SURFBOAT FOLKLORE
The story of surfboats is rich with characters and tall tales – some truer than others. There are hundreds of great stories that have etched themselves in surfboat history. Every club and era contributed to the surfboat story. Most are only passed on by word of mouth because they are unlikely to appear in annual reports or official records! Therefore they can be quite fluid, influenced by fading memories and amber liquid.
I am happy to receive stories, folklore and general information that forms the cultural basis of our iconic sport. Please provide your stories and reminiscences to Kim Marsh by email to [email protected] or post to Kim Marsh, PO Box 740, Newport Beach, NSW 2106. Please include your contact details. Photos with information on who took them or owns copyright are also welcome.
I am happy to receive stories, folklore and general information that forms the cultural basis of our iconic sport. Please provide your stories and reminiscences to Kim Marsh by email to [email protected] or post to Kim Marsh, PO Box 740, Newport Beach, NSW 2106. Please include your contact details. Photos with information on who took them or owns copyright are also welcome.
MISS ASTOR’S LAST WAVE, FRESHWATER 1963.
I think it was 1963 when a massive surf rolled into Sydney. My father Bill Marsh kept a small clinker boat with a sweep oar at the northern end of Freshwater Beach which he and his mates used for fishing. This particular Saturday he took me down to Freshwater point to take some movies with his new Super 8 camera of the waves we could hear crashing from our house. Unbelievably the Freshwater surfboat was off the point in a 30 foot (10m) north east swell. It was one of those days when the ground swell is almost tidal. Each set would surge right up the beach threatening to drag the many unsuspecting sightseers out to sea.
We climbed onto the roof of the Swimming Club building to get a better view. The crew was a long way out off the northern point. They almost got caught by a massive lipping wave they backed over. The next wave was just as big but a little greener. The crew took some strokes to launch onto the giant wave that looked like a block of flats. As it draw alongside our position we lost sight of the boat in a turbulent mountain of seething white foam as the wave broke. Dad kept filming with some expletives of concern for the crew. He knew what was happening to them from years of towing surfboats to carnivals behind his old tipper truck. As a twelve year old I simply knew something crazy was going on and I was fearful for whoever was foolhardy enough to be in the boat. Everything went quiet and bits of boat surfaced still being dragged around by the surge. We could not see the crew in the maelstrom until they started to appear near the shore. Dad said they were all there and we rushed around the rocks to the beach where he took more movie shots of the jubilant crew on the beach souveniring bits of Freshie’s Miss Astor surfboat.
We climbed onto the roof of the Swimming Club building to get a better view. The crew was a long way out off the northern point. They almost got caught by a massive lipping wave they backed over. The next wave was just as big but a little greener. The crew took some strokes to launch onto the giant wave that looked like a block of flats. As it draw alongside our position we lost sight of the boat in a turbulent mountain of seething white foam as the wave broke. Dad kept filming with some expletives of concern for the crew. He knew what was happening to them from years of towing surfboats to carnivals behind his old tipper truck. As a twelve year old I simply knew something crazy was going on and I was fearful for whoever was foolhardy enough to be in the boat. Everything went quiet and bits of boat surfaced still being dragged around by the surge. We could not see the crew in the maelstrom until they started to appear near the shore. Dad said they were all there and we rushed around the rocks to the beach where he took more movie shots of the jubilant crew on the beach souveniring bits of Freshie’s Miss Astor surfboat.
The sweep Brian “Callo” O’Callaghan was there with an older bloke from Manly, Bill Clymer. We were surprised the other three rowers were local boys who were probably only 17 years old. They were Bill Lucas, Don Graham and Graeme Knox, later to be known as ‘The Zom’. There was no fanfare or ‘look at us we are heroes’ about the crew. You could tell they had enjoyed themselves. Catching a massive wave did not seem to be an issue. Breaking the boat into little pieces was the focus of the excitement. Years later when some of us damaged an old surfboat beyond repair when it went up on the rocks at the south side of Freshwater, Boat Captain Brian O’Callaghan just about exploded in anger. None of us were game enough to remind him about the day he turned the Miss Astor into splinters.
The movie of the wave was shown at a boaties gathering at Freshwater Club. The film was all but ruined when the reel unwound on a beer soaked floor. There was just enough to take a few stills off the 8mm film.
Bill Clymer rowed and swept at Manly. He had been a significant balsa surfboard maker and had started making surfboat oars. I am not sure whether he had started building surfboats when the Miss Astor was destroyed. Otherwise he may have been accused of drumming up business. Bill recalled the event when he was interviewed about his amazing life by Frances Harpur on May 18, 1996. The sound recording of the interview is kept at Warringah Council Library. He said he was going to the Harbord Hotel for a drink with his wife Shirley and a friend from Melbourne on a Saturday afternoon after work. Seeing the huge waves they walked to the beach where he met his friend Brian O’Callaghan. They got three juniors and went out at the northern point. He said
“It (wave) had three big steps on it and Brian O’Callaghan handled the boat very well and she came down the third step and the wave broke and the boat broke, right down the middle. An oar popped up near me, I was running out of breath at the time, so I grabbed hold of the oar and I was first to reach the beach.” He went on to say “So I got home. The children came running out. They said, ‘Guess what, the 2SM shark plane just reported that Freshie cracked a big wave and that the boat has broken in half’ And I said ‘Yeah and here is the seat that I sat on’.”
The movie of the wave was shown at a boaties gathering at Freshwater Club. The film was all but ruined when the reel unwound on a beer soaked floor. There was just enough to take a few stills off the 8mm film.
Bill Clymer rowed and swept at Manly. He had been a significant balsa surfboard maker and had started making surfboat oars. I am not sure whether he had started building surfboats when the Miss Astor was destroyed. Otherwise he may have been accused of drumming up business. Bill recalled the event when he was interviewed about his amazing life by Frances Harpur on May 18, 1996. The sound recording of the interview is kept at Warringah Council Library. He said he was going to the Harbord Hotel for a drink with his wife Shirley and a friend from Melbourne on a Saturday afternoon after work. Seeing the huge waves they walked to the beach where he met his friend Brian O’Callaghan. They got three juniors and went out at the northern point. He said
“It (wave) had three big steps on it and Brian O’Callaghan handled the boat very well and she came down the third step and the wave broke and the boat broke, right down the middle. An oar popped up near me, I was running out of breath at the time, so I grabbed hold of the oar and I was first to reach the beach.” He went on to say “So I got home. The children came running out. They said, ‘Guess what, the 2SM shark plane just reported that Freshie cracked a big wave and that the boat has broken in half’ And I said ‘Yeah and here is the seat that I sat on’.”
PALM BEACH CREW, FAIRY BOWER 1965
I believe the first surfboat Bill Clymer built was for Palm Beach in the early 1960s. I recall being told it had a drop keel that the sweep operated. This boat was famously destroyed by a monster wave at Fairy Bower in 1965. Its demise was captured on movie by Bruce ‘Bud’ Brown of ‘The Endless Summer’ fame. An extract can be viewed on YouTube ‘Surf Boat off Fairy Bower ‘65’. (Some records state the boat was destroyed at Fairy Bower on 27 March, 1966.)
The boat was swept by John Windshuttle and crewed by Chris Branson, Trevor Holman, D. Wilson and B. King.
It was a massive day with many big name board riders such as Bob Pike enjoying waves that would do justice to the north shore of Oahu. Bill Clymer recalls seeing the boat engulfed by an avalanche of water, “A piece of the stern was recovered but the rest of the boat was smashed into pieces as big as your hand”.
The boat was swept by John Windshuttle and crewed by Chris Branson, Trevor Holman, D. Wilson and B. King.
It was a massive day with many big name board riders such as Bob Pike enjoying waves that would do justice to the north shore of Oahu. Bill Clymer recalls seeing the boat engulfed by an avalanche of water, “A piece of the stern was recovered but the rest of the boat was smashed into pieces as big as your hand”.
THE TAKE OFF
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RUNNING BEFORE WIPE OUT
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