Sean Charters

So many good surfers have emerged out of the  The Alley Rip bowl over the years. The competitive nature of the wave hungry pack ensures that if you dont prove yourself and standout by ripping you just dont get any waves. Its dog eat dog and only the best survive. In the 80’s one of those who stood out  was a natural foot called Sean Charters. Sean had a clean style with cutting edge moves and was one of the first of the local crew to start busting aerials consistently after Martin Potter moved into town for a while and turned him onto them.This pic of Sean was taken outside Joes Milkbar around the mid 80’s   photo Stroh

Southside Open 1980

Sandshoes local Graham Cassidy was the driving force behind bringing the worlds best surfers to Cronulla for the $23000 Southside Open World Tour event. The 4 day waiting period was blessed with good to average waves which lucky considering  Cronullas usual fickle beachy standards. The Trials were held at Sandshoes and the 6 man heats found the small take off area a real battle where 72 riders were culled down to 13 only advancing to the main event.On the final day 2 surfers had stood out from the pack. Hawaiian Dane Kealoha and Queenslands Wayne Rabbit Bartholmew. A best of three set final saw Dane take the first with some explosive moves. The second went to Bugs and in the final heat Rabbit  had superior wave choice and walked away with the cheque presented by NSW Premier Nevil Wran. Info and pics from Waves Issue No 2.

The Pringles

Brian Pringle started surfing on a mal in the 60’s and moved the family into Bando rd where they still remain today. When sons Glenn and Shane were coming up the ranks Mr P would paddle out the back to The Point on his red wave ski and take the set waves. Using his paddle as a deterent to any drop-ins he would take control of the inside wave position while Glenn and Shane who were too small to steal any waves from the hungry Point pack could take off while Brian acted like their personal bouncer so they could get bigger wave experience. Now thats a devoted dad.  Photo left Brian on his eggbeater and young Glenn smacking the lip on his single fin McCoy Lazer Zap.   Circa mid 80’s photo Chris Stroh

Ashley Gee

Ash was one of Glenn Pringles and Dogs main comp rivals back when they were juniors in the EBC ranks. His family house up near midway was the hang for all the kids. Ash looked like he had a promising competitive career ahead of him but seemed to lose interest and moved away from the coast for a while. A year or two later he was back with a new drive to surf powerful waves. He started charging at the Island and today he  is one of the Nullas consistent big wave chasers always turning up when the waves are at there best. This pic taken from a sequence was shot early 90’s getting nicely slotted through Surge.   pic Chris Stroh

Dane Durbin

One of the red hot Northies crew and a loyal CBC member. Known for his sponteniety and aerial assaults. This pic of Dane was snapped early 2000 at the Alley Rip Bowl.   photo Craig Stroh

Surf Films @ The Community Hall

In the 70’s, long before VCRs, Dvds and the internet changed everything most  Saturday nights were spent watching the latest 16mm surf film on the big screen. At Cronulla, The Community Hall would be packed to the rafters with kids hooting every ride while the actual surf film maker worked the projector up the back. As always anything that possibly could go wrong usually did, from food fights to someone turning off the power mid movie. Films like Morning of The Earth, Family Free, Oceans, Seadreams and Waves of Change were just some of the titles floating around this time. Below M.O.E poster early 70s.

Richard Maurer

Richard was another one of those Kurnel kids who in there Grom days would trudge over the Wanda sand dunes to have a surf. Along with his best mate Occy the pair would trade of heavy gouging front and backhand snaps wave for wave. Over the years Richard was a devoted Cronulla Boardriders Club  member surfing in there winning Surf League teams and at one stage a few years back he was even president of the club. This back hand blast was taken at The Alley sometime in the 80’s.  photo Chris Stroh

Dog Cover

Richard “Dog” Marsh has had his fair share of covers over the years.This one generated from a Blackrock session appeared on the Waves poster book.Richard was going through his punk rock stage and had dyed his hair black. Dog along with the other Cronulla goofys like Pete Smith, Greeny and  Occy  would always head south the first sign of a southerly swell and a sniff of north east wind. This day was near good as it gets and Dog was in the box seat.  Circa early 90’s  photo Chris Stroh

Jezza

Jeremy Hrbac grew a taste for mean powerful waves from a early age.He first popped up on the radar around the early 90’s charging Shark Island backside. With his left foot forward it was Voodoo and The Reefs where he would find his real calling. This shot of Jezza was taken early 2000 at Voodoo, loving the reef power.   photo Craig Stroh

Early Days with Dave Wilson

The following post is the first in a series  by longtime Cronulla surfer Dave Wilson. Dave has an extensive knowledge of Cronulla in the early days of the sport and has been involved in surfing ever since……. I was born in Cronulla in the late 40s ,and my parents were born there as well. My family on both sides lived and worked with the ocean and bays. Both my grandfathers worked on the 2 pubs, the odeon picture theatre and all the rock pools on the peninsula. My pop Freddie Wilson was a Narragansett Indian from Connecticut USA  and arrived here in 1919 after fighting in France for Canada in WW1 and never left Australia, he was well known in Cronulla. In the early 30s they built a new house on the corner of Robinson st and Kurnell rd, and owned the block next door, my grandmother owned 18 horses and had the riding school and horses for hire [fond memories of Kurnell and boat harbor when i was little before the road was built] , they had the first surfoplane hire business, so on weekends and holidays they had the rights to rent surfoplanes, sell hot water, rent deck chairs ,wigwams [large beach shades], and horse rides to wanda/boat harbour. This all operated out of Dunningham Park and everything was stored behind old Mr Lucases house beside the surf club and the horses were corralled on vacant blocks of land or out at Kurnell where they owned 2 blocks of land. My father and Frank Lattas father were  shell gritters in the winter and Dick made money by towing people out of bogs [thats how the Kurnell bus service started] who were foolish enough to attempt to drive out to Kurnell… …….more to come from Dave on the surfboard side, including the original surfers and manufacturers plus Dave’s involvement with Floyd Smith and Gordon and Smith in 1966 and eventual ownership in 1995…stay tuned. The photo below is of South Cronulla Beach back in the day pre 1950s.