A few famous people who surf(ed)

I’m Tasmanian (despite not having lived there for nearly 40 years) and was recently reading Neil Kearney’s marvellous book, Longford: The Legend of a Little Town with a Big Motor, when I spied a surprising passing note on the legendary Grand Prix driver, Jim Clark. It seems that the sun-seeking Clark, while visiting to compete in 1967, “… went surfing on Tasmania’s east coast.” (p. 166). I followed up with Neil, who’d been told that “he went to the beaches with a couple of local drivers”. That finding prompted me to try a stock-take of famous people who’ve caught the bug. Continue reading

Surfing goes full circle

My first memories of being in surf are as a child in the late 1950s, floundering around at Marion Bay (Tasmania) on what we called a Li-Lo. It was longer than the ‘surf-o-planes’ (surf mats) that had been invented in Australia in the 1930s, more like a floating mattress than a surfing device. My only recollection of it is being spun sideways and thrown off as the whitewater broke over me. I have no pictures, but recall it being blue and white striped on the top and plain blue underneath. Continue reading