Tribute to Glynn Ritchie (From 2017)

My Tribute to Glynn Ritchie (re-posted from June 2017)

Some sad news emerging earlier this week with the reported passing of surf pioneer and shaper, Glynn Ritchie. I worked with Glynn back in 1968 when I was 18-years old. In 1968 I was assigned to work at Peter Clarke Surfboards' newly created Brookvale factory as finish coater & pinliner.

'68 Australian Surfing Champion, Keith Paull and Glynn Ritchie were our resident shapers. Bob Newland 'the yank' was our glasser and occasionally Ross Longbottom ventured across the bridge to glass a few. Keith and I were the shoo-ins, as we were south-siders. Keith moved over to permanently reside on the northside at Cromer, but I chose to commute from Cronulla every work day to Brookvale.

Peter Clarke Surfboards Advertisement

When the surf was on, we'd quickly down tools in the factory and Glynn would often take us surfing down to his beloved Manly and Fairy Bower. We would throw our boards into the back of his hotted-up Holden ute brimming with over-sized tyres. 

Glynn, who had a great sense of humour, would be laughing his head off with sheer delight as he floored it and we four-wheel drifted around corners in the back streets of Harbord along the way. Pinning us to the side of the vehicle with a positive 8 g-force, meanwhile, we'd all be hanging on for grim death.

Not only did he push the performance limits on the road, he pushed them in the surf as well. Glynn was considered the doyen of Manly's big wave location; Fairy Bower, matching style and abilities with regular performers out there like world champions Nat Young and Midget Farrelly.

Glynn won the inaugural Bells Beach Contest in 1962. But he never got to ring the bell, the iconic Bell trophy had not yet been created then. In 2011, a half a century after Glynn's Bells victory, Rip Curl invited Glynn down to Torquay to join in with other past champions celebrating fifty unbroken years of the event.

Glynn Ritchie, second from the right

At that Bells gathering in 2011, Glynn told ABC-TV: "Look where surfing has come, and no-one would have thought in our days that it would have ever, ever, ever come to this, heh? You just never. It's mind-blowing how it's turned out. 'Cause we got told that there would be no money in surfing and we must stop wagging school because, we had to get a job."

Victorian surf trailblazers and surf entrepreneurs Peter Troy and Vic Tantau who had joined forces to make surfboards together in Torquay and Melbourne's suburban Moorabbin, created the first Bells Beach surf event by placing an advertisement in the second edition of Australian Surfrider Magazine in 1961. That ad invited entries for "the first surfboard rally to be held in Victoria".

For a mere two shillings competitor's entry fee [twenty-cents], surfers were urged to compete for trophies in both junior and open divisions. There was no mention of the one-pound [two dollars] prize for the wave of the day, or the illegally gained pig that would be ceremoniously barbecued at Bells Beach after the contest.

Advertised for New Year's Eve 1961 but held on Australia Day in 1962, Glynn Ritchie was an accidental competitor in the rally. The Manly teenager had come to Victoria with his aunt Ethel for a holiday, and been spotted by self-appointed 'talent scout' Peter Troy when Glynn was surfing on the softer, rambling beach breaks in front of the Torquay surf club.

"We've got a much better place around the corner," Troy told him.
Ritchie is acknowledged as the stand-out surfer at the first rally but his contribution to the event extends well beyond his efforts in the junior and open divisions.

I've seen a photo of the finalists for that '62 event lined up on the sand at Bells, dwarfed by the scale of the Bell's sea cliffs and they are all wearing boardshorts. 

The photograph confirms that surfers in those days were very hearty indeed.

Glynn was a well traveled surfer in those early pioneer days, and was the perfect advocate for surfing's growing popularity, frequently making surf safaris up and down the coast to surf and explore new and unknown locations.

Upon his return to Manly, Ritchie encouraged his fellow surfers and beach mates to make the Victorian journey the following year, when the Bells contest was held over the Easter long weekend for the first time.

Glynn was very well respected in Sydney's northside surf community where everyone loved him. I have fantastic memories of those days working and surfing with Glynn that I will cherish forever. I'm certain that Glynn will be ringing the bell with one hand out the window as he four-wheel drifts his way into to the big adventure surf land in the sky.


© Steve Core - 2017

A Steve Griffith's early G&S board still survives in Tasmania

July 2024

This week I was down in Tasmania to visit my good friend, Dale Matheson, who owns the Scamander Beach Surf Shop. Dale couldn't wait to proudly show me a surf board he has acquired for his collection. 

Dale knows that I worked at Gordon & Smith Surfboards in Taren Point, Sydney dating back to the late sixties for me. I got to know and work with the late Floyd Smith who established G&S in Australia in 1965.

Above, me posing with a Steve Griffiths shaped G&S classic at Dale's
Scamander Beach Surf shop right on the Scamander river mouth.
Photo: Dale Matheson

It was at the very start of the seventies that Steve 'Griffo' Griffiths was taught to shape by Kurnell resident and Cronulla surfer, Bob Hansen, when Bob was making Hansen Surfboards at his brother's old Total branded Service Station/Garage which was in those days located on The Kingsway in Cronulla.

Griffo remembers back that his first ever custom surfboard that he ever ordered for himself was a Peter Clarke 5'2" twin fin shaped by the legendary Frank Latta.

Griffo took up an offer to shape at G&S and did a 6-year straight stretch shaping for the famous Taren Point based label. He shaped at G&S from '72 to '78. 

Over the years Steve has worked with and alongside many shapers, Steve reckons from a technical point of view, the best shaper he has ever worked with was the late Midget Farrelly.

Still crystal clear some forty-odd years later. The shaper's personal
identifying name marker. 

Steve left G&S Surfboards and struck out on his own by starting up Emerald Surfboards in Taren Point in 1976. Emerald Surfboards rose to be one of the area's prominent manufacturers backed up with a strong Team of local riders.

Emerald also opened their own retail surf shop in Laycock Avenue, Cronulla.

'Griffo' sold the Emerald surfboard operation to Arnold and Kathy Cohen in March 1982 and moved himself and his family to Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Fallen Glory: Old Billabong Flagship Store

Friday 19th January - 2024

I was over in Manly today and saw this unsettling sight, the old Billabong stores' retail facade on The Corso has just being boarded up in preparation for redevelopment. Soon, all traces will evaporate forever.

Signalling the end to an era, this once-mighty Billabong flagship mega store was a vibrant & thriving retail surf outlet neatly tucked into Manly's premiere, ritzy, beachside retail strip, The Corso.

A plain wooden hoarding now covers the old facade of the former
Billabong flagship store on Manly's Corso. Photo: Steve Core

But some surf brands have tumbled from the Top Ten and fallen as once powerful and dominant market leaders. Billabong is one of them and it will never be the same again. The weighty, halcyon days are long gone.

I have a soft spot for Billabong because it was founded in 1973 by an old mate, Gordon Merchant, who used to be a shaper at Jackson Surfboards in Caringbah, back in the late '60s and early '70s when I was working at Peter Clarke Surfboards and G&S Surfboards.

Later on in the '80s, when I owned a few surf shops, I got be the #2 Billabong account in NSW. So this story does tug at my heartstrings.

My good old friend, ex Billabong employee, Steve Savage summed it nicely when he said to me "I think Billabong lost its cred with the new generations a long time ago. These days, I see it mainly worn by my age group, non-regular beach goers, or holiday makers. When Billabong dropped "Only A Surfer Knows The Feeling" because they wanted to be relevant to more than just surfers & surfing, they abandoned their core culture ethic.

Interesting isn't it? Why the backslide, what have they misjudged? Why has Billabong fallen between the cracks and slipped off that top 3 podium. What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them. Please feel free to comment below.

My two Classic '70s Surf Films for sale...

Both of my two surf movies are for sale on DVD

I have 'In Natural Flow' (1971) - my first film and 'Ocean Rhythms' (1975) my second film.

Now regarded as 'must have' collector items that define the '70s era of Australian surfing. Before the WSL and captured in pre-legrope times, audiences that enjoyed that era, still can't get enough of the first generation of Australia's pro surfers.

For additional details about Ocean Rhythms and original reviews from Tracks Magazine - CLICK HERE

For additional details about In Natural Flow and record breaking screening at the Surf World Museum at Currumbin - CLICK HERE

The DVDs are $35.00 each and that includes packing & Australia Post postage anywhere in Australia. 

Payment is via PayPal or by direct bank deposit.

To place your interest, order or inquire; 

It's easy, please make first contact with me through Facebook Messenger on my Steve Core Surf Facebook Page or by SMS to 0493 204 118. Please note: This phone number is not permanently manned for voice calls.

Above: the details for 'In Natural Flow'

(click to enlarge)

Above: the details for 'Ocean Rhythms'

(click to enlarge)

Both movies were digitalized to DVD by master surf movie historian, Warren Delbridge, a true genius at 16mm conversion. Warren has
done work for every major surf film-maker in the industry. 

Initial contact can be made through my Steve Core Surf 

page on Facebook using Facebook Messenger.

or please send your details by SMS to:

 Australian Mobile: 0493 204 118

*Overseas orders are also available - but due to the higher 2021 postal
Air Mail rates the DVDs are $45.00 Australian dollars each.

Living in the palace of the kings. A NSW South Coast reef break.
 A charismatic all hollow performance by PT:
Hollow wave & a hollow WAVE board.

NSW South Coast reef break
16mm frame blow-up from 'Ocean Rhythms'

Terry Richardson - Richo spent a dizzyingly amount of time locked
inside the Green Room at this place but after the spinning vortex perfection tube trim often came a slashing, high-speed 

roundhouse cutback.

Torpedo Tubes on the NSW South Coast. 16mm frame blow-up from 'Ocean Rhythms'.

One of the unforgettable characters of '70s Australian surfing,
Michael Peterson - slashing & burning, the rock skimming
inner section of Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast, Qld.

16mm frame blow-up from 'Ocean Rhythms'

Farewell Martin Tullemans

1st December - 2020

I was deeply saddened today to hear the news of the passing of fabled Queensland surfing photographer, Martin Tullemans.

I’ve know Marty Tullemans since 1971. That was the same year I was shooting my first 16mm surf movie ‘In Natural Flow’ on the Gold Coast. Earlier in that very same year, I had struck up the beginning a life-long friendship with Peter ‘PT’ Townend. PT and I had frequently spotted Marty perched on the rocks at either Kirra, Rainbow or Snapper, feverishly snapping away with his slightly under-powered Takumar 500mm telephoto lens. One sunny day, we both walked up and introduced ourselves to Marty – and that was where another long friendship took off like a Space-X rocket. It was dear Marty who wrote the review for my second movie ‘Ocean Rhythms’ for Tracks Magazine in November 1975. Marty attended a screening at the old Alhambra Theatre in Stones Corner in Brisbane, which, back in the day, was the flea house where we screened all the surf movies. Marty was originally a Brisbane boy from Indooroopilly.

Two of Marty's most exemplary Tracks Magazine covers.

Marty was from the era of emulsion, read: 35mm film. Black and White negatives or colour slides. That was his medium - that's what he shot. He never crossed the digital divide to emerge into the deep world of computative photography. Yes, he was old school, but this also lent his work, at best, to an inordinate richness of purity. A freelancer and self-taught, there was no motif he would draw on, no wave set line-up he could not adapt to, and above all, no fear of failure. Always short of a dollar, it bred in him a case hardened adaptability. Martin’s photos were admirably received by surf magazine photo editors and readers alike. To me, two of Marty’s most enduring shots each earned the front covers of Tracks Magazine. These two cover shots here, firmly affix PT and myself to Marty now for eternity. By a small freak of nature I happened to be in the foreground of one of those shots.

Martin Tullemans

Marty snagged the cover of Tracks Magazine with his shot of Butch Cooney competing in the ‘74 Australian Titles at Burleigh Heads. With me in the foreground shooting with a 16mm movie perspex housing. Marty’s second Tracks cover is of Peter Townend in 1976, soul arching into the Coolangatta Beach shore-break. Taken from the Kirra groyne and capturing PT in a religious moment of ascension. Martin also captured a staggeringly good representation of Gold Coast surfing during his period of continuous shutter high. Crisp work which brought on none of the catcalls from the Sydney, Northside-based surf media of the time – who would normally decanter such work from outer fringe dwellers like us. He shunned mainstream commercialism and that would eventually lead to become the hallmark of his work. He produced a large body of work over his time. His photos were never high-end art, or all that surfing photography can give, but they were never disagreeable either. Marty concentrated on the Gold Coast, strictly on his own terms, and eventually becoming one of its senior social photographic record keepers. (for the time).

Marty's awesome Burleigh Heads image of
Butch Cooney and me, also made the cover of
Albie Thoms Australian book: Surf Movies

Slightly nomadic, he grew up with home being everywhere. He once coerced Michael Peterson, a friend and confident, into a series of posed man and board portraits. With stunning results. Guided by Marty taking the photos and MP, two kinda pushy personalities eager to make their mark in surfing. The images had an under current of non commercialism to them. Some say it was some of Marty's best portrait work. Marty, thank you for your contributions and your devotion to surfing and for being a small part of my humble life. Like the azure sea, and the blond beaches of southern Queensland you and your legacy of majestic images will always surround us, immersed with rich movement and glittering with crystalline light. May your spirit surf on my old friend.

Steve

The Richo books have arrived...

Cleared through Customs yesterday, the Richo books have arrived in country. 

Richo now has two big jobs to tick off before his book launch appearance in Cronulla at the Cronulla RSL on Tuesday 30th October.

Hot off the press - Richo taking delivery of the first print run of 
books and begins signing all the pre-ordered books

Job 1] Currently Author Rob Reynolds has Richo working feverishly on unpaid overtime signing copies of books for the big mailout which begins today. Reviewers and the mainstream surf media get their copies too.

Job 2] After a couple of weeks of hardcore surf training, Richo leaves home this weekend for the Azores to compete in the WSL World Grand Masters Titles which is set to run September 18-23, on the Atlantic shores of São Miguel, Azores.

Just two more things to add to his list of a lifetime of surf stories to talk about at the Richo Book Launch Tour, check the list [below] for a date and location nearest you.

Books are $30.00 + shipping and are available direct only at the moment from the Richo Surf Shop link below or from the Road Trip signings. CLICK HERE to purchase.

Richo to launch his book in Cronulla

1st September - 2018

Terry Richardson Book Launch - Cronulla.

I'm proud to announce that we in Cronulla are going to see and hear Terry 'Richo' Richardson talk about his new book after he returns from the WSL World Grand Masters Titles which is set to run September 18-23, 2018 on the Atlantic shores of São Miguel, Azores.

Richo’s career as a competitive surfer and professional shaper spans 50-years. From Michael Peterson to Kelly Slater, from single-fins to computerised shaping, from Aussie Pipe to Banzai, Richo has held his own. 

From the very start of pro surfing in 1976 to this year’s WSL World Masters Professional Surfing championship, Richo has surfed the eye of the cyclone.

He charged Hawaiian waves bigger than houses as a 17-year-old, redefined tube-riding at South Coast Pipe, and battled the ravenous pro circuit for 16-years.

Richo in a full-wrap cutback at Torpedo Tubes
screen-cut from my '75 film 'Ocean Rhythms'

Richo remains one of an elite band of surfer shapers who have surfed at the highest level and banked a lifetime of shaping experience, while remaining enduringly competitive.

On the night, the MC will be the book's author Rob Reynolds. There will be video on the big screen, chats with Richo, Q&As from the audience, book sales & signing and photo ops - so bring along your photographic device of choice.

WHERE: Cronulla RSL, Sunroom
WHEN: Tuesday 30th October, 2018
TIME: 6:00pm mingle for 7:00pm start