Midway Comp ’76

After the Bobby Brown comp finnished up after 3 years of running Alistair Waddell organised a comp at Midway. It was meant to be for locals only but word soon got out. The waves ‘ co operate and the open event was won by Narra’s Col Sutherland, Col Smith second and the highest local was Fank Latta placing 3rd. Pic far below of a very young Tom Carol competing in the event. Pics and original story by Peter Simmons in SW 1976.

Night Surfing

Night surfing came to town in 84 at the Beaurapaires event. The worlds best battled it out under massive floodlights brought in for the occasion unfortunately the waves didnt co operate and the night surfing was barred from future events because of crowd problems with local residents. This shot Tom Curren taken byPeter Crawford from Waves Mag.

Force 9

Early Force 9 advertisement December 81 Tracks.

S.W. Cover ’73

Steve Core snapped this Surfing World cover shot of Colin Eagle at Sandshoes in 1973. Back then water photography was basically using a primitive Nikonos camera now well and truly outdated but it still got the job done.

Gary Hughes Injured

In the late 70’s Cronulla Point standout Gary Hughes embarked on his secong Hawaiian mission. The previous year he was forced out of the water early due to a spleen injury but this year Hughesy was lucky to come out alive. While surfing Sunset ,Gary got speared in the head by a loose board. The injury left a gaping hole and he was rushed to hospital by helicopter for micro surgery to repair the near fatal wound. The injury put the breaks on Gary’s pro career as he was out of the water for months on end and when he returned he was forced to wear a helmet for safety until fully healed. Below Gary from a Tracks article with shaved head and scars.

Greeny Force 9

Gary Green on tour mid 80’s.

Groin For Cronulla Scrapped

1980 October Tracks revealed that the proposed groyne to combat erosion at Cronulla Beach was to be dropped. In the pic below by Peter Simmons you can see the destruction caused during that monster swell of ’76 to Northies.

Cronulla Article Tracks ’71

This is the first article based on Cronulla to appear in Tracks. Written by Rusty Miller its about a day he spent south. It was titled “Equal rights for the Southside guys”.Thats Jacko in the picture.

Roach Approach

Here’s Wayne Roach’s surfboard label called  “Roach Approach”  advertisement from ’93 featuring the charismatic life of the party local identity Shane Moran mid backside float.

Surfabout Cover

Surfabout Magazine was the work of local 60’s surf photographer Jack Eden.In the early days the Southside lacked exposure as all the surf media was based Northside. Jack changed all that and through the golden 60’s many cronulla surfers gained well deserved recognition. This arty cover was Vol 3 No 6.