Table of contents for Issue 585 in Tracks

The impact of the recent floods and heavy rains on the east coast of Australia can’t be understated. The scale of devastation was of course at its greatest on the north coast of NSW where lives were lost, homes destroyed and the future of entire townships placed in jeopardy. For those of us not knee-deep in mud and misery it was difficult to fathom just how disastrous the freakish weather was for particular communities, however, there was one place where many shared a common sense of disenchantment – the beach. As the floodwaters poured through river-mouths and stormwater drains along most of the east coast, the ocean turned into a potent cocktail of e coli, heavy chemicals and debris that looked and smelt like it had been conjured in the…

The Equalizer, from the tiny yet fiery freckle-faced grommet turned pro World Champion surfer from Bondi Beach. Pauline learnt to surf on the hectic city beach break on half a snapped foamie and understands exactly what it’s like battling for waves on equipment that’s not ideal for the conditions. The Equalizer, designed by Pauline, is a fun all-round board that has increased width for extra stability along with volume under the chest for easy paddling and to help get into waves without compromising performance. This shape is not only forgiving for the entry level surfer, but it maintains the flow and drive to enable surfers to keep progressing, and for more experienced riders, to push through more critical manoeuvres without hesitation. Medium to low entry rocker helps with paddle power…

FINLESS SURFING HAS LONG BEEN A THING, THE EARLY HAWAIIANS RODE ALAIA BOARDS, WHILE MORE RECENTLY DEREK HYND POPULARISED THE ACT OF TAKING A SOMEWHAT CONVENTIONAL BOARD, PULLING OUT THE FINS AND WHIRLING DOWN THE LINE AT J-BAY, SOMEWHERE ON THE CUSP OF CONTROL AND CHAOS. We also know that Kelly Slater started out as a wave-slider. As a kid growing up in Cocoa Beach Florida, Kelly learned to pull 360’s and mid-face spins on a finless bodyboard. The unhinged childhood helped him to reinvent surfing with a dizzying mix of reverses and rotations. In the modern age, surfers have turned to the novelty foam crafts and bodyboards to get their friction-free fix. Some, like Jordan Rodin, have crafted futuristic-looking shapes with flatter rockers, gnarly channels and straighter rails to…

Surfboard bags swinging around corners, knocking over retractable security ribbon poles, and taking up an obnoxious amount of space in the check-in queue at an international airport. Oh, how I’ve missed this. Most of us never thought we’d look forward to traipsing multiple bags and boards through a terminal, then nervously placing our quivers in the care of potentially errant baggage handlers before packing into a flying sardine tin with hundreds of other people for hours. But we also failed to foresee a viral pandemic shutting down the world and forbidding strike missions overseas for two years straight. So, when Jetstar opens the gates to the first international flight to Bali from Australia since March 2020, the hype is real. More than 300 passengers jostle to board the first Boeing…

Hunter S Thompson is one of those counterculture figures that keep popping up in unusual places – like surfing magazines and Johnny Depp films. Last year he appeared in both Tracks and Paul Theroux’s surf novel, Under the Wave at Waimea – albeit in drunken, drug-addled caricature. At this year’s Pipe Masters, Californian commentator, Chris Cote, could be heard echoing one of Thompson’s best-known lines: Buy the ticket, take the ride. Buy the ticket, take the ride. Translation: take big risks and deal with the consequences. For Thompson, that frequently meant gobbling enormous amounts of drugs – cocaine, LSD, whiskey, weed and speed were his staples – and riding out the subsequent psychosis. He’d compact the nerve-tearing results by roaring down a dark highway on a motorcycle with the headlights…

Many suggest that the concept of a ‘dream tour’ began with the inaugural Quiksilver Pro in G-land in 1995, but pro-surfing first flirted with Indo’ perfection in 1981 at the OM-Bali Pro. As Kirk Willcox wrote for Tracks at the time, “It was an inaugural professional contest held on a lush, tropical island peopled by friendly locals, and it was blessed with good waves, good weather and good times.” Australian ex-pat, Stephen Palmer, would later spearhead the surf brands in Bali, but by the early 80s his label OM, had hit a note with travellers seeking an alternate, eastern-influenced lifestyle. Palmer was a surfer and had done well enough from OM to lash out on a big surf contest. When over 100 competitors arrived, representing nine nations, they were invited…

MP’S BAT TAIL / FANG TAIL Michael Peterson, Coolum Beach QLD mid 70s. Some called it the ‘Fangtail’, I knew it as the ‘Bat Tail’. Whatever it was called, it created a buzz on the beach and a psychological affront to his competitors. At a Pa Bendall contest prior to his heat, people were questioning this MP creation’s surfability. In small, short beachbreak conditions he blitzed the event. People were now questioning their own choice of equipment and if anyone other than MP could tame the Bat Tail. Check out Steve Cooney’s autobiography ‘Unearthed’ at cyclopsproductions.com.au…

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JIM BANKS UNDERSTANDS WHAT A GOOD BOARD MEANS TO A SURFER. “ONE OF THE THINGS ABOUT BEING A SHAPER IS THAT IN A SENSE WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY FOR SOMEONE’S HAPPINESS,” EXPLAINS THE 62-YEAR-OLD SURFER/CRAFTSMAN. “I take that as a very serious responsibility… If someone buys a board off me, I want to make sure that it’s something that they’re gonna love and it’s gonna make them happy. Because I know what it’s like to have a board that you’re not happy with. It sucks.” Driven by autodidactic tendencies (he also makes his own guitar amps), Jim taught himself to shape in 1971, when he was 12. He started on single fins, was there when MR ushered in the twins and was still on tour in 1981 when Simon Anderson…

BEHIND THE COVER: EMPTY ALASKA BY MARK MCINNIS We had been to that region of Alaska a couple of times shooting with my dear friend, Josh Mulcoy, for his ‘Within Reach’ movie. Josh, his best friend Aaron Bierman (pictured) and filmer, Mike ‘Drone’ Cochran, ended up in Alaska a few days before me on this trip. When I arrived, they weren’t there to pick me up because they got their truck stuck in the sand. As they were digging the truck out, Josh noticed that at the very top of a world-class left point, there was a very oddly placed sandbar in a spot he’s never seen waves break, even after 30 years of frequenting the joint. The next morning, the left was firing, but as the wind switched, I…

Kentaro Yoshida is a talented illustrator/artist and was born and raised in a rural fishing village in Toyama, Japan. At the age of 18, Kentaro decided to move to Australia in pursuit of the English language, sunny beaches and a more balanced lifestyle. He now resides on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, where he spends his days surfing and producing work for various international brands, as well as personal commissions. He created this piece awhile reflecting on what was a strange, and for some, tragic summer the east coast of Oz had been through. From floods to shark attacks and everything in between. “It looks like the season has changed in Sydney, and it was a strange summer this year. There was so much rain and not many proper summer…