Our good mate Alan "Wally" Tibballs is an elite sportsman in every sense of the word. Before an illustrious career in the waves, he was a Victorian Pole Vaulting Champion and a very good country footballer for the Bonbeach F.C. with—I am told—a leap like Jesaulenko. Alan followed in his older brother Colin’s footsteps; Big Col was a very handy ruckman for Edithvale, and Alan play

From Left to Right: A very young Steve Wilkinson, older brother Peter Wilkinson, Ando patting Wilko’s dog Jep, Phil Brain, Simon Rice, Alan “Wally” Tibballs, Russell Davies, Tony Fowler, and—just in the frame courtesy of his afro—Michael Schaffer. Four in this frame were past Presidents of the Peninsula Surf Riders Club. Baby-faced Steve Wilkinson was just learning t

By the time we captured our first vision of Midget Farrelly surfing live, he was already the 1964 World Surfing Champion—a household name who was highly marketable. In fact, he had published his book This Surfing Life and even had his own branded skateboards, which were the first to be commercially available in Australia. Our first glimpse of him came during Easter 1965, when gigantic swells

When many of our fellow surfers were getting hooked on skiing over the winter months of the 70s, brother Phil and I stayed true to our passion for surfing and competing. At the time, there were a host of great surfing flicks, but in 1979, Nat Young released The Fall Line, which included footage of himself and fellow world surfing champion Mike Doyle riding monoskis. If there wasn’t already a

It seems ludicrous looking back to the mid-70s, when the front window of the Trigger Bros Chelsea store was highlighted with Blaze fireplaces, but those were the extraordinary steps Phil would take to secure a deal. Had he outsmarted himself? Maybe, because we now owned 10 very heavy potbelly stoves taking up valuable floor space! Phil, Wilko, Cocky, and myself all took one home, but we still had

Floodwaters down East Creek Just before the turnoff to Point Leo, East Creek travels under the Hastings–Flinders Road. In the wet season, it can be seen as a virtual flood plain on the Red Hill side of the road. These waters are channelled into a narrow, fast-flowing creek as it heads down towards Point Leo. Following a brief geographical survey carried out by Wilko’s Outback Adventure

These boards including a couple of big Guns for Hawaii were shaped up by GT and glassed by Alan Francis. Not too many surfers on the tour actually shape their own surfboards by hand though some may claim to (with the help of cad machines). The tail was snapped off the big gun at Waimea, the board a goner but GT survived. That’s a young ST holding up Gazza’s boards. He was on the World

1987 Phil’s boys Matt and Simon in their teens enjoying the school holidays and sunshine of the Gold Coast. Shortboards, big logos, and bright colours were the order of the day, while those perfect, peeling waves of Snapper, Kirra, and Currumbin were ideal for honing skills. The boys are both goofies, but it might not necessarily have been that way by choice. Phil had an obsession with

This photo, taken by Peter Wilkinson in the early 70s, was shot from above the reef looking through to the point on a big offshore day. Unfortunately, nothing much has changed surf-wise, as Pete’s caption on the back reads: “One of the only good winter swells this year.” We know it's the early 70s because at this stage there was no housing on the lower reaches of the Pt. Leo far