Surfing

An immersive exhibition which plumbs the depths of the rich surfing culture on the Mid North Coast will open to fanfare at Coffs Harbour tomorrow. Swell Chasers: Surf Stories from the Mid North Coast sprawls across three galleries at the City of Coffs Harbour’s Yarrila Arts and Museum (YAM) from 23 November to 2 February. 

Angourie local and Australian surfing legend Monty Webber has lived a full and colourful life that he has documented in his Autobiography Is the Moon the Sun? – The Autobiography of a Time Rich Experience Junkie that will be officially launched at Yamba Cinema …

City of Coffs Harbour’s exceptional art gallery and museum has been making waves in its first 12 months and the next major exhibition will be a deep dive into local surf culture. Swell Chasers: Surf Stories from the Mid North Coast will open at Yarrila Arts and Museum (YAM) [in November] ... the community can get involved right now. 

Surfing became the obsession of a legion of bored and restless teenagers in 1960s Australia, kids looking for adventure and freedom from the stultifying norms and expectations of their straight 1950s upbringing ... The arrival of the exciting new phenomenon and its far-reaching impact are recorded in a thrilling documentary film showing at the Byron Bay Film Festival in October.

Wilson McShane. Marion Bay’s Luke Sykora has won the Yorkes Classic men’s competition for a second consecutive year ... Despite some inconsistent swell, more than 35 competitors enjoyed offshore wind conditions and blue skies at the Chinaman’s surf break in the Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park.

Wilson McShane. Corey Taylor, a young surfer from Marion Bay, is facing the unique challenge of balancing his ambitions with the isolation of his hometown on the Yorke Peninsula. At just 19, Taylor is striving to become South Australia’s sole professional surfer on the World Surf League Championship Tour, but the geographical and financial obstacles are significant.

Surfers are calling for improved safety at Yorke Peninsula beaches to help limit the number of shark fatalities. The push comes after Elliston Council on Eyre Peninsula installed shark bite first-aid kits at four popular beaches following several attacks last year, including two fatal ones, in the region.

On the last day of abalone fishing this season reporter Chris Van Der Merwe visited Yanchep Lagoon while the Yanchep Surf Life Saving Club was patrolling the beach. As well as keeping people safe the club performs rescues and educates the community.

Shaun Hollis. There have been more than 5700 surf rescues recorded across the nation since the start of summer, but there are no records for Yorke Peninsula. Statistics for drowning rescues on the peninsula are not known because there are no surf lifesaving clubs ... One group which does rescue people who get into trouble in the powerful surf of Berry Bay is the Yorkes Junior Surf Club...

A visit to the beach is not something that happens everyday for many of the young people in West Wimmera. For most it is around a 2 hour drive to the nearest beach.

Surfer Callum Robson has done it again. At the World Surf League Series Lexus Pipe Pro in Hawaii, Robson scored 9 points in his heat ... The 23 year old Evans Head surfer described what the winning wave at Oahu was like.

After two years of rough conditions that forced the Yamba Ocean Swim to be held at Whiting Beach, smaller surf this year saw the event return to its spiritual home of Main Beach with almost a record number of entries.

Isi Campbell is doing what most teenagers only dream of… she’s travelling the world to go surfing ... Isi’s wins have been many including being named as last year’s WA Junior Surfer of the Year and collecting the 2022 Under-18 Girls State Championship Title. She has also achieved a silver medal as part of Team Australia at the International Surfing Association’s World Junior Surfing Championships in El Salvador.

Alison Bennett Taylor. Denmark Surf Lifesaving Club came home champions from the Rainbow Coast Carnival at Bremer Bay after fielding its biggest team of competitors ever. Club president Sam Williams said it was the first time the club had won the friendly carnival between south coast clubs Albany, Esperance and Denmark in nearly 20 years.

The 2023 NSW Coastal Safety Report has highlighted a stark increase in bystander rescue drownings along with the finding that more than half of coastal drownings are happening in regional and remote areas ... The rise in attempted rescues by members of the public who end up drowning themselves (bystander rescues), is a worrying trend that lifesavers don’t want repeated this summer. 

Surf Life Saving NSW’s flagship educational program, Beach to Bush, has hit the road again for 2023, with nearly 50 volunteer lifesavers heading inland to promote surf safety to primary school students across regional and rural NSW ... more than 11,000 students will attend an Ingenia Holiday Parks Beach to Bush session...

In the fifth year of the Waveski Australian Open being held at Yamba the standard of surfing reached new heights in 2023, with several divisions coming down to the last wave of the final before the champion could be crowned ... “Rees Duncan, multiple world champion was a standout in the Open division...": Organiser and competitor, Dave Andrews.

It’s the Byron Bay Film Festival, so there's always going to be surf films ... Topping the bill is Emmy-winning filmmaker Paul Taublieb’s documentary Ground Swell: The Other Side of Fear, which poses the question: what prompts big wave surfers to travel the globe to find absurdly colossal waves to throw themselves into, tackling natural forces in a contest that any rational human would see as insane?

Clarence Valley beaches now feature a splash of pink after the Far North Coast Surf Lifesaving Nippers season began and children don their pink rash shirts. Nippers at Yamba is open to children between the ages of six and fourteen, and the surf skills program teaches lifesaving techniques, surf safety, CPR, and rescue experience, while completing fun activities in the surf.

Yorkes Classic 2023 champions were crowned amidst powerful, clean waves at the iconic Chinaman’s surf break in Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park on Saturday, August 19. This year’s 40th-anniversary celebrations did not disappoint, as light onshore wind combined with a southwesterly groundswell to provide perfect three-foot slabby surf all day long.

Emma Perrier’s aunt in Brisbane died from breast cancer four years ago, spurring Emma to create a sporting event to raise money for breast cancer awareness. On Sunday, June 25 at Main Beach in Evans Head, Emma was surrounded by a sea of pink at the Breast Comp Ever, a female surf competition.

Over 220 kilograms of Margaret River Produce has been enjoyed by the world’s best surfers and the World Surf League crew during the opening days of the Western Australia Margaret River Pro. Margaret River Produce, the newly formed brand of the Margaret River Producers Association, manned a tasting station that featured over 25 producers and local farmers, all from within a 50-kilometre radius of the competition site, Surfers Point.