I liked the Hawaii 90 series of videos, they were the hardcore, great soundtrack and heralded the 90's surf performance culture.
I remember the shots of Tom Carrol in the pipe masters paddling around and onto a massive pipe peak on a huge 7'11" pin tail board or there abouts.

I spent nearly every second weekend and every holiday of the nineties down south on a bush block outside of prevally. I cant recall what happened in the rest of the world. I used to like smaller sized main break on the clean offshore days, when the main chargers thought it was too small to surf, but it was still double overhead on the sets. great times.

yeah Doggie I'm the same, the kids have certainly learnt that functionality, price and a no BS style is the way to go. This is what has made it a challenging task, as they read the responses (and check old surf mags) they begin to realise that the "machine" that is the surf industry must sell a lot of stuff to non-surfers and that perhaps we are a savvy bunch that could care less about marketing, or that we can spot a scam or fad a mile away. The products I gave them to market to the 90's surfer have all been adapted to reflect what they have picked up on from these threads. Rip Curl is an interesting one though, not sure about them.

GONAD MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!
surf mags were so much better back then. Now surf mags are similiar to reading FHM mags
although ****thorpe is a hero

pretty well summed up when 'only a surfer knows the feeling' is trademarked.

legion has (expertly) stirred up a lot of ghosts from my own past, different names different places

same feelings, emotions, experiences that have made me who I am and wouldn't change for all the money in the world.

Geez, this thread is bringing back some awesome memories of my days back in West Oz.
I learned to surf at Trigg Point in the mid to late 70's and surfed the point very regularly up to the late 90's before moving east for work. Biggest mistake I made in the 90's was selling my house 400m from the point when I moved east, spewing I sold it before prices went ridiculous!
My memories of the 90's are just rocking up to the point on any morning and without fail there would be some of your mates also checking out the surf. If the surf was on you hit it if not you would just hang out and have a chin wag with your buddies. I was a member of Trigg Point Boardriders and will have life long memories of the great bunch of guys and girls involved in the club and surf trips south and north which were always a laugh. I cant believe we actually used to hold club comps at the point. Of course the older you got the surf just seemed to get worse and the days when the point broke out behind the reef just seemed to disappear.
In the 90's my folks owned an on-site van at Yallingup caravan park so it was a regular to organise a weekend jaunt down south. Used to be able to get up the bears track in a panel van, if there was a boggy patch of sand you would just drop the tail gate and have two guys bounce on it to get through. Crowds also appeared to be a lot less and there was always a 'secret' spot you could surf when the conditions were right. Moved to Sydney in the late 90's and remember surfing none the wiser after a storm in brown muck and getting very ill, fortunately soon after the NSW councils woke up and started treating the stormwater before pumping it out into the surf.
As for trends;
-Westsuits went from flouro 80's to black 90's
-Boards were thin pro copies with stacks of rocker (well mine were)
-Grunge and death metal were it (surf gigs and mosh pits were synonomous and dangerous)
-Trips down south were quicker so more regular (did some one dayers)
-Boardrider club team events took off
-Awesome (underground) surfers (non pro tour) were being recognised

Thanks for raising the thread Bakesy, have loved recollecting my 90's experiences. I think you were one of my bro's (Todd) buddies way back then. Good Luck!

KEARNSY said...

Great thread!

I was a grom in the 90's in Qld . I remember surfing Kirra as good as it gets uncrouded . VERY UNCROUDED at South Straddie. Noosa still had dirt path's in the National Park. Double Island Point only one car would stop for a surf . We all had long hair , and the chicks loved it! $2 tallies at the Burliegh heads Drive through!

One thing that I think was a main difference was the weather patterns . There used to be afternoon glass offs a few times a week , and the swells were alot more consistent .

We all drove VC/VH "Dunnydoor" wagons and listened to either Aussie Rock and Alternative music or American Punk rock. Surf movies were very popular - Suns of Fun , Focus , Billabong Challenge,, still some of the best flicks ever made IMO!

Quite often on a long weekend we would fang down to "Newy" over a friday night then Hit Angourie , Lennox on the way back up..... Ahh soo much driving and we just didnt care . Every one seemed stoked on surfing and just hanging out.

Alot of Asians in the surf on the Gold coast and a few fights starting to show up here and there , especially when Boat man started running across the seaway to TOS.

Best Era of my life!!! would I do it all over the same again? Bloody oath!

I'm guessing we are around the same age. I was on the Goldy then as well. Long hair, surfing all day and hitting the Playroom, Hill Street, The Patch or Fishos and then The Party and Bensons at the other end with the Mainy and Mermaid boys at night.

Pre-Boatman was a different time, I still remember crowds at TOS though I never really surfed that end much. Lived on D'bah hill for a while, pre-super bank. Best pits of my life at Kirra. Pipedream Surfboards, old Cortina with removable gear stick.

The 90's for me were pre living O/S and post. Slightly different but mostly the same. Early 90's Goldy then Lennox/Ballina. Then Goldy, then OS then back to stay. Still here.

The 90's were without doubt a golden time.

Cool I had a FJ40 with a holden 253 V8 in it for most of the 90's. To this day i miss it. They are the original unbreakable 4WD.

It never got bogged and just loved the rough stuff like Gallows back track and Blackers wet track

AAhh yes Sunday sesh's at Caves house and then driving back to Bunno. More than once we would get through busso and then drive along the beach all the way back to avoid Mr Plod.

Geez i wouldn't even consider it nowadays

well speaking of rolling cars. Mate and I went to Walpole for surf and marron, slept under a bridge in the middle of nowhere about 15kms out of town, caught marron through the night, drank a carton and feasted on fresh marron. During the day, drove the boat over to a spot at the river mouth (really,really sharky!!) surfed an awesome A frame with pods of dolphins and a few locals. Wind would come in and we'd head home across the inlet pick up a few KG whiting, herring or bream for lunch and cook em up at the camp under the bridge. Saturday saw us head to the pub to watch the Eagles, parked the XC panel van in the carpark, left the dog (Dave the red cloud) in the car and played some pool until the match started. About 20 minutes later a bloke walked in and said "just saw the weirdest thing, a red cloud driving a panel van through the carpark!" upon hearing this my mate and I looked out the large window overlooking the modest carpark and noticed the XC wedged in a ringlock fence that bordered the pub. We rushed out, past the laughing local boys and found one sheepish looking red cloud and a bit of minor damage to the fence/car. Seems I forgot to put the handbrake on in my rush for a cold middy and he'd jumped on the gear selector (on the steering column) and knocked it into neutral.He had managed to steer it (I like to think he did it!) about 50m down the hill into the fence. No harm done, repaired the fence with the help of the locals, the publican was cool and even let Dave come in the pub and enjoy a packet of Burger Rings! A few beers went down and the Eagles won, pretty good day all round,have been visiting Walpole/Denmark since the 70's, still love that place even though it's changed heaps.

With the contribution that Legion makes to these forums what would posess Laurie to even think about banning him
Great stories Legion
I thoroughly enjoyed the read about the good old days

I can't post there any more now due to a forum setting, so they can live in their happy little world, oblivious to how they're perceived.

You used to park on the road on the way to the lighthouse, climb over the fence and stand in the paddock just to the right to get a view of The Farm. Then you'd suit up on the side of the road and run down the hill, across the paddock to the dunes, letting the slope make you do big moon steps. It'd be stormy and offshore, big swells wrapping right around the cape and lining up across the whole shallow bay.

Nowadays it's a resort. My wife's friends call it "Bunkers", and stay there for $500 a night.

Well the class has certainly learned a lot from reading the posts. Today they revealed their company names and their spiel on the philosophy of the 90's surfer. They have learnt to use the 'lingo' and have a pretty good handle on the "only a surfer knows the feeling (thanks Doggie) idea, with each group nailing the defining of that feeling. Some of the products they have designed include wax, choc milk and an after surf deodorant called "Berley" (to attract chicks!) Company names include Get Wet, Zephyr, Crest, Wedge and Point Break. Legion you appear to have affected them the most, with all the students very impressed with your writing style. A few have said you should "defs" and "totes" write a book Thanks again for your time and keep the stories flowing boys, the assessment is due in two weeks!

Legion said...

I can't post there any more now due to a forum setting, so they can live in their happy little world, oblivious to how they're perceived.

There is a who thread on you Legion, in the SUP room, some interesting reading.

Torch said...




they dont make em like they use to....

What a great logo - iconic!