surfresearch

surfresearch.com.au

surfresearch.com.au
newspapers : 1961

Newspapers : 1961.

1960

Newspapers

Menu

1962

Introduction.
See

The Australian Women's Weekly
Wednesday 15 March 1961, page 90S (Supplement- Teenagers' Weekly).

LETTERS

...
Surf licences
I am in favor of surfboard licences.
This way inspectors can keep check of surfboard riders and deprive them of their licences if they cause serious accidents through carelessness.
- D. R. Cann, Deewhy, N.S.W.

The Australian Women's Weekly
26 April 1961, page 41.

Paradise for the whole family ...

BONDI . . . perhaps the best known of Sydney's
34 famous surfing beaches.
Here, surf-board riders are seen gracefully matching
their skill against the heavy rolling surf.

Trove
1961 'paradise for the whole family', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 26 April, p. 41. , viewed 01 Sep 2016,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47493293

The Australian Women's Weekly
28 June 1961.

Our cover

The Welsh corgi on the surf - plane is prize-winning Lealwen Maverick,
better known as "Brett."

The picture was taken by Peter Kinder at Currarong Beach, near Nowra, N.S.W.

Trove
1961 'Our cover', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 28 June, p. 2. , viewed 08 Sep 2016
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51383684

The Australian Women's Weekly
Wednesday 20 September 1961, page S4 (Supplement- Teenagers' Weekly).

"DOWN THE MINE" ON SURFBOARDS
By KERRY YATES

"Who are these handsome surfboard champions?
Where are these beaches?
Can I REALLY learn to ride a board from the instructions in the book?"
These were just a few of the questions I fired at 19-year-old Sydney boy Lee Cross.
Lee, a suntanned blond from Bronte Beach, had just shown me a copy of the ''Australian Surfer," a book which he had written and published himself.

'"Grab your swimsuit next , Sunday morning," he offered. ' "and we'll be off with my surfboard to find out."
So at 8 o'clock that Sunday morning Lee and some of his surfing mates called in a car, with surfboards tied on the roof to take me along on their usual weekend wave hunt.
The forecast was that the best surf would be rolling on Sydney's northern beaches, M
decided to start at Fairy Bower, near Manly.
Travelling north to Palm Beach, we would have 16 surf beaches to choose from
The boys said they would looking for "hot-dogging'' waves (long, tapering swells) on which they could "go down the mine" (ride their boards, sometimes hundreds of yards).
We beeped our car horn to a passing truck with surfboard piled on top.
I buttoned a heavy coat over a chunky sweater and began to feel excited about surfing on a sunny winter's day.
As we crossed Sydney Harbour ...

PETER THOMAS, of Manly, wearing zip-tweeds, "goes down the mine" at Fairy Bower.

Below, three of Sydney's outstanding riders show what they can do on a surfboard -

Johnny Payne, of Newport,
rides toes-on-the-nose.

Bob Evans, of Queenscliff, ready
for a "head dip" (diving off)

Bernard "The Midget" Farrelly
doing a perfect "quasimoto."

Ron Perrott, of Harbord, took the pictures on this page and the one at the foot of the opposite page.

Page 5

DAVID JACKMAN,
of Harbord,
on one of the mighty waves surging over the Queenscliff bombora last June.

... Bridge to the north side (I was strictly a south-sider, coming from Bondi!), Lee Cross told me a little about himself and why he wrote his book on surfing.

Lee has been a keen surfboard rider for four years and spends most of his weekends and holidays riding the waves.
Since he left high school two years ago he has worked with a North Sydney advertising company.
He believes that surfing should be given more encouragement as a world-wide sport.
So Lee set out to produce a book about the Australian surfer, the best surfing spots, how to ride a surfboard, about the new South Pacific Surf Riders' Club (the first successful attempt to form a club to cater for the needs of the surfboard rider), with pictures and news about the local champions.
And he did just that, with the help of some of his teenage surfing mates.
The dramatic cover shot of a surfboard rider was taken by 17-year-old Terry Flemming, of Bronte, a trainee photographer with the Sydney Water Board.
Illustrations and jokes were drawn by an 18-year-old East Sydney Tech, art student, David Letts, of Newport.
Lee was telling me of his plans to bring out a second edition of the book before the end of the year when we arrived at Fairy Bower.
One of the "Bower Boys" filed that the "waves were on"and the surf was "too much" (his term for fabulous).
We raced to the top of a cliff overlooking the spot where the boards were starting their journey "down the mine," about a mile off Manly Beach.
The surf looked wild and rough, but the boys had it mastered, and the champs of this area, like "Nipper" Williams, Bob Pike, and Glen Richie (all pictured in the book), dared to ride with no fear of hitting the craggy stone bottom.
We were off again, giving Manly a miss, and were heading for a closer view of the Queenscliff bombora.
The great bombora, where the sea surges over seven layers of rock, nearly two miles out from North Steyne Beach, thunders in a big sea.
lt has been conquered by only a handful of boys, including 21-year-old Dave Jackman, of Freshwater.
Three months ago "Jacko" successfully cracked four of the mighty bombora waves.
(See picture above.)
Northwards again, we passed Freshwater, Curl Curl, Deewhy, and Long Reef without stopping.
The surf was too big and there was danger of losing surfboards, which would go crashing against the rocks and so "ding" (a bang which splits the fibreglass on a surfboard) badly.
The boys told me that Long Reef usually supplies the works- everything from 3ft. to 30ft. waves.
The top man among some mighty locals of this area is Peter Clare, the senior surfboard champion for 1961.
The Collaroy boys were really "hot-dogging" on "Pitt Street" shoots (waves with five or six riders catching them), but we were orí to find where the surfboard riders from the south side had "camped" for the day.
We didn't have to go far.
As we reached the sands of North Narrabeen we could see cars, surfboards, and riders, and we knew that this was THE beach for the best surf.

Shark scare

North Narrabeen is best known as the "home-water" for Bernard ("The Midget") Farrelly.
At 16 "The Midget," a surfboard-maker by trade, is the junior champion of the Sydney surf-riders, and in November he is going to Hawaii to compete in the International Surfing Championships.
Lee Cross and his friends untied their surfboards from the top of the car, changed into their "zip-tweeds," and were off into the surf.
I was at the edge of the water, ready to take my first plunge of the season, when there was a yell and everyone headed for shore. I looked out to sea about 150 yards and saw three shark fins circling the area.
Everyone was quick to agree to head further north in search of another beach.
But we were out of luck.
At every beach the waves were too big for me, so we headed back to Collaroy, where we watched
the experts do their surfing tricks.
Some were riding "toes on the nose" (standing with feet on the front of the board), some were going for a "wipe out" (instead of cutting off a wave when it begins to dump, they keep on riding it till they are thrown off the board), and others were crouching in "quasimoto" style (body bent nearly in two with one hand stretched out in front and one behind).
We knew that the surf back home at Bondi was flat, so the boys finally took me there to learn to ride a surfboard from the instructions in the "Australian Surfer."
I put a jumper over my swim-suit.
The sun had gone and a wind was blowing, but I wanted to have just one go at trying to ride.
I found it easy to kneel on the board as long as I kept my hands paddling.
I tried and tried to stand up in one action, as the book said I should, but I can't even do that on land!
After about 30 minutes I learnt to stand in a strictly non feminine fashion (one leg struggling up after the other).
In spite of the comments from Lee and his mates that ''the fin must have been stuck in the sand" just because I could stand up, I was sure that I'd be a surfboard rider one day.

Below: LEE CROSS, 19, author and publisher of the "Australian Surfer," is an expert on the surfboard, too.

BOB PIKE, a renowned "Bower Boy" is hit by a backwash from the beach while cutting across a wave.

Trove
1961 '"DOWN THE MINE" ON SURFBOARDS', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 20 September, p. 4. (Teenagers' Weekly), viewed 01 Sep 2014,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47249167

The Australian Women's Weekly
18 October 1961, page 12.

It seems to me
Dorothy Drain

SYDNEY lifesaving clubs are feeling this year the competition of the malibu boards.

Young men who own these
              boards often migrate from
              beach to beach according to where the surf
              is best, can't be bothered with the disciplines and duties of lifesaving.
 
 

The first thing that
              officials of the Surf
              LifeSaving movement must
              do is to look at the
              facts squarely.
 
 

It is true, as they say,
              that more cars and more
              money have provided counter-attractions for modern boys.

              But I believe some are deluding

              themselves when they say that the change is due to a "loss of community
              spirit."

When they say such
              things they are simply
              exhibiting the loss of memory which afflicts so many people over 30.
 
 

Undoubtedly the
              lifesaving clubs perform a
              sterling community service.

              But if any middle-aged
              man tells me that the desire to save lives and help his fellow men was his primary object in becoming a lifesaver, then
            I say flatly he has
              forgotten his prewar youth.

The social life of the
              clubs was a power fulattraction.

              The average boy didn't own a car, spent the weekend at the nearest beach.

The fact that he learned
              to save lives, and
              proudly, was the most important result, but it was not the cause of his joining.
 
 

Meanwhile, the Surf Life Saving
              Association plans to
              introduce special events for the young board riders at its carnivals, which is
              sensible.
 
 

It would be a great pity
              if voluntary life-saving
              patrols were to disappear, and there must be ways of continuing to attract youth
              to the job.

Trove
1961 'It seems to me', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 18 October, p. 12. , viewed 08 Sep 2016,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51602325

The Cumberland Argus
Parramatta, 20 December 1961, page 19.

GRACE BROS.
RIDE THE WAVES
With a
FERRIS
SURF BOARD
Special 'Christmas Gift
BALSA SURF BOARD
Fibreglass Covering
£29/17/6
SPECIAL! 3'6' BOARDS
£14/10/-

Trove
1961 'Advertising', The Cumberland Argus (Parramatta, NSW : 1950 - 1962), 20 December, p. 19. , viewed 01 Sep 2016,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131328672

The Australian Women's Weekly (Teenagers Weekly)
11 October 1961, page 3.

How to ride a surfboard
By KERRY YATES

This popular sport is a mystery to many - so, here's . . .

TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

WHY don't you, too, join in the fun?
Don't say, "I couldn't do it."
You could, quite easily.

Here are the FOUR main steps for the beginner.
I've just tried and found them successful.
Follow the lessons and with plenty of practice you'll be "hot-dogging" (riding confidently, expertly) something like champion style in a few months.

STEP ONE: Kneel or lie (whichever you prefer) on your
surfboard so that it floats level in the water.
Paddle out, swinging both arms together, beyond the
breaking waves.

STEP THREE: Making sure that your surfboard is moving
with the wave, slowly rise to your feet (about three-quarter way back from the nose of the board) in one movement.

STEP TWO: To "crack" your first wave, lie flat.
Let the first wave go by.
When the second is about 20ft. behind start paddling
until you feel the swell lifting you along.

FOUR: Bend your knees -slightly, one foot in front of the other, and lift your arms to the sides.
Try to lean a little forward and let the board make
its own way to shore.

Paste these handy hints in your beach hat:
New surfboards can be bought from specialised board manufacturers or sporting stores, but for the beginner a second-hand surfboard will do fine.
For a ''bargain" board, ask a dealer, or scout around a surf club.

Before taking your surfboard into the water, rub the top with paraffin wax, which is available at chemists.
This stops you from slipping off the glass-like finished surface.
The fashionable "zip-tweeds," those long cotton shorts that so many surfers prefer (they are comfortable) to ride in, can be made by cutting down an old pair of slacks or jeans.
Look after your board.
Don't drag the fin through the sand; carry it to the water's edge.
Repair a split in the fibre-glass covering immediately.

Keep clear of the experts, but close enough to note their movements.
Don't, however, try cutting across another rider - it can mean trouble.
If you take a tumble, try to fall clear of your surfboard and dive deep to avoid being struck by it.

Most surfing beaches have special areas marked off for board-riders.
If the beach where you're surfing has no such restricted area, keep clear of the water "between the flags," don't go near any large group of surfers "on foot."
Practise on land, rising to a standing position in one movement.
Lie flat and try to get to your feet by pushing up with your arms.
This will soon become an automatic movement.

Trove
1961 'How to ride a surfboard', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 11 October, p. 3. (Teenagers Weekly), viewed 01 Sep 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47253092

The Australian Women's Weekly
Wednesday 6 December 1961, page S46 (Supplement- Teenagers' Weekly).
Surfboard team to race in Hawaii.
By Kerry Yates

REPRESENTING AUSTRALIA for the first time at the International Surfing Championships in Hawaii,
these boys are members of the 20-strong team.
From left:
Owen Pilon, David Jackman, Mick McMahon, Bob Evans, lan Wallis, Ken Bate, Graeme Treloar, Jim Geddes, and Graham Henry.

This week 20 Australian surfboard riders, eight of them teenagers, will meet in Hawaii to form a team to compete in the International Surfing Championships at Makaha Beach in December and January.

It will be the first time Australia has been represented by an organised team at the championships, which bring competitors and spectators from all over the world every year.
All members of the team paid their own fares to realise this dream of most surfboard experts.
Some used the savings of two or three years to travel by ship.
Others took advantage of an airline company's "fly now, pay later" plan.
Unlike most overseas travellers, the boys didn't take much luggage.
Swimsuits, "zip tweeds" (long pants worn on surfboards), and a few casual clothes were all they thought they'd need - so that's all they took.

And, of course, their boards!
Each of them took two boards - a special malibu-type, the light and easy-to-handle board used on most Australian beaches, and a big, solid "elephant-gun" board, used in heavy surf.
Bob Evans, of Narrabeen (one of Sydney's northern beaches), organised the team and arranged for it to compete in the championships.
The boys will contest junior and senior surfboard championships and body-surfing events.
The South Pacific Surf Riders' Club supplied the team with T-shirts in the Australian national colors - gold and green.
This newly formed club, which has a modern clubhouse at Narrabeen, hopes to sponsor
an Australian team to Hawaii for the surfing titles each year.

The members of the Australian team are:
Bob Evans, at 32, is the oldest member of the team.
He believes that some of the Sydney surf-riders will be a real challenge to the established champions from California.
David Jackman, 21, of Harbord, is a surfboard builder by trade and well known to Sydney board-riders as "Jacko," the boy who rode four big waves over the Queenscliff bombora earlier this year.
John Williams, 21, of Queenscliff, is another surfboard builder.
Owen Pilon, 18, of North Narrabeen, is a process worker in a city electrical firm and has saved for this trip since he started work several years ago.
Graham Henry, 20, of Harbord, is known as "Buz."
He works hard at various jobs during the winter so that he can spend the whole of summer riding the waves.
Mike Hickey, 24, of Bilgola, gave up his job as an insurance clerk to become a member of the Australian team.
Jim Geddes, 17, of Narrabeen, sat for the last exam for his Leaving Certificate at his school, Waverley College, a few days before leaving Sydney for Hawaii.
Ian Wallis, 21, of Collaroy, is a city storeman and describes Hawaii as "the surfboard rider's paradise."
Bernard Farrelly, 16, of Narrabeen, is known as "The Midget."
A surfboard builder by trade, Bernard was the junior champion of Sydney's surfboard riders this year.
Bob Pike, 21, of Manly is a woolclasser and says his main interest in going to Hawaii is to see if the waves are really as big as everyone says.
Mick McMahon, 25, of Harbord, is a butcher.
Before leaving he said, "I'm keen to have a go at the big waves and look at the Hawaiian girls."
Graeme Treloar, of Manly, is a commercial traveller and Sydney's senior surfboard champion.
Gordon Simpson, 21, Harbord, is a former surf champion.
Ron Grant, 22, of Wollongong, is the only non-Sydney member of the team and the only one who has previously competed in surf races over-seas - in California.
Ken Bate, 18, of Manly, works in a city stockbrokers and has been saving for this trip since he started work three years ago.
John Bill, 20, of Manly, gave up his job as an accountant to join the team.
Ben Acton, 25, of Harbord, a member of the Police Force, got leave of absence to make the trip.
The other three members of the team are Reg Shortland, 19, Laurie Short, 18, and Roy Sloan, 18, all of Maroubra.

Trove
1961 'Surfboard team to race in Hawaii', The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), 6 December, p. 4. (Teenagers' Weekly), viewed 01 Sep 2014,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51392771

1960

Newspapers

Menu

1962

surfresearch.com.au

Geoff Cater (2014-2016) : Newspapers : Surfing, 1961.
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1961_Newspapers.html