an Historic Houses Trust blog
Ron Stoner’s photo of Joyce Hoffman at the 1966 World Contest in San Diego, California, from Surfer May 1967
The ‘nose ride’ came under a bit of flak during the 1966 board riding champs at San Diego as an obsolete bit of fluff, which stirred up the Californians no end. Here’s the womens winner Joyce Hoffman from Capistrano, California, in a hip pair of boardies, unfluffing the nose ride with a pretty soulful hang.
Classic 1956 Australian footage shot by Greg Noll, taken from his Search For Surf movie, originally produced in 1957
Have just bought the re-edition of Greg Noll’s incredible phonecall-from-another-planet garage production Search For Surf (1957-1961) only to realise where this strange clip, fished from a muddy bit-torrent puddle, actually originated. The re-edition features a pithy narration by Bruce Brown and Greg Noll, overlaid onto scenes culled from over 10 hours of classic Noll footage that made up the constantly re-worked crowd pleaser Search For The Surf screened in flea-pit cinemas and surf clubs in Australia around the late 50s and early 60s.
Advert in The Surfing World November 1964, courtesy Steve Abbott
In 1963, the hip new sport of surfing had a PR problem. There was plenty of talk about the behaviour of surfers, the future of the sport and the potential for business to get in on the action, leading to the set up of the Australian Surfriders Association and, not long after, convening the first ‘official’ World Surfboard Championships, here in Sydney. The ASA worked hard at getting kids heard and, most importantly, overturn ‘oldie’ prejudice against surfers. “Gee, thanks for the cool cuffs Mum and Dad” says the scruffy kid, “now all I need is a shirt, trousers,…and a job.”
No one knows where the word ‘ockanui’ comes from or exactly what kind of board it refers to. Probably Australian, and therefore likely to be either a mangled and misspelt ‘foreign’ term or a willfully bastardised throw-away creation that stuck. Ether way, the name ‘ockanui’ has probably survived because its easy to say and has a catchy opening syllable. It appeared at a time of escalating interest in Hawaiian culture and custom as the islands were preparing to become a bona fide state of America in 1959 and refers generally to a finned timber board, either hollow or solid, though mostly hollow. Bruce Channon tells me that it could well relate to the small laneway called Ke Nui Road, running parallel to the Kamehameha Highway at Pupukea on the north shore of Oahu, overlooking the famed Pipeline and Sunset Beach breaks. Adding the traditional “O” (meaning “this”) at the beginning gives us O’Ke Nui… could this be the answer…?
Bruce Channon reveals the finer points of ‘ockanui’ rail, rocker and ribbing to Gary Crockett in this photo by Michael Power, February 2011.
Bruce Channon recalls being gob-smacked at the crowds and buzz surrounding the 1964 world championships at Manly, where he competed as a youngster in the juniors rounds alongside Nat Young and Robert Conneely. Leaning forward recently on the kombi bench seat in his Sydney office, where Australian Longboarding Magazine comes together, Bruce reckoned “it was just such a big day for surfing”. Ever since, Bruce has remained in the thick of an ever-expanding surfing scene, as a competitor, board maker, photographer, film-maker, magazine owner, writer and editor. He also makes and rides beautiful timber sticks – the one shown here is a refined take on a late 50s hollow ‘ockanui’. These were local clones of Californian balsa malibus, crafted by Sydney board builders who’d been blown away by the performances of visiting US and Hawaiian lifesavers at various Sydney beaches in the early summer of 1956.
video Gary Crockett
Currently thinking about image delivery systems for the exhibition. There’s obviously a range of options. Here’s a few already in place at the Museum of Sydney.
Article in Everyboby’s Magazine November 1964, private collection
Beach fashionistas instruct surfers of 1964 to “come as you please, as long as its colourful”… Boardshorts and matching stripe singlet will cost 2 pounds (last years long shorts are out), while a “way in” sand parka cost 3 pounds. A wetsuit will cost about 12 pounds and if your bellyboarding (on a “chest board”), your flippers will cost around 2 pounds. You’ll also need suntan oil, a huge Hawaiian towel, a beach bag, sunglasses and board wax, nailing your budget for another 7 pounds. Add the cost of a Kombi and racks…
Look out for the death defying ‘el switcho’ on a wall of liquid death at Malibu in the mid 60s. Hats off totally to Miki and his bad boy cool – we can all share his pain in some way – but its so obvious what was coming just around the corner, that’d make this all look folksy, flippy and pointless.
Sydney’s Wanda carpark, 1962, photo Bob Weeks
Cars and boards itching to travel as board riding takes hold of Sydney. Southside surfer/photographer Bob Weeks was behind the lens, on the beach and in the water during Sydney’s first decade of modern surfing. His collection of 1960s photos capture cars, carparks, milkbars, contests, coastal life, known and unknown surfers, mostly around Cronulla although breaks and places further afield didn’t escape his perceptive eyes.