Surf City, Sydney

Way down the Californian coast, past San Clemente, Oceanside and Leucadia, on the northern outskirts of San Diego, is the lovely beachside town of La Jolla, overlooking several miles of craggy, weatherbeaten bays and sandy coves that generally enjoy chunky, powerful and temperamental swells. The gnarly Windansea reef break, at the end of Nautilus Street, is a must visit for any roving surfnut, if only to light a candle for the inventive board-builder Bob Simmons, who drowned here whilst surfing in 1954.

photo Gary Crockett

A rustic 4 posted shelter, or ‘shack’, covered in palm tree fronds, has clung to the rocky ledge at Windansea Beach since at least 1946. This cultural icon of surfing was the symbolic heart of the infamous Windansea Surf Club, with its members including many of California’s hottest and most celebrated surfers of the 1950s and 60s. After nailing most of the competitions from Baja to Malibu, the rowdy Windansea team arrived in Sydney in November 1967, for a contest meet, to be outclassed and defeated by Australian surfers riding revolutionary shortboards. The good old days were over and the swaggering club never regained its former notoriety.