A Century of Surfing

Although there were surfers already riding the waves in Australia before Duke Kahanamoku got here it’s important to remember that there were no surfing movies in 1914 and surfing wasn’t really covered in the media to a great extent, meaning that the only way an Australian could see how the Hawaiians surfed was to (a) go to Hawaii and see it live (very cost prohibitive for surfers back in those days) or (b) read about it in a book or publication which may or may not have a photograph attached. So the original Australian surfers, such as C.D. Patterson and Tommy Walker would have been left to their own devices to surf the waves as they saw fit. I’m guessing that a wave stood up on all the way to the beach was a good ride and a headstand excellent. Duke demonstrated the Hawaiian style of surfing to Australians, utilising the green, unbroken part of the wave and surfed diagonally in to the beach. After Duke departed our shores he left behind his handcrafted sugar pine creation and an inspired surfing population. Claude West, the lucky recipient of Duke's surfboard after it was given to him by George and Monty Walker of Manly (Duke left his 1914 Freshwater made surfboard with George and Monty when he departed Australia in February 1915), treasured his windfall, took inspiration from Duke and went on to be an accomplished board rider, with his mates Snowy McAlister and Isabel Letham.

Surfers are an innovative bunch, constantly searching for the perfect wave matched by the perfect equipment. Every surfer is constantly searching for that magic board that will give them the edge in those tricky situations, allow them to push harder, go faster and perform more and more radical maneuvers. Consequently the surfboard has

evolved from the hand carved lump of sugar pine or redwood to the computer shaped sleek carbon fibre and fibreglass creations of today. Along the way surfboards evolved through many, many strange and wonderful innovations with both shapes and materials.

Join us for the “CENTURY OF SURFING” event where we roll out these creations into the water and endeavour to display the trials and tribulations of experiments, some good and many bad. Each time we learn by our mistakes, which usually end up filed under houses or in the shed out the back, some ending up as building materials, ironing boards, one even ending up as a mantelpiece above someone’s fireplace.

The local surfing fraternity have rescued many of the classic models from each era and will actually ride these creations in all their glory. There will be people on solid timber boards, okanuies, tooth picks, all kinds of timber creations, styrofoam coolites, balsa planks, early sixties logs, plastic fantastics, multi-stringers to stringerless, d fins, single fins, twin fins, tri fins, keel fins, winged keel fins, bonzers, channel bottoms, laser zaps, pipeliners, knee boards, spoons and slabs, thrusters in all shapes and sizes, tandem, stand up paddle boards and more.

Of course not all models are available but we’ll do our best to provide a cross section of the weird and wonderful shapes that have shaped our sport into what it is today.

Then join us for the future of our sport with the mighty “MICRO GROMMETS EVENT” where you will see kids as young as four and five ripping up the waves on the latest soft boards and hard boards. These kids are amazing and so cute. You will be witness to the fact that the future of surfing is in good hands.