Stuart Gooch

In the late 80’s and 90’s red hot ripper Stuart Gooch was one of the most underrated surfers in Australia but suffered the same Southside curse like many other talented riders. While the locals of Cronulla knew he had the talent and moves, just like Murf and Nugget before him he never received the necessary sponsor backing or exposure to take it to the next level. A classy surfer all the same. This lip destroyer taken at Elouera around ’89. Seq Chris Stroh.

 

Mr Moon Beam Logos

The late Cronulla surfer/shaper Bob Lidell’s Moon Beam logo.

Bill Penrue

This pic of taken at The Point appeared in Surfabout magazine in ’63. The caption read “Bill Penrue locked in a transperent early morning wave and on the verge of being wiped out. A local rider keeps a wary eye on Bill”. Photo by legendary surf photographer Bob Weeks.

Peter Townend

In the mid 70’s  many of Surfing’s biggest names where regularily hanging out at Cronulla giving the local groms plenty of competitive push and inspiration which had been lacking in previous years. World class riders like PT, Ian Cairns and Michael Peterson where just some of the big guns who were spending a lot of time in the area. With PT riding and shaping at G&S  he became accepted as a part time local when he wasn’t on tour and found most days at Sandshoes where the photo below was captured around ’76.Photos Steve core.

 

Andy King

Kingy along with Rusty, Jezza, Boogs, Sparky, Terepai and brothers Speg and Ox where all part of a crew of Cronulla surfers which in the 90’s produced inspiring big wave performances around Cronulla’s heaviest reefs. At waves like Voodo and The Island they pushed each other to go bigger and deeper and their exploits were well recorded in the surf media at that time. This pic captures Andy taking on Suckrock a wave that might not get huge but definately packs a punch. Late 90’s.

Jim Banks Logo

 Jim Banks has been shaping boards since 1971 in his backyard under the house stripping down old boards then re shapping the foam.Banksy then ended up working for Clearline and then for G&S before eventually breaking out on his own.

G&S 1970.

Gordon and Smith testimonial advertisement from 1970 featuring the Bob Brown (blonde  Bobby) surf shop on the Kingsway.

Jack Eden.

Another classic Cronulla Point shot from the Jack Eden portfolio appeared in a story in Surfabout Vol 2 No 10 in 1965. At the time Jack was one of the very few photographers who were shooting water angles. Water housings were pretty rare so often photographers would paddle out with their camera in a plastic bag and sit on the shoulder on top of their longboards risking their equipment. Jack was a pioneer in this area and he captured many iconic surf images of that era.  He also gave Southside surfers some well earned coverage.

 

 

Jackson Adv. 1965

From the pages of Surfabout 1965.

1980 Mark Warren @ The Point

The 1980 Southside Open bought the worlds best surfers to Cronulla. Saturday Day 2 was held at The Point in 2 metre swells and stars like Mark Warren shined for the large spectator gallery gathered on the headland photo Bruce Channon.