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PHIL JARRATT - Part 2

... One interview with Phil Jarratt left this interviewer with a desire to hear more of his wide-ranging surfing life and stories. Certain that others would as well I pressed Phil for another round. Graciously he came into the studio for a second interview, which proved to be every bit as fascinating as his first one. How could it not be? One could easily pick a single period of his life - say, for example, his four-year stint as editor of Tracks magazine and there would likely be enough stories for quite a few interviews. Well, a few did come tumbling out but discretion is indeed the better part of valour - and as one of the wise elders of our surfing tribe, Phil was a gentleman to the tee. Besides, who needs to embellish when you have lived, seen, heard and done it all? 

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PHIL JARRATT - Part 1

... Phil Jarratt has probably lived the surfing life as fully and richly as humanly possible. With a working life as an author, a journalist, a publisher, surf shop owner and filmmaker - all inspired by surfing, he still managed to keep riding waves throughout his decades - and the world. Reading his CV alone almost makes you tired ... and he's still going! After 50 years of experience in international and Australian media encompassing a stint as editor of Tracks magazine, associate editor of Surfer, publisher and editor of the Australian Surfers Journal, having served on the executive ranks of Quiksilver and Rip Curl and written 40 books, Phil is currently (2024) writing another surf related book. And, paddling out as much as he can at his local breaks around Noosa. That's a lot of living, working and surfing to draw from when interviewed. Oh, and he's a great rancounteur. 

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Peter Hudson

... With three Australian shortboard and three Australian longboard titles, three New South Wales State shortboard and six New South Wales State longboard titles, a twenty-five-year surf shop ownership, a decades-long surfboard coaching and surf school record behind him, it's fair to say that Peter (Huddo) Hudson has lived a life soaked with surfing. Growing up virtually right on the beach where he discovered a discarded surfboard at the age of nine certainly got him off to a good start that's for sure. And once he started Peter never looked back. Like so many countless others across the globe, he was hooked right from the first wave he rode towards the beach. With such a rich surf-related life behind him, Peter certainly is an interesting guest on this Surf Town episode.  

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THE AUDACIOUS SURF TALES OF VLADIMIR  BORIS WAXANOV

... Story 2 - CHINESE BUSINESSMAN PROPOSES ALTERNATE WORLD PROFESSIONAL SURFING WAVE POOL CIRCUIT TARGETING INDIA, AFRICA, CHINA AND RUSSIA ...

The title says it all. Somewhat surprising as the title may be, so are the comments from national surfing bodies revealed in this unusual tale. But then again Vladimir does get around, certainly well off the beaten surfing track and mixes with some interesting people. And some very surprising people too it must be said. Currently, it's spoken in some circles that he plans to visit, or already has, North Korea to introduce his wave-pool surfing. Well good luck to him, why not? No doubt it will do the place good if he succeeds. But then again he may not - for North Korea does have a coastline, so who knows what quality of surf may be up there.

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CHAD WHATLEY

... Chad Whatley represents a new breed of young surf entrepreneurs. There was a day when surf shops only sold surfboards that were constructed on the premises. You'd walked in to be greeted with the air thick with resin fumes. Maybe a couple of board shorts and t/shirts on a rack to the side. These days you walk into a surf shop and be overwhelmed with the racks and racks of clothes brandishing all sorts of trending labels. With the surfboards stacked up at the back or along the side. Chad's surfboard business is different. He's a surfboard broker. His premises is full of nothing but rows and rows of surfboards - both new, second-hand and all shapes and models. If you want to sell your board, he'll move it for you - if you want to buy a board, he'll sell you one.That's it. No clothes, no resin fumes - just boards, boards and more boards. Probably it's his dealing with such a wide variety of surfboards that gives Chad such a broad outlook on surfing. He's surf through and through having traveled far and wide with some good stories. One surprise in the interview was his surf idol, as Chad is from a much younger generation. If you are in Port Macquarie and passing through check him out. He's Surfboardbroker Australia on Insta, F/book and the web.

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BOBBY ATKINS - Part Two

... Bobby Atkins is back in the studio to recount more of his surfing life. A lot is personal about his surfboards, his surfing but along the way he tells of many characters who have added so much to Noosa's rich surfing history. Surprisingly, but then again maybe not so much, Bobby never surfed shortboards. Always mals, well longboards for you Americans. Trends never do mean much to real originals. Towards the end of this podcast some of Bobby's Noosa stories drifted to the action on land with one or two raising a few eyebrows - to say the least. It's been a full life for Bobby yet with quite-a-ways still to go. At the time of recording he is two months shy of 80 - and still surfing. On a mal, of course.

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BOBBY ATKINS - Part One 

... Bobby (Bobby Barrel or Bobby Beach - depending on who you talk to) Atkins is a unique Noosa original. Really .. as he was amongst the very first to surf the fabulous points of Noosa back in the 1960's. With only a few years of surfing under his belt he arrived in Noosa on that first day to see the surf at Noosa's First Point and National Park peeling perfectly towards shore and not a sole out surfing. It was high summer with glorious sub-tropical weather caressing sparkling blue water under an equally sparkling blue sky. Within days he not only scored perfect waves but a job and free accommodation. He thought he'd died and gone to heaven. No wonder he has never left. Oh, he's been here and there a bit, but traveling was not his thing - Noosa was. Having been a constant local for so many decades he has plenty to share. Names of the original crew pop up in his tales along with the more famous who have mainly come and gone. He's seen it all.

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THE AUDACIOUS SURF TALES OF VLADIMIR BORIS WAXANOV

 ... Story 1 - THE BALLARD OF OWEN ROBERTS 

... Once us Aussies discovered the surf in Bali we invaded. There was hardly a beach anywhere along its coast, and beyond, where you couldn't swing a cat without hitting half a dozen Australian surfers at any given time. Now it's the turn of the Russians. Yes, they have finally come - although not armed with Kalashnikovas AK-47s but surfboards. Some every bit as surf-obsessed as any full-on charger wherever they may have come from. Some too are best described as hard-core mavericks who have devoted their whole lives to nothing but surfing. Living feral or otherwise. Vladimir Boris Waxanov is one such individual. Quite a character with a sharp mind, sharp eye and a drive to raise a laugh as much as possible. Meeting him forged an unlikely friendship and outlet for his surf tales. 

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DANE WILSON - Part two

... Dane has more surf stories that we can fit into a thirty-five-minute podcast. Yet somehow he manages to tell quite a few, pass some interesting observations of surfing and surfboards, plus recount some of his family's, and his own, adventures. Any one of those topics, with Dane's re-telling, could have easily stretched out into many, many minutes. Probably longer. With a life deeply rich in surfing the young Cronulla charger is still well and truly alive in Dane. Albeit somewhat tempered with maturity but definitely not dampened. If anything the maturity adds a deeper perspective.

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DANE WILSON - Part one

... Cronulla boy Dane was born into a surfing family with deep roots in the local surf scene and industry. As long as he can remember Dane's father has always made surfboards. When Floyd Smith, partner of the famed American surfboard brand Gordon and Smith, set up a surfboard factory in Cronulla in 1965 it wasn't too long before his father worked there. The coastline around Cronulla is wave-rich with slabs, beach breaks and rock-bottom coves - a stretch of beaches that has nurtured a long lineage of chargers. Dane is one of them. Yet while an accomplished shortboarder Dane was drawn to longboards. How could he not with such a background plus falling under the influence of the legendary surf photographer Jack Eden? While never straying too far from his family roots, Dane soon forged his own path and reputation as an accomplished young longboarder.