Tracks 2020 ANNUAL

When John Witzig, Albe Falzon and David Elfick collaborated to produce Tracks in 1970 they felt the restless hum of surfers who craved a sharp, entertaining and bold take on the counterculture movement they sensed they were a part of. Witzig was a photographer, writer and magazine obsessive who was friends with many of the best surfers of the day. Like Witzig, Falzon had also worked at ‘Surfing World’ before launching Tracks and was an accomplished photographer and photo editor with a keen eye for graphics. Elfick was an erudite f igure with his f inger on the pulse of emerging trends. He had been the Sydney manager of popular music magazine ‘Go Set’ and shared Albe’s ambitions as a filmmaker. Together they achieved the kind of unique chemistry that…

In the heady, early days of Tracks, John Witzig was the co-founder with the polymath sensibilities. Witzig was at once photographer, journalist, visionary, procurer of finances and designer for the fledgling publication that endeavoured to capture the broader spirit of a rapidly evolving subculture. Indeed, it’s Witzig who can take credit for the name Tracks and the cute tagline that accompanied the masthead ‘Tracks – continuous line, series of marks, left by person, animal or thing in passing along.’ It’s a testament to both the quality of John’s work and his eye for the zeitgeist moment that his photos and words still resonate with wonder and insight more than half a century after he began to document surf culture. In the interview below he candidly traverses a broad range of topics,…

Chris Lougher is still in his wetsuit as he perches on the cliffs above Deadman’s and tries to pull himself together. A few minutes earlier he’d dragged himself from the water, coughing blood and shaken after a heavy wipeout. Only the day before he’d slapped so hard on the wave face of a set, he came up from the ensuing hold down concussed and blurry-eyed. It wasn’t supposed to play out like this. At 34, the wiry-framed natural-footer from Curl Curl (he has the word Curl tattooed on either wrist) had spent the best part of 20 years chasing glory at Deadman’s. Despite a lifetime infatuation he still didn’t have a wave out there he was happy to put his name to. Although driven more by personal dissatisfaction than ego, it niggled…

Albe Falzon has spent his whole life following a muse. Along the way he has made surfing’s most celebrated film ‘Morning of the Earth’, traipsed through the tropics to stumble upon Uluwatu, and filmed George Greenough for a year while the eccentric Californian built his boat, ‘The Crystal Voyager’ (later a film by the same title). And that’s only scratching the surface when it comes to Albe’s artistic legacy. When making decisions, Albe has always followed his passions; figuring the economics could be worked out later. This kind of bold, creative logic was at play 50 years ago when he was a co-conspirator, alongside David Elfick and John Witzig, in a magazine concept dubbed Tracks. Below, Albe talks about some of the defining moments from the magazine’s nascent period. CONCEPTS AND CASH I’m…

1. Early ‘70: Door knock 8pm. Ron Wade, a $102 custom for brother Rod. I’m off GT Firestones. 2. Mar 2nd, ‘72 and ’73: All time Newport Point before school. Gifted pal. James Chandler rules. 3. Winter ‘73: James and seven surf pals bail for killer Mach3 bikes. James at 18, eighty per cent quadriplegic. 4. Narra ’74: Surfabout. BK arrives. Alley rights are dribble but it’s 12-foot Sunset to a fan. Me. 5. Year 12, ’74: School pal Gary Thompson, ‘Rock Pools’ king, faints, drowns at tiny Mona Vale. 6. Narra ‘74, ‘75, ’76: Surfing NN a lot. Col Smith’s king despite TF drive/ Simon’s snapto-layback. 7. Narra ‘76, ‘77: Ronnie Ford moves from Bondi to NN. Hits berserk level. Usurps Narra mantle. 8. Express Point ‘77: Alan Oke event. Paddling out for a heat. Sprayed…

As the first issue of Tracks was hitting the streets in October 1970, I was winding up my last year at school in Adelaide. That summer, I saved as much as I could doing a range of shitty jobs before heading up the east coast for my first real taste of freedom. Settling in at Angourie for a few months would prove to be a major turning point in my short life to that date. Baddy Trealor, Brad Mayes, Chris Brock, the Keyes brothers, Tommy Taylor, mushrooms, and White Lightning all drifted into that long-ago dream, along with visits from photographers such as Tracks editor John Witzig, and filmmaker George Greenough. Sadly, the dream would be punctured by being conscripted for National Service. An escape plan was soon hatched. At Angourie,…