G&S 70s Adv.

Check out this Gordon and Smith advertisement from the pages of Tracks in April ’79. Classic stuff when the brand was going off with 3 surf outlets.

Herbie

Richard Herbert alias Dick Bent was one of Cronullas true characters. A longtime Point and Island regular Herbie was always pulling in and coming out with his crazy grin on his face. Herbie was a shaper with G&S and Emerald and produced Huzza Wuzza boards at one time in his career. Richard once had a double page shot in Tracks back in the late 70’s in an article titled Veruna. He later gained a cult like following in The Shire with his band Death by Bunta and then Dick Bent and The Bentnicks. A while back Herbie died from natural causes, his wild lifestyle finnaly caught up to him. This is shot 1 from a 6 shot sequence of Richard lining up and pulling into the hellpit at The Point    photo Stroh

Gary Hughes 360

This shot of Gary Hughes was taken in April ’81 at The  Point with a crappy mirror lens. This was taken in the Larry Bertlemann era of twin fin, rip and tear. Hughsy in his sluggos is riding a twinny and busted this threesixty late one arvo on a fun size day. When given a print of  this shot at the time he said it was his favourite pic and framed it on his loungeroom wall. It ended up getting ripped to shreds by a jealous girlfriend. So here it is again decades later.   Photo Chris Stroh

Piping Hot

Piping Hot Wetsuits set up office in the main street mall above the fruitshop back in the 80’s. They sponsored local riders like Glenn Pringle, Greeny, Matt Brown, Sean Fitzpatrick, Grome and Rod Baldwin. Piping Hot was blowing up at the time with Kong. This advertisement appeared in Tracks Dec 84 showing Brownie kneeling ,Grome on the left and Fitzy standing on the right who were Cronulla’s hottest rising stars. Brownie went on to win the Cronulla Boardriders Club Cadet  championship in ’85 and Fitzy won it in ’86 and the Junior title in ’87. 

Ratso

Iain “Ratso” Buchanan got his knickname after the hobo character played by Dustin Hoffman in the Hollywood movie Midnight Cowboy. Kiwi Ratso moved into Cronulla and soon became an integral part of The Alley scene surfing for Cronulla Boardriders, shaping boards for Hot Buttered and trying his luck on the World Tour. This photo was taken during a session behind the Rockpools between Northies and Southies on a clean northeast day. Ratso eventually moved back to NZ where he still resides today.   photo Stroh  circa mid 80’s.

Martin Potter

Early in his career Martin Potter the South African super kid  who was the hottest newcomer in the sport at the time due to his aerial assaults moved into Cronulla with the Darcy family for a time to get experience in Australia. It was around the mid 80’s and he was soon turning up at all the local breaks pulling huge airs and throwing plenty of tail. No matter whether it was KP, The Point or the Beachies he was going off and a huge inspiration for the local crew to see such talent ripping up their spots. It was also while staying in the Nulla the boys taught him how to party and by the time he moved on he had plenty of worldly experiences.This shot, heavy gouging carve by Potts was taken up the beach mid 80s by Chris Stroh

Troy Dennehy @ Southies

Nugget during the late 80’s and 90’s was the mainman at The Alley along with his brother Mushy. The pair were small in stature but big in heart. A natural talented goofyfoot Troy was the king of Northies lineup and ruled the Alley rip bowl, The Pools and Southies during those big Northeast days. Troy was a regular finalist in the Cronulla Sharks Boardriders Club monthly contests from a early age and won the Club Chamionship in 92, 93 & 2000. The pic below is of Nugget taking a set wave at South Cronulla during a huge cyclone swell. As always, this day Troy was the standout getting barreled time after time and hitting the lip in the mini Waimea like shorey.RIP…pic Stroh

Surfboard Manufacturers

Cronulla has a long history of surfboard manufacturers. In the 80’s the following 4 surfboard builders  were just a few of the brands that kept the local crew well equiped….. This 1988 adv. for Jim Banks appeared in Tracks, Banksy worked out of his Cronulla Original Clothing Shop, the photo was by Chris Stroh….. Geoff Solness was the driving force behind Shark Island Design Surfboards located just across the road from the train station his adv.appeared in Tracks in 87…… Rod Baldwin appeared in this Emerald advert in 84  the photo was by Stroh……while the Graham King Surfboards logo turned up in Tracks in 79.

Unknown Soldiers

         This shot was taken on a pumping mutant southeast day at Shark Island around the mid to late 90’s.  A lot of the usual Island faces were caught napping this day. There were quite a few unknown surfers out having a go , making some and paying the penalty on others. This chunky wave was one of the ones made.   photo Chris Stroh

Banksy-Bronzed Aussie.

This mini profile appeared in Tracks in 1990 about the wave that changed Jim Banks life. For the 17 year old amateur surf prodigy it was at the 78 Surfabout at North Narrabeen that one particular tube set Banksy on a different path. During a heat with the unbeatable Mark Richards, Jim caught a cracker of a wave, a long left hand barrel one of the best of the day that had the crowd standing and hooting. By the end of the heat he had done the unthinkable and relegated MR to the beach. That one wave resulted in Jim being picked up and sponsored by the high profile Bronze Aussies Surf Team establishing him from rags to riches as a Pro  Surfer over night.We have that photo of that very tube which we will upload in a later blog.