On the weekend of October 29 and 30, Surfing Sutherland Shire is hosting Greg Noll to celebrate 60 years since the first “Malibu” style surfboards were ridden in Australia.
Greg was a member of the American Lifeguard team that stayed at Cronulla Surf Life Club in 1956 and introduced modern surfing to Australia, at Cronulla Point.
To commemorate this very significant event , Greg will participate in several activities, including a photographic and surfboard display in the Bill Marshall OAM Ballroom of Cronulla SLSC.
This event will be held over 2 days Saturday 29th October & Sunday 30th October 2016. The exhibition will open at 9am and finish at 4pm both days and will also include a board riding display, unveiling of a history sign, meet and greet with Greg Noll and launch of the Surfrider Foundation Cronulla.
Saturday:
9am to 4pm – Photographic and Surfboard Display
10am to 11am – Historic sign at Cronulla Point
12 noon – Toothpick surfboard display
Sunday:
9am to 4pm – Photographic and Surfboard Display
12 noon – Meet and greet with Greg Noll
1pm – Launch of Surfrider Foundation
https://www.surfingsutherlandshire.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/SSS_Surf_RetroSpect_1.jpg6501000Brad Whittakerhttps://www.surfingsutherlandshire.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/update-logo-surfing-sutherland-shire.pngBrad Whittaker2016-10-17 14:55:062017-03-23 15:32:51Historic Photographic and Surfboard Display
Event #2 of Surf Retrospect 2016 , The 2016 Tradies Surfmasters presented by HIF, finished in an exciting fashion today with a range of different age champions crowned across a variety of different surfing disciplines.
Perennial local standout and multiple Australian Title holder Glenn Pringle (Cronulla) stamped his authority all over the Over-40 Mens shortboard division posting a 16.67 heat total (out of a possible 20 points) to claim the hotly contested final. Pringle dominated the star-studded affair claiming the win ahead of regular Australian Title surfers Ricky Marshall (Cronulla), John Shimooka (Cronulla) and Mark Tickle (Newport) who claimed second, third and fourth respectively.
Glenn Pringle Over 40 Men’s Winner
Local surfer Paul Detmold (Miranda) claimed the Over-45 Mens Longboard division, taking a runner-up finish and a win across his dual heats. The local longboarder went neck-and-neck for the overall title with fellow local Scott Young (Cronulla) who accomplished the same track record, however Detmold was able to claim the title thanks to holding on to a 12.66 heat total which gave him the nod and pushed Young into the runner-up position.
Blaire Moore (Woonoona) ensured a title would be heading south to the Illawarra region, taking out the Over-40 Mens SUP division. Moore put on a blistering performance over the duration of the event, continually posting excellent scores for a variety of mammoth turns, which enabled him to claim the title from Andrew Cassidy (Mona Vale) who claimed the runner-up spot.
A list of all results can be seen below.
The 2016 Tradies Surfmasters presented by HIF is proudly supported by Tradies, Sutherland Shire Council, Australian Skin Cancer Clinics, Toyota, HIF, Ohana Ocean Athletics and Surfing NSW.
RESULTS:
Over-40 Mens Shortboard
1 – Glenn Pringle (Cronulla)
2 – Ricky Marshall (Cronulla)
3 – John Shimooka (Cronulla)
4 – Mark Tickle (Newport)
Over-45 Mens Shortboard
1 – John Shimooka (Cronulla)
2 – Ian Spencer (Cronulla)
3 – Mark Tickle (Newport)
4 –Mick Beaton (Woonoona)
Over-50 Mens Shortboard
1 – Maris Luidmanis (North Balgowlah)
2 – Brett Daintry (Cronulla)
3 – Alan Purtle (Port Macquarie)
4 – David Gall (Cronulla)
Over-55 Mens Shortboard
1 – Alex Bosansky (Double Bay)
2 – Mark Gobbe (Mona Vale)
3 – John Skinner (Warilla)
4 – Wayne Tyte
Over-60 Mens Shortboard
1 – Jonathon Lavers (Cronulla)
2 – Lloyd Suttor (Erskineville)
3 – Greg Hourigan
4 – Col Barry (Forestville)
Over-45 Mens Longboard
1 – Paul Detmold (Miranda)
2 – Scott Young (Cronulla)
3 – Mark Watson (Corlette)
4 –Tim Hutton (Newport)
Over-50 Mens Longboard
1 – Rob Smith (Caringbah)
2 – Glenn Moore (Engadine)
3 – George Haskas (Eastgardens)
4 – Sean Brown (Gymea)
Over-55 Mens Longboard
1 – John Skinner (Warilla)
2 – Alex Bosansky (Double Bay)
3 – Peter Toby (Lilli Pilli)
4 – Mark Watson (Corlette)
Over-60 Mens Longboard
1 – Michael Cottier (Gymea)
2 – Jeff Livermore (Lake Heights)
3 – Wayne McAree (Woolooware)
4 – John Mingramm (Caringbah)
5 – Col Barry (Forestville)
Over-40 Mens SUP
1 – Blaire Moore (Woonoona)
2 – Andrew Cassidy (Mona Vale)
3 – Steve Rainford (Helensburgh)
4 – Gareth Grant (Collaroy)
Over-40 Mens Single Fin
1 – Jamie Doran (Anna Bay)
2 – Michael Crisp (Ballina)
3 – David Campbell (Cronulla)
About Tradies
For over 50 years, Tradies has been an important pillar in the local Sutherland Shire community, not only providing monetary support for community organisations and sporting groups but also as a venue for members and guests to come together, relax and enjoy themselves.
Tradies is a values-based organisation that strives to achieve best practice in community service, customer service, hospitality and employment across both our venues at Gymea and Caringbah.
“Mike Bright and I paddled out, started catching waves. Then people starting running across the car park to the beach. There were hundreds of them. I thought, ‘sheesh, someone’s had a heart attack’.”
The speaker is Greg Noll . Eighty years old. Conqueror of Waimea Bay. That photograph at Pipeline. Those trademark black and white board shorts. “Da Bull”. And the man who introduced the malibu board to Australia.
Brian Keane and American Tom Zahn. Photo: Supplied
Sunday, November 18, 1956, Noll and a couple of mates with a US lifesavers’ team in Australia to compete in a surf life saving carnival staged for the Melbourne Olympic Games, were taken to a Sydney beach with their paddleboards to train in some waves after the long voyage across the Pacific.
“Mike [Bright a fellow Californian] and I also brought balsa boards along and I remember small waves breaking off these rocks to the left. And all these people just staring at us, kinda quiet.”
Greg Noll surfing Waimea in 1960. Photo: Supplied
Many beaches claim to be the birthplace of modern surfing but – Bondi, Manly, Freshwater and Avalon, eat your hearts out – it turns out to be the home of the NRL champions and the race riot, Cronulla.
Until Noll and his mate paddled out, the only surfboards most Australians were familiar with were the old hollow “Toothpick” style of surf craft but after Cronulla – and subsequent exhibitions by the Americans at Avalon and Torquay in Victoria – malibus ruled Australia’s beach culture.
Noll is guest of honour at Surfing Sutherland Shire’s month celebrating 60 years of surfing.
The celebration started on Saturday with a surf competition at Cronulla Point where Noll first rode 60 years ago. It is the first of several culminating with the World Surfing League’s QS 6000 Women’s event on November 3.
Greg Noll on the steps of Cronulla surf club in 1956 (second from left, arms folded). Photo: Supplied
Noll’s duties this time around include unveiling a plaque on Cronulla Point commemorating the birth of surfing and being keynote speaker at a dinner where he will be questioned about his surfing life by surf journalist Nick Carroll.
Noll is one of the heroes of the period when surfing turned into a world craze.
Greg Noll in the famous picture of Noll by Hall of fame surfer and artist John Severson. Photo: John Severson
Just a year after Cronulla, in November 1957, Noll was among the handful to ride Waimea Bay on Hawaii’s North Shore for the first time. And as surfing exploded on both sides of the Pacific with the film Gidget, the Beach Boys, and Midget Farrelly’s 1963 Makaha International Championship victory, Noll went on to become the epitome of beer-gut-to-the-wall big wave riding. In a nod to his girth and guts, fellow Californian surf god Phil Edwards, dubbed him “Da Bull”. He conquered Outside Pipeline, and rode the biggest wave ever at Makaha, just as Laird Hamilton was born. A 1962 photograph taken by Surfer magazine founder John Severson of Noll on the beach at Pipeline in black-and-white-striped shorts adorned the walls of teenage boys from Malibu to Maroubra.
Greg Noll, nicknamed “Da Bull” by Phil Edwards in reference to his physique and way of “charging” down the face of a wave. Photo: JOLI
Noll said Farrelly, who died in August, was on the beach – probably Avalon – at one of the malibu exhibitions staged by the Americans.
“Some years back, Midget told me he saw me riding when he was 13, and there and then made up his mind that he found what he wanted to do for the rest of his life,” he said.
“It’s an honour to be told that by such a great champion.”
Noll lives in northern California. He is still a waterman, fishing and occasionally boogie boarding, but admits his body has been ruined by years of hard labour in the surf and at the dinner table.
He remembers his first visit to Australia with great fondness.
“This lifesaver at Cronulla walked up, picked up my balsa board – I’d shaped myself – looked at the rail, spat, and said, ‘I’ll give you two bob for it’ and walked away,” Noll recalled.
“But they certainly loved us after we surfed”
“They gave me beer. They played this game, throwing coins up in the air. I played and played and lost a lot of money. But they kept giving me beer. Then I barfed. That’s most what I remember about bringing the malibu to Australia.”
https://www.surfingsutherlandshire.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/update-logo-surfing-sutherland-shire.png00Brad Whittakerhttps://www.surfingsutherlandshire.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/update-logo-surfing-sutherland-shire.pngBrad Whittaker2016-10-10 10:04:222017-03-23 15:33:19Who knew? Cronulla is the birthplace of modern surfing
The month-long Surf Retrospect celebrations planned to mark the 60 years of surfing progression in October is set to be bolstered with the return on Greg Noll.
It was 60 years ago when Australian Surf Lifesaving held a pre-Olympic surf titles at Torquay, inviting several countries to compete against Australia.
It was on November 18, 1956 and included in the US team were boardriders Tom Zahn, Mike Bright, Tad Devine and soon to be legendary big wave waterman Greg “The Bull” Noll.
The United States team turned up with two styles of surf craft, a surf kayak and a Malibu surf board never seen before in Australia.
In a little known fact, Cronulla was the first to see them when several lifeguards did a surfing demonstration at Cronulla Point in front of thousands of spectators who had only ever seen the ungainly “Toothpicks” style of surf craft. Surfing was never the same again as every young surfer made the switch to surfboards that could ride the waves.
“The concept is to embrace and showcase the local big wave community and the world class waves in the Cronulla region. By doing so we will create camaraderie between the surfers who share a passion for big heavy waves and make it a safer environment by doing so,” Johnston said.
There are seven categories headed by the ‘Ride of the Year’ which can be with paddling or towing in. The surfer has to complete the drop to at least the bottom of the wave to qualify. Awards including tube of the year, best wipeout, performer of the year, rookie performer of the year, move of the year and photo of the year will all be voted on by the CBWA panel and selected surfers.
Cash and prizes will be awarded for the surfer and photographer of each winning category. The event will culminate with the M.O.B store hosting Sydney’s biggest ever surfboard demonstration day held at Dunningham Park. The public will also be able to trial a huge range of the world’s best gear.
