In 1933 Thomas ‘Ting’ Hammond purchased circa 100 acres of land at Yallingup in front of the historic Caves House Hotel site owned then by the state government. Ting built their first family cottage on the undeveloped side of the valley in Yallingup in the 1940s. Initially tourist buses visited the ‘big house’ for refreshments, then in the 1950s they built the Hammond Tea Rooms north of the unsealed Yallingup beach car park
The business name changed from Hammond Tea Rooms to Surfside and became a base for Yallingup surfers from the late 1950s.
Surfside had many proprietors over the years until the complex (Café, Kiosk & Yallingup Beach Shack) was demolished in 2011. The Yamminee Gallery building was relocated prior to demolition.
1984 Surfside Store Yallingup. Photo courtesy of proprietors Craig & Stewart Bettenay
Surfside Board Riders Club
Mark ‘Hillsy’ Hills. “Circa 1981-83 the Shutz family (proprietors of Surfside Café) sponsored the Yallingup Board Riders Club. They changed the Club’s name to Surfside Board Riders (SBR) and let us use the toilets at the back of Surfside as club rooms.
Founding members included Andy Jones, Dave Sheen, Ray ‘Rat’ Blaikie, Mark ‘Hillzee’ Hills, brothers Dane & Scott Richardson, Neil Strong, Ray ‘Cheesy’ Commons, Colin Campbell, Mark Favell (RIP), Michael Schulz, Mark ‘Slash’ Sims, Steve ‘Skeg’ Batchelor, Shane Ellis, Kevin ‘Wonka’ Williams, Gordon Vernon& Clarky.
Ray Blaikie was the Club’s first President and Neil Strong our second President.
We competed against Bunbury’s Indiana Surfriders and Pat Leahy’s Mandurah Boardriders.“
1982 Nov. Media coverage Inter Club competition between Indiana, Mandurah & Surfside Board Riders at Gallows in the SW. Image courtesy Mal Hardy. Page 1 of 2.1982 Nov. Media coverage Inter Club competition between Indiana, Mandurah & Surfside Board Riders at Gallows in the SW. Image courtesy Mal Hardy. Page 2 of 2.1982 Nov. Finalists Inter Club competition between Indiana, Mandurah & Surfside Board Riders at Gallows in the SW courtesy of Mal Hardy.1982 Aug. Merit Award to Mark Hills Inter Club Team Challenge Surfside vs Mandurah at Mandurah. Image courtesy Mark Hills.
Hillsy. “I remember our first intra-contest at Bears. The waves got too big so the finals were moved to the beachie at Smith Beach. In the finals the waves were solid and Dave Sheen burst his ear drum on a wipe-out. My new beach towel was used to stem the bleeding and the final was aborted before I caught a wave ☹”
1982 Hillsy surfing Bears. Photo Dave Sheen1980s Scotty Richardson & Hillsy contemplating life on Yallingup Hill. Photo Dane Richardson.1980s Yalls ‘Bears’ Run. Photo Dane Richardson L-R Murray Towers, Dane Richo & Dean Towers
Ray ‘Rat’ Blaikie: “I was the first president of Surfside Board Riders at Yallingup. I was voted into the job unopposed as my dad was the local member of parliament, and the crew thought some of his work ethic, intelligent and leadership would have washed through to me. Sadly, it didn’t!
Club mantra was if the surf was really good, we canned scheduled comps and just went surfing….. that caused a few issues at Carpark and Yalls when the whole club paddled out together for a free surf!!
Club meetings round the back of surfside were fun to say the least. Plenty of laughs and piss-taking, the club was a great collective of local surfers.
We organised a few fund raisers. A quiz night at the Dunsborough pub was the most infamous. Publican Alan Cough was really supportive of the club. Mick Mickle was the MC. The night went well, until one of the tables won the Dunborough Bakery pies prize (Mark Favell (RIP) had organised) and started a pie fight! Money raised went to hire the Yallingup Hall and two kegs for a big club end of year night. Both kegs were finished in record time, the car park outside the hall next morning was full of club members sleeping off the night in their cars. We weren’t allowed to hire the hall again…..
Tom Hoye (RIP) was really supportive and got involved with the club from day one. Most of us rode PE’s, or Greg Laurenson’s (RIP) boards. Tom judged our first comp, we started at Bears, then moved to Smiths after the sea breeze hit. Smith’s had a some heavy closeout barrels next to the reef, Sheeny was looking a winner until he got slammed pulling into a no exit barrel and burst his eardrum. Tom and I drove him off to Busselton Hospital.
Steve ‘Skeg’ Bachelor was a local surfer, he lived right next to Yallingup Caves, his dad was a National Parks Ranger, and really good with anyone with a dog in the National Park – any day at Bears would see 20 guys in the water and 20 dogs on the beach!!”😊
Early 80s Ray Blaikie with thruster surf boards at Bears. Photo Steve Bachelor.1980s Ray Blaikie jumping fence to Rocky Point. Photo Russ Blaikie (Ray’s brother).Early 80s Ray Blaikie with his dog Hoges in sunnies on road near Inji Car park. Photo Steve Bachelor.
Steve ‘Skeg’ Bachelor. “I recall we had some club rooms being some old building near the current toilet block area and having to repaint and fix up the inside a bit.
We used to get some support from a few local business – I think Tom Hoye’s Bali Hai, Drew Brent-White’s burger bar near Caves House and original Dunsborough pub – our main watering hole except for Sunday sessions at Caves house.
I do recall having a few surf comps but from the few pictures I have they always seemed to be held after the sea breeze came in – everyone wanted to free surf in the good waves, most were held at Bears mainly Mamas & Papas, but we did hold some at Inji car park & also Gallows.
Recall a couple of social events in the old Yallingup Hall and also having a social cricket match on the old Yallingup Oval opposite the hall with a beer keg on hand from the tail gate of one of the cars.
I only recall interclub comps against Mandurah board riders, one at Madora Bay and also an event against them down at Gallows.”
1980s Gordon Vernon, Scott Cole, Mark Hills & Dane Richardsonoutside Surfside in Yallingup car park. Photo Steve Bachelor.1980s Surfside Club t-shirts at Intra-club contest Injidup Car Park. Photo Steve Bachelor.Early 80s Ray Blaikie, Steve ‘Skeg’ Batchelor, Ray ‘Cheesey’ Commins & Kevin ‘Wonka’ Williams outside Surfside in car park Yallingup. Sheenie’s VW is in the background. Photo courtesy Steve Bachelor.
Dave ‘Sheenie’ Sheen.“I remember being quite active in the initial setup of the club and converting the back room at Surfside for a clubroom. I remember our club events at Bears Yallingup and Smiths Beach but the finer details of results and actual heat highlights is all but gone from my mind! I do remember perforating my eardrum at Smiths but I don’t remember bleeding on Hillzies towel hahaha I remember going to Mandurah and hitting the roo in Strongies car (we were the 3rd car in a line of 5) so bloody unlucky as he only just bought that car and I think it cost $2,500 to fix!
I recall Mark Favell and Andy Jones kind of keeping us younger fellas in line and on track! There were lots of parties I recall but I don’t recall any girls in the club which was a shame and would be way different these days! Most important I remember being amongst a great bunch of lads with the same thing on their mind. SURF, SURF and More SURF!”
1978 Dave Sheen (age 14). “Tom Hoye was a true legend who walked the talk here’s a pic of me as one very stoked grommet with a new 5’8 shooter”. Photo Dave Sheen.1982 Sheenie surfing Bears. Photographer unknown.1980s Sheenie performing on skate ramp at Surfside. Photo Dane Richardson.
Neil ‘Strongy’ Strong. “It was a fun time😊 I remember cleaning up the back room at Surfside to use as Club Rooms. And hitting that roo going flat out in my red Subaru on a Club trip to Mandurah for a surf contest.”
1982 Surfside Board Riders and vehicles outside Surfside Store & Tom Hoye’s Bali Hai Surf Hut Yalls. This pic shows Strongy’s green Subaru and Cheesy’s yellow Cortina, the panel van may be Merv Forsters. Not sure of the white Subaru. Tom Hoye and Strongy are on the lawn but can’t make out the others. Photo Dave Sheen1982 Strongy surfing Injidup car park. Photo Dave Sheen1980s Yalls post party debriefing. Photo Dane Richardson Strongy with shirt off holding the post. John Bucko & Gordon Vernon, blue dress not sure and Dane’s car in Choco’s back yard before he built his house.
Hillsy.“Club members Neil Strong and Dave Sheen set up the first surf shop in Dunsborough centro, Dunsborough Sail and Surf Supply in the 80s. Formerly Bruce & Sue Nicholson’s tackle shop.”
Brad Leonhardt. “Chris Bowen had Windspeed in Busselton and had the Tiga sponsorship at the time. The wind surf boards were made at Greg Laurenson’s milk shed factory in Dunsborough. Greg Laurenson lived in the house next door to us at that time.
I worked a bit at Neil Strong’s Dunsborough Sail and Surf Supply which he later changed the name to Country Waves. In Yahoo Surfboards there’s a board shaped by Greg Laurenson with the Windspeed decal on the bottom.“
Strongy. “After the Board Club had been running for 3-4 years (circa 1984) Sheenie tried to change the name from Surfside Board Riders to Sail & Surf Supply Board Riders. But the lads wouldn’t have any of it😊.”
1981 Dunsborough Sail & Surf Supply Naturaliste Tce with Strongy’s red Subaru parked out front. Image courtesy Mark Hills.
Dane Richardson. “A few thoughts on Surfside Board Riders, the early 80’s.
It was a period in my life when surf, surf, surf was pretty much all that was on the agenda, the odd party thrown in and all this on my front door, life was absolutely perfect and from a gromm’s eyes it really was heaven, never took Yalls for granted we all knew it was special.
So forming a surf club seemed like a great idea (I think we re-kindled the original Yalls Board Riders). Start a board club have a few comps, a few piss ups, shit yeah 😊.
For me the club, the crew and life at Yalls around this time all blur into the same memories and there are so many stories. Something that was happening in club and out front of Bali-Hai was Tom Hoye. I spent hours listening to Tom, checking his latest board designs, we all had PE boards. One story I remember well was his detailed comparison of surfing big Sunset and how on a 8-10 foot autumn west swell Yalls could deliver that same quality and intensity, and here I have a board I shaped for it, pulling out the 7’6 single fin from upstairs in Bali-Hai, so good!
I remember Hillsy, Scott Cole and myself borrowing 3 big guns one day after a Tom talk hyped us up and we paddled out to massive howling onshore Yalls, Scott nearly drowned, I was washed in through Rabbits, Hillsy no idea where he came in but we regrouped on the beach and got the boards back to Tom, we were so pumped on how big it was and how we made it out the back. Tom was like, you crazy little fuckers, grab the boards any time. Tom was at many of our comps judging and telling stories all day, how good.
That whole period was insane so many great crew to look up to, a feral grommet living the dream, club comps at Bears, Smiths, Yalls , party everywhere, no crowds, no internet, no phones, no cops, no social media (thank fxxk) everyone was just amped on surfing, creativity and living their life, rad times. I’m calling the 80’s best period ever at Yalls!”
1980s Surfside Board Riders and others at Yalls. Photo courtesy of Dane Richardson L-R Gordon Vernon, Geoff Evans, Murray Towers, Laurey, Dane & Scotty Richo & Ian TowersLate 1980s Dane competing in Sail & Surf Supply contest at Bears. Photo courtesy Dane Richardson.1980sYalls Surfside Board Riders and others with PE Quiver. Photo courtesy Dane Richardson. L-R Geoff Evans, Gordon Vernon, Laurey, Murray Towers, Scotty Richo & Ian TowersLate 1980s Scotty Richardson competing in Sail & Surf Supply contest at Bears. Photo Dane Richardson.
Andy Jones. “The club re-emerged again 10 years later and the groms included Jay & Wyatt Davies, Michael Thomson, Damien Jones, Ben Thomasian and heaps more, I think Bazza Young might have helped as well, other notables were Simon Barratt, Luke Thomas & Adam Favell, a real strong group of groms! Surfside Board Club morphed into today’s Yallingup Boardriders Club.”
1975 Yalls car park. Mark Favell ex Bundaberg Qsld & Andy Jones. Photo Andy Jones.1980 Andy Jones surfing Yallingup main break. Photo Gary Gibbon.
Hillsy. “When Surfside Board RidersClub wound-up,left-over monies were signed over to the Yallingup Board Riders Club under the watchful eyes of Yallingup elders Kevin Merifield and John Malloy.”
Many thanks to the contributors for sharing your surfing memories and photos.
Surfside Tea Rooms/Store/Café
In 1933 Thomas ‘Ting’ Hammond purchased circa 100 acres of land at Yallingup in front of the historic Caves House Hotel site owned then by the state government. Ting built their first family cottage on the undeveloped side of the valley in Yallingup in the 1940s. Initially tourist buses visited the ‘big house’ for refreshments, then in the 1950s they built the Hammond Tea Rooms north of the unsealed Yallingup beach car park
The business name changed from Hammond Tea Rooms to Surfside and became a base for Yallingup surfers from the late 1950s.
Surfside had many proprietors over the years until the complex (Café, Kiosk & Yallingup Beach Shack) was demolished in 2011. The Yamminee Gallery building was relocated prior to demolition.
Surfside Board Riders Club
Mark ‘Hillsy’ Hills. “Circa 1981-83 the Shutz family (proprietors of Surfside Café) sponsored the Yallingup Board Riders Club. They changed the Club’s name to Surfside Board Riders (SBR) and let us use the toilets at the back of Surfside as club rooms.
Founding members included Andy Jones, Dave Sheen, Ray ‘Rat’ Blaikie, Mark ‘Hillzee’ Hills, brothers Dane & Scott Richardson, Neil Strong, Ray ‘Cheesy’ Commons, Colin Campbell, Mark Favell (RIP), Michael Schulz, Mark ‘Slash’ Sims, Steve ‘Skeg’ Batchelor, Shane Ellis, Kevin ‘Wonka’ Williams, Gordon Vernon & Clarky.
Ray Blaikie was the Club’s first President and Neil Strong our second President.
We competed against Bunbury’s Indiana Surfriders and Pat Leahy’s Mandurah Boardriders.“
Hillsy. “I remember our first intra-contest at Bears. The waves got too big so the finals were moved to the beachie at Smith Beach. In the finals the waves were solid and Dave Sheen burst his ear drum on a wipe-out. My new beach towel was used to stem the bleeding and the final was aborted before I caught a wave ☹ ”
L-R Murray Towers, Dane Richo & Dean Towers
Ray ‘Rat’ Blaikie: “I was the first president of Surfside Board Riders at Yallingup. I was voted into the job unopposed as my dad was the local member of parliament, and the crew thought some of his work ethic, intelligent and leadership would have washed through to me. Sadly, it didn’t!
Club mantra was if the surf was really good, we canned scheduled comps and just went surfing….. that caused a few issues at Carpark and Yalls when the whole club paddled out together for a free surf!!
Club meetings round the back of surfside were fun to say the least. Plenty of laughs and piss-taking, the club was a great collective of local surfers.
We organised a few fund raisers. A quiz night at the Dunsborough pub was the most infamous. Publican Alan Cough was really supportive of the club. Mick Mickle was the MC. The night went well, until one of the tables won the Dunborough Bakery pies prize (Mark Favell (RIP) had organised) and started a pie fight! Money raised went to hire the Yallingup Hall and two kegs for a big club end of year night. Both kegs were finished in record time, the car park outside the hall next morning was full of club members sleeping off the night in their cars. We weren’t allowed to hire the hall again…..
Tom Hoye (RIP) was really supportive and got involved with the club from day one. Most of us rode PE’s, or Greg Laurenson’s (RIP) boards. Tom judged our first comp, we started at Bears, then moved to Smiths after the sea breeze hit. Smith’s had a some heavy closeout barrels next to the reef, Sheeny was looking a winner until he got slammed pulling into a no exit barrel and burst his eardrum. Tom and I drove him off to Busselton Hospital.
Steve ‘Skeg’ Bachelor was a local surfer, he lived right next to Yallingup Caves, his dad was a National Parks Ranger, and really good with anyone with a dog in the National Park – any day at Bears would see 20 guys in the water and 20 dogs on the beach!!” 😊
Steve ‘Skeg’ Bachelor. “I recall we had some club rooms being some old building near the current toilet block area and having to repaint and fix up the inside a bit.
We used to get some support from a few local business – I think Tom Hoye’s Bali Hai, Drew Brent-White’s burger bar near Caves House and original Dunsborough pub – our main watering hole except for Sunday sessions at Caves house.
I do recall having a few surf comps but from the few pictures I have they always seemed to be held after the sea breeze came in – everyone wanted to free surf in the good waves, most were held at Bears mainly Mamas & Papas, but we did hold some at Inji car park & also Gallows.
Recall a couple of social events in the old Yallingup Hall and also having a social cricket match on the old Yallingup Oval opposite the hall with a beer keg on hand from the tail gate of one of the cars.
I only recall interclub comps against Mandurah board riders, one at Madora Bay and also an event against them down at Gallows.”
Dave ‘Sheenie’ Sheen. “I remember being quite active in the initial setup of the club and converting the back room at Surfside for a clubroom. I remember our club events at Bears Yallingup and Smiths Beach but the finer details of results and actual heat highlights is all but gone from my mind! I do remember perforating my eardrum at Smiths but I don’t remember bleeding on Hillzies towel hahaha I remember going to Mandurah and hitting the roo in Strongies car (we were the 3rd car in a line of 5) so bloody unlucky as he only just bought that car and I think it cost $2,500 to fix!
I recall Mark Favell and Andy Jones kind of keeping us younger fellas in line and on track! There were lots of parties I recall but I don’t recall any girls in the club which was a shame and would be way different these days! Most important I remember being amongst a great bunch of lads with the same thing on their mind. SURF, SURF and More SURF!”
Neil ‘Strongy’ Strong. “It was a fun time😊 I remember cleaning up the back room at Surfside to use as Club Rooms. And hitting that roo going flat out in my red Subaru on a Club trip to Mandurah for a surf contest.”
Strongy with shirt off holding the post. John Bucko & Gordon Vernon, blue dress not sure and Dane’s car in Choco’s back yard before he built his house.
Hillsy. “Club members Neil Strong and Dave Sheen set up the first surf shop in Dunsborough centro, Dunsborough Sail and Surf Supply in the 80s. Formerly Bruce & Sue Nicholson’s tackle shop.”
Brad Leonhardt. “Chris Bowen had Windspeed in Busselton and had the Tiga sponsorship at the time. The wind surf boards were made at Greg Laurenson’s milk shed factory in Dunsborough. Greg Laurenson lived in the house next door to us at that time.
I worked a bit at Neil Strong’s Dunsborough Sail and Surf Supply which he later changed the name to Country Waves. In Yahoo Surfboards there’s a board shaped by Greg Laurenson with the Windspeed decal on the bottom.“
Strongy. “After the Board Club had been running for 3-4 years (circa 1984) Sheenie tried to change the name from Surfside Board Riders to Sail & Surf Supply Board Riders. But the lads wouldn’t have any of it 😊.”
Dane Richardson. “A few thoughts on Surfside Board Riders, the early 80’s.
It was a period in my life when surf, surf, surf was pretty much all that was on the agenda, the odd party thrown in and all this on my front door, life was absolutely perfect and from a gromm’s eyes it really was heaven, never took Yalls for granted we all knew it was special.
So forming a surf club seemed like a great idea (I think we re-kindled the original Yalls Board Riders). Start a board club have a few comps, a few piss ups, shit yeah 😊.
For me the club, the crew and life at Yalls around this time all blur into the same memories and there are so many stories. Something that was happening in club and out front of Bali-Hai was Tom Hoye. I spent hours listening to Tom, checking his latest board designs, we all had PE boards. One story I remember well was his detailed comparison of surfing big Sunset and how on a 8-10 foot autumn west swell Yalls could deliver that same quality and intensity, and here I have a board I shaped for it, pulling out the 7’6 single fin from upstairs in Bali-Hai, so good!
I remember Hillsy, Scott Cole and myself borrowing 3 big guns one day after a Tom talk hyped us up and we paddled out to massive howling onshore Yalls, Scott nearly drowned, I was washed in through Rabbits, Hillsy no idea where he came in but we regrouped on the beach and got the boards back to Tom, we were so pumped on how big it was and how we made it out the back. Tom was like, you crazy little fuckers, grab the boards any time. Tom was at many of our comps judging and telling stories all day, how good.
That whole period was insane so many great crew to look up to, a feral grommet living the dream, club comps at Bears, Smiths, Yalls , party everywhere, no crowds, no internet, no phones, no cops, no social media (thank fxxk) everyone was just amped on surfing, creativity and living their life, rad times. I’m calling the 80’s best period ever at Yalls!”
L-R Gordon Vernon, Geoff Evans, Murray Towers, Laurey, Dane & Scotty Richo & Ian Towers
L-R Geoff Evans, Gordon Vernon, Laurey, Murray Towers, Scotty Richo & Ian Towers
Andy Jones. “The club re-emerged again 10 years later and the groms included Jay & Wyatt Davies, Michael Thomson, Damien Jones, Ben Thomasian and heaps more, I think Bazza Young might have helped as well, other notables were Simon Barratt, Luke Thomas & Adam Favell, a real strong group of groms! Surfside Board Club morphed into today’s Yallingup Boardriders Club.”
Hillsy. “When Surfside Board Riders Club wound-up, left-over monies were signed over to the Yallingup Board Riders Club under the watchful eyes of Yallingup elders Kevin Merifield and John Malloy.”
Many thanks to the contributors for sharing your surfing memories and photos.
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1980s Surfside Board Riders Club photo gallery posted 11 January 2023
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