Re-enactment of the Duke surfing at Cronulla to mark 110th anniversary

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Words/Images: John Veage. The surf at North Cronulla Beach on Saturday morning was a lot busier than 110 years ago when Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku first paddled out to become the first recorded surfer on our beaches, but Cronulla surfer Jarrod Pringle still had the crowd on its feet as he re-enacted Duke’s famous rides.

Jarrod was riding a 2-metre thin wooden Alaia which was a lot different than the Duke’s thick heavy 8ft 6 inch piece of hewn solid timber but still a world away from todays lightweight fibreglass performance models.

Surfing Sutherland Shire had organised a small celebration to mark Duke’s Day with mayor Jack Boyd saying surfing was an integral part of Sutherland Shire living.

The mayor also said the Duke was given a right royal introduction to the shire with lunch at Audley before a boat ride to Gunnamatta Bay and a surf belt exhibition swim at Cronulla before his famous paddle out.

Cook MP Simon Kennedy received applause from the crowd when he suggested a statue should be erected to commemorate the event.

There was also a wooden surfboard display from Riley Surfboards and a musical welcome from the St George and Sutherland Community of Ukulele Musicians.

A passer-by told organisers that his brother has a surfboard from Duke’s 1930 visit, which was left on Bondi Beach after an exhibition. He said it was purchased from a Grays Point local nearly 40 years ago and has since been covered in house paint.

Cronulla Surf Design sold a limited run of Duke T-shirts which raised $1000 for the Surfing Sutherland Shire Junior Regional Titles, Australian History Art donated a free raffle prize won by Justin Coleman and Cronulla Boardriders Club ran a free barbeque.

Surfing milestone: Marking 110 years since The Duke came to Cronulla

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Surfing Sutherland Shire plans to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the visit to Cronulla beach of the world’s most celebrated waterman, Duke Kahanamoku.
The special event will take place at North Cronulla Beach on February 15. Words: Murray Trembath / Images: John Veage


Duke Kahanamoku, a celebrated Hawaiian swimmer and surfer, visited Sydney in 1914-15. Between his Olympic medal-winning feats, Kahanamoku travelled internationally performing swimming and surfing demonstrations. It was during this period that he popularised the sport of surfing in Australia.

Surfing Sutherland Shire President John Veage said it was an honour for the Duke to paddle out at Cronulla and for it to also be the first Australian surf spot where the Americans surfed their Malibus in 1956.


“Even if you’re not into history it’s a great story of how surfing came to Cronulla,” he said.
During his stay in Sydney, ‘The Duke’ – as he became known – constructed a board from solid sugar pine and with it famously performed ‘Hawaiian-Style surf shooting’ at Freshwater Beach on December 24, 1914.


On February 7, 1915 Duke Kahanamoku and his party were met at Sutherland Station by members of the Cronulla Surf Lifesaving Club.
They went on a sightseeing tour to Waterfall, returning to the National Park for lunch at Audley.

Photo caption: Marking the 100-year celebration of The Duke’s visit to Cronulla are Adam Brown, World surfing champion Peter Townend, Mark Speakman MP, and then Sutherland Mayor Kent Johns. Photo: John Veage


A launch then took Duke Kahanamoku and the others up the river to Cronulla where the beach was packed with people.
An impromptu surf reel race was staged before Kahanamoku took to the water at the ‘Big Beach’ (North Cronulla) for an exhibition of surfboard riding – standing upright, standing on his head, diving off, twisting the board.


“It all looked so ridiculously easy,” reported the St George Call, “and so it was to the Duke, but local men, who tried after came to the conclusion that they had a lot to learn about the game.”


The day ended with tea at Cronulla’s clubhouse followed by music where the guests of honour entertained sang Hawaiian songs with Duke Kahanamoku strumming on his ukulele.


Duke left one of his surfboards behind with a Cronulla SLSC member, Ron Bowden, which has never been found, but it sparked a new level of interest in board riding on Sydney’s southern beaches.


Surfing Sutherland Shire will have an historic wooden surfboard exhibition on February 15 at Peryman Place from 9am-noon, including the replica Duke surfboard that was created for the 100th anniversary in 2015.

Elouera and Cronulla clubs ready for Australian Boardriders Battle Challenge

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Story by: John Veage.

Sutherland Shire Surfing Clubs Elouera and Cronulla are preparing for the 2025 Hyundai Australian Boardriders Battle.

The 12th edition of the Boardriders Battle will be held in March 2025 at the Gold Coast’s Burleigh Heads. The event was held at North Cronulla beach for its inaugural three seasons with the Elouera Club famously finishing in second place in Connor O’Leary’s break out year.

The Hyundai Australian Boardriders Battle is Australia’s largest grassroots boardriders event, involving more than 70 of Australia’s best boardrider clubs. The event takes place across eight state qualifying rounds, with only 42 clubs advancing to the grand final to compete for the Series 12 Australian Championship.

Scarborough Boardriders Club took out the Hyundai Australian Boardriders Battle Southern NSW qualifier for a second year straight after a great day at Corrimal Beach, in Wollongong, late last year.

Elouera, Scarborough, Maroubra United, Cronulla Sharks, Sandon Point, Ulladulla, Werri and Culburra all qualified for the national final, which will be held from March 8-9, 2025 at Burleigh Heads.

Photo: Shane Campbell in action. Picture Ian McDonald

Elouera did it the smart way winning their first heat and progressing straight to the semi finals whilst Cronulla had to work super hard after an interference on the very first surfer in their first heat saw them just miss the safety zone and they really had to battle to get through two more tough elimination rounds to make the qualifying semis.
Cronulla club champion Hayden Blair said he was proud of the team’s effort.

“After our first heat set back the whole team kept their heads up and we got the job done the hard way,” he said. “I’m not going to say it was ideal but we made the semis and qualified for Burleigh.”

Elouera after their first win had their chance to experiment with their team, changing some surfers and their surfing order with the experienced Shane Campbell making it count every time he got in the water.

Elouera life member Glenn Pringle said their fourth place in the final was a good way to qualify which gave them a better seeding for the upcoming grand final.

In 2024 the two teams also qualified for the grand final but big swells and an extremely challenging run leg on the Burleigh Headland saw the teams with local knowledge and one or two established pro surfers take the wins in almost all the heats.

Cronulla Sharks finishing in 25th position in front of their Elouera competitors in 39th.

There are more than 230 boardrider clubs across the country, where members gather regularly, often monthly, to organise grassroots competitions at world-class waves such as Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast. The boardrider club phenomenon in Australia has made a significant contribution to the nation’s competitive success on the global stage, fostering close-knit communities that support young surfers on their journeys to becoming the next world champions.

Shark Island Contest to make a comeback

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By John Veage

Cronulla’s only truly International surfing event, the Bodyboard King Shark Island Challenge is making a welcome comeback to the shallow reef slab for 2024. For over 20 years, Cronulla’s Shark Island has been a proving ground for high-performance bodyboarding in Australia. This competition runs uniquely as a world tour specialty bodyboarding event where twenty athletes are invited including six local surfers who call the break their own.

Cronulla bodyboarder Mark Sadler pulls into a solid Shark Island pit last month during a good nor-east swell. Picture John Veage

The Shark Island Challenge first started in 1997, and was a very informal and local event. The championship got increasing attention in the following years when it was held in some perfect big waves of consequence and was promoted to an international World Tour event sanctioned by the International Bodyboarding Association in 2002, eventually turning out to be the premiere event of the world tour.

Shark Island can only be surfed for two hours on either side of high tide and a miscalculated move can land you on dry reef so the event needs a particular set of conditions to be viable – hence its two months waiting period.

The event waiting period is proposed to span between the months of June and July of 2024 to capture the most ideal conditions, combining the best swell, wind and importantly tide.

Kurnell Reccas club will host the presentation with May 23 the opening day of the waiting period. It has been won by bodyboarding’s greatest ever competitor, nine times world champion Mike Stewart, along with Cronulla’s ISA World Champion Andrew Lester. Six time world champion Brazilian Guilherme Tamega is the bodyboarder with the most number of victories sitting at three straight from 2002-2004.

Internationals riders will be bolstered by Mike Stewart, Pierre Louis Costes, Hawaiian world champion Tanner McDaniel and locals Andrew Lester, Shaun Pyne and Jack Baker will be representing Cronulla.

Last held in 2017 the rebirthed event is in the hands of three local surfers Luke ,Sam Venn and Mark who said the event shouldn’t be allowed to just die.

“Drawing in a range of international riders to come up against the best local talent has been the cornerstone of success in relation to engagement and viewers for this prestigious competition, so that’s the format we are going with again,” they said

“The SIC is recognised globally by the greater surfing community to be one of the most dangerous and honourable contests to be a part of, holding stead as one of the most challenging waves in the world to surf.”

The trio have secured a naming rights sponsor ‘Bodyboard King’ and have Sporting News lined up to produce the epic surfing footage that is watched around the whole surfing world- when the Island is on its as good as it gets. Due to world-wide spectator support, it is regarded as the best specialty bodyboarding championship, with riders not only competing against each other but facing the challenges of riding the unforgiving wave.

Surfers set for emergencies

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Photo and Words by: John Veage

Cronulla surfers were some of the first to participate in a Trauma Surfers Rescue/Bleeding Control course that was held at Cronulla Beach last week thanks to Cronulla RSL funding.

Surfing NSW have started running this course for various coastal communities up and down the NSW Coastline and were stoked to be able to get the chance to run this course for the Cronulla surfing community.

This is the first time Surfing NSW has been directly involved in the NSW State Government’s Shark Mitigation Program and it gives them an opportunity to run these courses and programs for boardriding clubs, surf schools and the surfing community as a whole – all funding received from NSW Government and D.P.I has gone directly into volunteer clubs.

Fifteen local Surfing Sutherland Shire Boardrider’s clubs members took part in the training and there was plenty of fake blood and limbs lost in the exercise. The board rescue component started first before the Trauma training course – Bleed control in an Aquatic Environment – was presented by TacMed Australia Military Medics who are leveraging training based on their experience from special operations in military and civilian settings around the world. Participants suited up to keep warm on the beach for the duration of the course – there was no sitting in a classroom watching videos.

Surfing Sutherland Shire President Andy Britton said it was a real eye opener and more in depth then the basic first aid courses that club members have to do.

“It was a first class hands-on learning experience, delivering a skill set that all surfers should have. It is highly recommended to all club members,” he said.

Surfers learnt surfboard rescue techniques that incorporate the best methods for both conscious and unconscious patients and then the bleeding control trauma course, which is designed to arm surfers and ocean users with lifesaving skills that can save a surfer from trauma related injuries including shark attack, fin chop, propeller injury, severe lacerations and other surfboard related injuries.

Surfing NSW provided the first-of-its-kind Trauma Training course to assist surfers, boardrider clubs, surf schools and coaches use their trauma and bleeding control kits. The custom kits, which are designed for use in the event of an immediate, life-threatening trauma incident were designed in collaboration with Surfing NSW staff, and include equipment to deal with immediate trauma, bleeding control, hypothermia, fracture management and minor wounds.

“Surfers are often the first to respond to surf-zone incidents at unpatrolled or regional beaches and in many of these cases, every second counts,” said Matt Lawson, Head of Programs, clubs and surf schools for Surfing NSW.