Tracks No. 577

The morning session goes down in junky, East-Sydney peaks, an urban battlefield where waves are typically hard won. Today the crowds are thinner than usual as a light onshore ruffles the unruly easterly swell that is a precursor to cyclone Uesi’s quick march south. Courtesy of the heavy rains, the sea is littered with scattered debris that makes the lineup into a minefield of potential misfortune. I watch a friend haul a tree towards shore, lest it be the instrument of his decapitation on the next ride. Despite the floating obstacles and the unfavourable winds, the waves are punchy and rip-able. Unscathed and at least semi-satisfied my friend Luke (yes another Luke) and I cut the session short; well-aware that the Sydney airport run is always a lottery-dip with traffic.…

A LITTLE FURTHER ON IN THIS ISSUE YOU’LL STUMBLE UPON A FEATURE TITLED ‘AFTER THE INFERNO’, IN WHICH TRACKS SCRIBE, KIRK OWERS WRITES ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE OF VISITING THE SOUTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES AFTER THE DEVASTATING BUSHFIRES TORE THROUGH THE REGION. It’s a part of our country that holds a special place in many surfers’ hearts, including Craig Anderson and photographer John Respondek. The duo spend a good chunk of their free time traversing the coastline together shooting. John even relocating to the area permanently a few years back after falling in love with it. The pair were working together on the coast as the crisis reached its peak. “We were about 50 kilometres away from the big fires at Bawley,” Remembers John. “My town escaped the flames,…

IT WAS BACK IN MID-FEBRUARY THAT TROPICAL CYCLONE UESI JUMPED OUT FROM BEHIND NEW CALEDONIA AND SPRINTED SOUTH INTO QUEENSLAND AND NSW’S SWELL WINDOW. THE STORM’S URGENT PACE MEANT THE SWELL WAS SHORT LIVED, MOSTLY PRODUCING ONLY ONE DAY OF CLASSIC WAVES IN EACH LOCATION AS THE SWELL WRAPPED INTO THE COAST LIKE A GIANT BOAT WAKE. It began in Queensland, with Noosa and the Gold Coast lighting up, before the swell moved south into NSW. Everywhere from Byron to Bega felt its influence. One of the more memorable sessions occurred at Cape Solander in Sydney, a wave not normally in the conversation when the topic is classic cyclone swells. But try telling that to lifeguard Lukas Street, pictured here inside what is possibly the heaviest, throatiest tube of the…

MY NAME IS TERRY ROSS, AND IF YOU HAVE A MINUTE I’D LIKE TO TELL YOU A SHORT STORY. During the mid-80s there was this young guy from Avoca Beach who was my best mate. We grew up together, played together and surfed together. He was a young athlete on his way through the surf club ranks and local surf comps, and I was his nerdy mate who could surf ok but was never going to make anything of it. I was into photography, and even in my early teens had a darkroom and this kick arse 800mm Tokina lens that went on my old Ricoh XR1-S 35mm film camera. This was the era of Mark Eymes, Bryce Ellis, Cheyne Horan and of course Jeff McCoy, so there was no…

Behind the Cover - Jack Robinson by Tom Pearsall After hours swimming I came in to set up on a hill. I had my attention on navigating a muddy track when I noticed Robbo swing late, and deep, on this wave. I squelched into position at the last second and managed to fire this frame of Jack pulling into as perfect a sand bottom barrel as you’re likely to see. I can’t really explain Jack’s tube riding easily. We’ve all seen it. It’s like a sixth sense, an innate ability to read waves of consequence like brail. Jack’s catlike reflexes and abilities are mindboggling. It was a very rare bank, I’ve never seen it work before. 6-8 ft, with only Jack and a few other savvy local crew. Crystal clear…

THE RIPCURL AD – TRACKS, MARCH, 1972 When you ‘have’ to take advertising pictures, you make use of what’s available… and that’s how Doug ‘Claw’ Warbrick got to star in one of his own advertisements, and why we used the grand surroundings of my Whale Beach house to shoot it. Those are the downstairs bathroom windows behind Claw. He’s standing in the ‘garden’… or possibly what might’ve been ‘lawn’ once. It’s questionable for me to suggest that there were more characters… well, a higher proportion of them, in surfing in the ‘olden days’. I knew a lot of the people involved back in the 1960s and much of the ‘70s. Now I know no one… not a single person. Maybe today’s competitive stars are a wonderfully rich collection of idiosyncratic…