All '60s mystery surfers identified

Classic surf photo from the early sixties
Cronulla surfers all identified

Good friend, life-long Cronulla surfer and avid board collector from the Stringerless era; Larry Cohen has managed to shed some additional light on the mystery '60s surfers photo published last Saturday in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Photographer Bob Weeks captured this rare shot
of these Cronulla surfers at the Ulladulla
Golf Course Reef back in the early sixties.

Larry lives just a few doors up from John Coleman, who we identified as the young 'Gremlin' in the photo earlier this week in a story.

John dropped in to visit Larry and could clearly name all the guys who were in the photo. As John tells the story, he was around 14 yrs old at the time and the photo was taken around 1963/64. He goes on say that all the other guys in the photo are much older than him, but they let him tag along on surf trips just because he was such a good surfer.

The photo, which turns out to be a fashionable time stamp of the times, was taken by Bob Weeks and the location was the famous Golf Course reef at Ulladulla, on the NSW South Coast.

'60s shot of Nigel Dwyer glassing boards
at Norm Casey Surfboards, Taren Point.
Photo from the Nigel Dwyer,
Del Surfboards Collection, NZ.


Identified and hand marked in the photo above; are Cronulla's top surfers from the era, here's the entire crew: John Coleman, John Gittins, Nigel Dwyer, Robert Ayers and Tony Nicholas. 

A surf industry person, Nigel Dwyer worked at both Jackson Surfboards and Norm Casey Surfboards. Nigel moved across the pond to North Island of New Zealand in 1965 and founded Del Surfboards in New Plymouth and is still entrenched there - some 46 years later.

Cronulla's loss was New Zealand's gain. Nigel became and essential part of the development of surfing in New Zealand and to this very day, still makes a major contribution. Take a look at his Del Surfboards website - it has a timeline of some awesome old photos on there.

All this is perfect timing for this nostalic photo revival action as it will all be vividly relived starting tonight at the Surf City Exhibition at the Museum of Sydney.

If you like this, you might also like:
Huntington Beach surfboard pioneer 'Gordie' passes away
Manly's Heritage Surf Shop to close its doors
Surfing in Vietnam during the Vietnam War

*

Puzzle: Mystery '60s surfers - problem solved

Can you name this surfer? I can.
Sydney Morning Herald's lost '60s surfers


From last Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald.
Surf City Curator; Gary Crockett holding the board.
The young 'gremmie' sitting on the car [arrowed] is
Cronulla's 14 year old, John Coleman.
[click to enlarge the photo]

As the countdown draws near to the opening of the Surf City Exhibition at the Museum of Sydney later this week, the Sydney Morning Herald last Saturday published this montage of photos and asked if we [the readers] could name any one in the photos.

In the group shot of the guys sitting on the car, perched on the far left of the car [with my arrow] is life-long Cronulla surfer and resident, John Coleman.

John was one of Cronulla's hottest young surfers throughout the sixties to the mid-seventies. Getting his picture regularly published in the surf magazines in the late sixties when I was just a struggling grom.

Above, John Coleman [left] and Steve Core
just a week ago at the Bobby Brown
Exhibition at Jackson Surfboards.
Photo: courtesy Jackson Surfboards.

John, like myself, these days is in his very early sixties and still lives in Cronulla and still surfs at every opportunity. 

He can be easily spotted in the line-up at Sandshoes Reef, where he's been a local stand out surfer for 45+ years. Ripping it up on his Force 9 thruster.

By the way, that cool looking car in that photo above is a classic '46 Ford sidevalve V8 Super Deluxe Sedan - which incidentally, also came in a distinguished wood paneled [Woody] station wagon version - see photo below.

So not only do I know John, and have done so for decades, we were both pictured together just a week ago at the Bobby Brown Exhibition at Jackson Surfboards in Caringbah.

Mystery solved.

Steve

DETAILS: The Surf City Exhibition opens this coming weekend at the Museum of Sydney and will run right through the Summer.

RELATED: Want to see some of the realy cool surf related photos capturing the bygone era of Sydney's surfing scene that Curator Gary Crockett has unearthed? Then check his: Surf City Blog

End note: How cool does this beautifully and
authentically restored '46 V8 Deluxe Ford Woody look?

Surfers in Vietnam during the Vietnam War

Surf City: A perspective of Surfing in the '50s, '60s and '70s.

The countdown is on to muster the nostalgia; we are now just one month away from the opening of the Surf City Exhibition

To capture and present these iconic times, Surf City's curator, Gary Crockett has been publishing some fantastic photos encompassing the era. Of particular interest are images captured during the Vietnam War ['62-'72] while Australian servicemen were taking R&R on 'Vungers' Beach [Vung Tau] in South Vietnam.

A 'friendly' Douglas A-1 Skyraider makes a high-speed, low

pass directly over US servicemen while they enjoy the

waves along Vung Tau Beach, South Vietnam in 1967.

Retired US Army Vietnam veteran Ron Sizemore contributed this amazing photo taken along the 'American stretch' of Back Beach, Vung Tau, and Ron wrote this from his home in the US:

"I took the picture in Dec of 1967 with a Pentax 35mm camera. Here is the story. The plane [I believe a Douglas A-1 Skyraider] had made one pass at that low altitude when I was coming out of the surf. I saw him on his way back toward us and I started running to the Lifeguard tower - because that is where my camera was.

The guy next to me hit the deck [sand] and I stayed on my way. I knew he was going to return for another pass. The second pass was a high one and the third was again low - right on the deck. It was my understanding that we, [the Yanks, Americans] had given the A-1's to the South Vietnamese and it was a friendly South Vietnamese pilot doing the flying. On his last pass he did a `victory roll' that I was unable to capture."

Vungers Beach in South Vietnam; an Australian serviceman on R&R

in Vietnam carries his Australian-made Gordon Woods surfboard
from the surf. Note the rolled barbed wire lining the beach.

Images from: Charlie Don't Surf - But Aussies Do'.



While many young Australians were enjoying the freedom of surfing their local beach at home, our nation had diggers deployed in Vietnam, putting themselves in harm's way to protect and serve our country.

Over 500 Australian servicemen lost their lives in Vietnam, and we had over 3,000 wounded.

We like to thank all those brave young Australian servicemen and women for their service and their sacrifice during the Vietnam Conflict.

We hope that any/all Vietnam veterans will get a chance to visit the Museum of Sydney and view the Exhibition. 

Both Vietnam images above are courtesy of the great Queensland website: Charlie Don't Surf - But Aussies Do'.

The Surf City Exhibition will be on at the Museum of Sydney from September 24th 2011 to March 17th, 2012.

Have a comment or something to add? - Email us at: swapsurf@gmail.com

Question: Which current ASP Head Judge is also a current World Champion surfer? You'd be surprised. The answer here.

*