Dog Tales

      I spent a lot of time shooting pics of Richard Marsh in the early ’80s when he was just a young rising star on the amateur scene fresh out of school. It was on such a trip down south that the pic below was taken. I soon learnt that Richard was extremely determined and super competitive . On one trip south Rod Baldwin asked the Kurnel kid what he was going to do for a job. “Pro Surfer” Dog responded mega confident like it was his destiny. As for his must win at any cost competitiveness I had great pleasure in beating Dog in a surf contest well kinda of it was Californian Games on Commodore 64. Little did he know that id been practicing secretely for weeks on the new surfing game. So when Dog came around it was on.I was averaging 9.5 rides and the bastard was so pissed off. Im sure he went straight out and bought a game just to trounce me next time and get revenge. A rematch never happened so I still have the claim to fame of beating Dog. Pic Chris Stroh

Grant “Grub”Coulter.

 Grub is another one of those local shredders who have been around forever. Back in 79 he was apart of Cronulla Junior Board riders club  and competed that same year in the Aussie titles at Merewether. Since those early days Grant has concentrated on his free surfing and has proven himself countless times on Cronulla’s heaviest reefs on the best days standing out from the pack. This shot taken at The Point around 1990 shows Grubs stylish carving cutback. pic by Chris Stroh

The Beaurepaires Open, Cronulla, 1985

Occy Cover ’88

This Island barrel shot of Occy was on the cover of Nov/Dec Waves magazine in ’88. It was part of a 5 shot sequence.Its one of my favourite photographs for 2 reasons. I remember seeing  Occy take off inside so I swam pretty deep to make sure I didnt miss any of it. To deep in fact, I ended up getting sucked back over and dragged across the reef. When I came up I was on the otherside of the Island. At least I scored the cover with it and that was my first real Island shakedown, but it was worth it.   photo Chris Stroh

Adam Brown

Browny has been a longtime standout at Cronulla mainly around the beachies. He was a member of Cronulla Boardriders Club winning numerous club titles in the 80’s. In ’84 he was Cadet Champ, ’85 and ’86 he was Junior Champ and ’89 he was the Open Club Champ. Browny was also an integral member of CBC winning Surf League teams . Adam was a bit of a stylemaster back in the day with punk mohawks , tatts and piercings long before they became accepted. This pic stylish float taken near Red House around mid 80’s photo Chris Stroh

Pete Smith in SW

          This clean as a whistle barrel shot of Pete Smith on his signature design red railed pintail was featured in Surfing World Annual Vol 6 at Blackrock. Pete honed his tube riding skills at the infamous Aussie Pipeline and seeing him out there on a 1.5 metre day was pretty mind blowing. This pic was taken by Ian Borland early 80’s.

Fancy Dress at the Beaurepaires Open 1985.

Plenty of the boys are in this one, Occy and his dad, Kelvin Hawkins and Jason Meakins are the two chickens laying an egg with the comp bouy, Alby Ross, Dean Whiteman and Spot Anderson are there as well.The guy in the seaweed was a USA competitor he won the best costume but he paid heavily when he was covered from head to toe in sea lice bites.

Gary Green

    Gary Green gave up a solid career as a pro surfer to become one of the sports first sponsored soulman riders. This pic was snapped at one of Greenys favourite hangouts called Blackrock. He has the place wired and is one of the best tube riders to ever grace its perfect shaped barrels. Casual and stylish as always in the pit. Circa mid 80’s photo by Chris Stroh

Occy @ Blackrock

Seeing Occy at Blackrock in the flesh is like watching Lopez at Pipe or MP at Kirra , they were made for one another. Occy on his Rusty absolutely tore it up this day. The Occster was in his prime back in the early to mid 80’s when he was riding for Billabong and Peak and had the narrowest of waist lines and his surfing was raw and spontaneous. He rocked up with Dog and Sean Charters around early mid morning and was soon getting the deepest barrels. One wave in particular comes to mind, I was a little too slow getting out of his way trying to get the last second shot in the barrel. Just when my head was about to collide with the nose of his board he fully bunny hopped me and kept going. Ive have never had anyone do that before or since. This pic brings back classic memories of the kid at his peak….photo Chris Stroh

 

Shane Pringle

        Growing up his whole life at Elouera it was only natural that Shane would be a EBC Dunny Hanger. While older brother Glenn rode the rights, Shane ripped it up on the left rip bowls. Shane was a bit of a news magnet. Anything that was going on in Cronulla,  Shane knew about it before anyone else. As a junior he won numerous surfing titles but instead of chasing a career in surfing he joined up to work with his Piping Hot Wetsuit sponsor and moved to Torquay for a short spell. After coming back to Cronulla, Shane seemed distant, the mischeavous sparkle in his eye was gone and he was different to the bubbly kid that everyone loved. He was diagnosed with manic depression a short time later and like other Cronulla surfers The Bear, Ross Fielder, Troy Dennehy and Andrew Murphy he sadly took his own life.The pics below show Shane tearing it up at his beloved Dunny Bowl and large gathering of family and friends line the beach and headland at Elouera to send off Shane in typical Surfing style with a paddle out tribute.