Sutherland talking pipe here.