In the early to mid-seventies, there were three competition surfers who rode with speed to burn, namely Jim Pollock, Alan “Wally” Tibbals, and Phil Trigger. The rest of us were looking for big bottom turns and barrels that generally ended up as cover-ups on the shoulder—or, more often when performed at Bells, being stuck behind the whitewater.

Phil’s unique stance of having his feet close together produced a fast-twitch ‘tick-tack’ that enabled him to make many sections at Bells that others couldn’t. It was his favourite wave, where he made the final on almost every occasion. For an East Coaster, he knew the place backwards.

On one occasion at Bells for the Conservation comp, we both made the final along with Victorian champions Rod Brooks, Alan Atkins, and John Law, plus two-time winner of the Oke Pro Comp Charlie Bartlett (later Charles of the Sea). Charlie's famous words, “Don’t destroy what you came to enjoy,” are carved into stone at the current entrance to the Bells reserve.

The waves were consistently around 10 feet, and luckily for me, I was paddling out near Winki Pop when the 'macca' set of the day drilled and pounded everyone else. Just scraping through the top of the first couple, I looked inside to see that Phil was the only survivor strong enough to hold onto his board (no leggies were allowed back then).

One great act of courage and sportsmanship was to follow: Acko’s board popped up in front of Charlie and, from a unique side-on view, I saw him push it through the lip to Acko just as he was dragged backwards over the falls on a monster. I believe Alan went on to win the final.

Charlie Bartlett was originally from Maroubra, NSW, and was a very powerful surfer. He was a wonderful character and a legend in Victorian surfing. Even though Rod, John, and Charlie had to swim in to retrieve their surfboards and paddle back out that day at Bells, the big-wave boys pushed Phil and me back to 4th and 6th places respectively.

Triggs