Ok, you want to know what was my favourite surf movie in the 1970’s?
I used to go the Manly Silver Screen, sometimes the Opera House, and sometimes friends would get down at Gerringong and we’d watch home-made super 8 surf movies and play records.
My favourite surf movie was ‘Jeffrey’s Bay Dream’, it was at the Mullumbimby Town Hall. It was simply perfect waves, barely any dialogue and a great soundtrack. Try and get your paws on it. ‘Going Surfin’ was pretty big back then and so was ‘Crystal Voyager’.
Probably one of the hottest nights ever was when I hitched up to the Stubbies at Burleigh Heads and I met a guy on the beach, Steve something-or-other. I was the last day of the contest, and the lesser known guys were looking for dates. He was a middle of the pack pro-surfer and needed a date for the night, so I went with him. Unbelievable. It was a marathon contest that year between Rabbit and Mark Richards and we had Cheyne Horan and Shaun Tomson sitting at our table … oh man… I was so stoked.
It was free booze, my date was a great guy (can’t remember his last name) and the promoters had put together some footage of the contest. Rabbit and Richards were both dressed in black and they were really competitive. Rabbit won but Mark Richards was my favourite. I tried to be cool all night and not hassle anyone for an autograph. But these were surfing LEGENDS… everywhere…. and I was there too!
