1970s The Capel Kid and Bill Webb

This is a tale about The Capel Kid and his South West surfing mate Bill Webb.

THE CAPEL KID

Back in 1970 Ian ‘The Capel Kid’ Reid was a dairy farmer on a farm at Elgin (halfway between Boyanup & Capel) and a keen SW surfer.

Ian milked the cows every day at the farm before driving to Busselton and picking up his mate Bill Webb to go surfing.

Early 1970s Ian with HD Holden panel van going for a surf. Reid family pic.

Ian Reid – When I got my driver’s licence in 1970, I used to pick up Bill Webb who lived at Kealy near Siesta Park and take him surfing.

In season Bill and I used to pick watermelons on local farms to earn money.

Bill and I would meet up with Ian ‘Prive’ Morris and others and go surfing at Smiths Beach.

Other SW surfers at the time were John ‘Tex’ Branch, Trevor ‘Yip Yip’ Anderson, George Simpson, Steve ‘Horny’ Campbell, Ron ‘Gremmo’ Ellis & Ronnie ‘Ratshit’ Jeffrey. Glyn Lance from Bunbury was a very good surfer.

Tex was always getting into mischief. One time, we arrived back at Smiths Beach to find him and his mate trying to pluck and cook one of Boodge Guthrie’s roadside turkeys. (Guthrie farm was on Caves Road near Moses Rock turn-off).

Another time we found Tex & his body boarder mate shining a light into the bush outside the Busso Drive-in. Tex had thrown a bottle of beer at his mate and missed. The bottle had flown out the open car window and they were looking for it in the bush, much to the amusement of people leaving the Drive-in.

I used to go to parties in Bunbury with George Simpson and other SW surfers. Afterwards George would sleep in my HD Holden panel van while I was milking the cows early the next morning.

When the swell was small, we used to travel to Gallows for a surf. The black sand track was real dug up and boggy. After one session we were driving back up the track and found some buggers had got bogged up near the top and left their car blocking the track. We got out bounced the car off the track so we could drive through and then bounced the offending car back onto the track side-ways 😊

Before vehicle tracks were cleared into Three Bears, (formerly MGM before name changed to Bears by city crew) I used to walk into Bears from Sugarloaf Rock with my girlfriend Kerry, now wife. It was hard work climbing along the cliffs with the heat and flies, it was quite a trek!

Kim Wright, Garry Rice, Merv Forster & Bill Sheridan are my Busso surfing mates.

They were the best days of our life’s.

Ian now lives with his wife Kerry in Bunbury and has been operating Bunbury Bobcats since 1997.

BILL WEBB

According to an official of the WA Surf Riders Association (WASRA) it is likely Bill Webb of Kealy (Siesta Park) was the first aboriginal surfboard rider in the South West. Source Busselton Margaret River Times 24 October 1968.

Bill – My dad was a professional fisherman and my brothers and I would go salmon fishing with him at Hamelin Bay, Bunker Bay and Meelup and bring along Coolite boards and boy what a rash they used to leave you with. We’d fly around on them and try standing up. Then we started putting fins in them. We’d cut the boomerang in half and use them as fins. We used to just cut a hole and put glue in it. Sometimes they didn’t last that long, but they allowed you to straighten the board a little bit and get more control over it.

Then someone gave me a big plank, boy it was heavy, and took about two or three of us to carry it to the beach. We’d all take turns on the boards. From those big boards, I went and slaved away picking up potatoes when I was a little fella to be able to buy my own first board, a Cordingley.

Then we started to venture further, and dad would drop us off. Even when we first started, he’d deliberately gather us all up on the weekend, chuck us in the car and put the boards on and take us down to the beach. He really supported us because I think he was mystified by it.

So when we got to Rocky Point, we talked him into getting on one of the boards and got him out into the water. He couldn’t stand up or lay on the board and he’d fall off, but he wouldn’t let go of the board. He’s the only one who can ride a surfboard upside down he reckons. (Extract from Bill Webb recollections Surfing Down South book published 2014).

In 2011 Wadandi (Saltwater People) Elder Bill Webb gave a wonderful from the heart presentation at the unveiling of WA Surf Pioneer Sculpture at Yallingup Beach.

Bill was a talented goofy footer and competed in surfing contests held in the South West during the 70s.

In the mid-80s he played football for the Mulies Footy team in Dunsborough. The Mulies played against the Margaret River Chicken Hawks and Augusta Abalones in the South West.

Bill now lives in Yallingup and works at the Wardan Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Injidup.

David Corbett – I am a cousin of goofy footers Bill and Wayne Webb and we grew up together in Siesta Park. I did a lot of surfing with Wayne and we introduced a few of our high school mates to surfing.

I am one year older than Wayne and we are about five years younger than Bill. Bill was a professional fisherman. Wayne and I were the two Aboriginal kids that never had wet suits so we lit a fire before we went in the water for a surf and the fire would warm us up when we got out.  A lot of people would join us at the fire.  We would welcome everyone to come and get warm. Those sessions around the fire would turn into lots of yarns and laughter.

I remember Ian Reid; he and Bill did a lot of surfing together in the late 60’ early seventies. Sometimes Wayne and I would pinch their boards and ride the storm waves in the howling northerlies at Siesta Park, when we were about 10 years old. That is how Wayne and I started surfing. Ian would leave his boards at the Webb’s house in Siesta Park. We tried to keep it a secret, but Ian and Bill knew what we were up to 😊.

One late Sunday afternoon when I was about 12 years old Ian, myself and Bill’s brother Vernon were walking along the Rocky point track from Eagle Bay. I could see Ian getting excited about something, then he said in a loud voice “WOW look how consistent it is” when he saw Rocky Point pumping wave after wave. I said, “what does consistent mean?”  He said, “don’t you go to school?” He kept his focus on the waves and never did answer my question. He was too focused on them waves. 😊

Wayne and I have so many childhood surfing stories. The Capes coast and Geographe Bay were sometimes our lifeline from when we were babies.  Especially Bill, fishing was his living.

Our heritage goes back to the Whaling days in the 1800’s.

Ian ‘Prive’ Morris – We used to surf the Reef break at Smiths. I remember Bill Webb splitting his head on Smiths reef one day. We also surfed Gallows, Rocky Point and The Farm. Back then, access to Rocky Point was through D’Espeissis’s property at Cape Naturaliste. We used to drive through cow paddocks and park on the beach. The Farm had better shape and was a better surf break when the creek was open. The creek has since been dammed up by the property owner. We used to drive down the dirt track behind the dunes, park our cars and walk over a hill directly behind the surf break. I had great times at the Farm with Ian Reid, Bill Webb, Murph ‘the contractor’ and Graeme ‘Guru’ Leslie (R.I.P.)  

Mark ‘Hillsy’ Hills – Bill Webb and his older brother Wayne from Kealy (suburb of Busselton) used to be regulars at Rocky Point in the early 70s. Wayne never wore a wettie even in the middle winter. The Webb boys were probably the first indigenous surfers in the South West”.

Thanks Ian & Kerry, Bill, David, Prive & Hillsy for sharing your early SW surfing memories.

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