Mainland surfers have been making surf trips to Rottnest ‘The Rock’ Island since the mid-1950s. The pioneer surfers were primarily renegade clubbies from Cottesloe and City of Perth SLSC Clubs and they surfed Transit Reef and Salmon Bay on their plywood Toothpick boards.
This collection of 1973-74 Rotto surf trip images is courtesy of Jim ‘Jimac’ McFarlane from Dolphin Surfriders Club with comments by Jimac, Tom Blaxell and Bill Gibson.
Jimac. “We used tosurf Eagle’s Nest, Strickland Bay & Transit reef. And once we had a Club contest on the north facing coast, I can’t remember the name of the surf break.”
Tom Blaxell. “The Tentland camping scenes are of a Dolphin Surfriders club trip. Billy G may be able to help, but I’m thinking that the first one has Bill Gibson in the white tank top, Trevor ‘Kenmac’ Kenyon with his hand on his head, Garry ‘Nicksy’ Nicholas in the red jumper and Bruce Elliott with the long blondie locks.”
Bill Gibson. “Not sure if that is me in the white tank top! I competed in the Club contest Jimac mentioned. The wind had been strong from the Northwest and there was a big swell, then the wind turned Southwest (offshore) and we surfed a left-hand reef break at Stark Bay on Rotto’s north coast.”
1973 Dolphin Surfriders Club camping Tentland Rotto. Jimac pic
Tom. “The second pic I’m seeing Gerg ‘Eggory’ MacDonald holding the cord, John Elliott in the checked shirt and Bruce Elliott in the black top.”
1973 Dolphin Surfriders Club camping Tentland Rotto. Jimac pic.
Tom. “This pic shows Jim ‘Jimac’ McFarlane sitting in the cabin of my dad’s 32ft motor launch ‘Mirandah’, that we had borrowed for the weekend. I had helped my dad, Don Blaxell build it in the early 60’s.’
1974 Jimac in the cabin of Tom’s dad’s motor launch ‘Mirandah’. Jimac pic.
Tom. “Next pic shows me helping Jimac furl up the sail on his surf cat that he had built. A virtual storm had popped up whilst we were moving the convoy around to Parker point, and Jimac had put in a monumental effort to tack up wind into the storm through seriously reef infested waters, while sailing solo.”
Jimac. ”A storm came up and we had to dismantle my surf cat in pretty strong winds! Great memories.”
1974 Tom helping Jimac dismantle his surf cat after surviving the storm. Jimac pic
Tom. “This shot is of Marg Macfarlane, Margo Blaxell, Geoff House, a fellow Dolphins member, me and Jimac, relaxing at Rotto on a much more pleasant kind of a day. In the background is one of the 14’ Blaxell Surfrider runabouts that I used to build. I’m proud to say that to this day, they still hold the record for the greatest number of offshore power boat racing wins in WA.”
1974 Tom and crew relaxing on a launch moored at Rotto. Jimac pic1974 Rotto surf trip Dean Forsyth. Jimac pic1974 Rotto surf trip Gavin Duffy. Jimac pic1974 Rotto surf trip Adele & Garry Nicholas. Jimac pic.1974 Rotto surf trip. Mick Graham, Garry & Adele Nicholas & Marg McFarlane. Jimac pic
Thanks Dolphins Surfriders Club (now defunct) for sharing your vintage Rotto pics.
Mainland surfers have been making surf trips to Rottnest ‘The Rock’ Island since the mid-1950s. The pioneer surfers were primarily renegade clubbies from Cottesloe and City of Perth SLSC Clubs and they surfed Transit Reef and Salmon Bay on their plywood Toothpick boards.
This collection of 1973-74 Rotto surf trip images is courtesy of Jim ‘Jimac’ McFarlane from Dolphin Surfriders Club with comments by Jimac, Tom Blaxell and Bill Gibson.
Jimac. “We used to surf Eagle’s Nest, Strickland Bay & Transit reef. And once we had a Club contest on the north facing coast, I can’t remember the name of the surf break.”
Tom Blaxell. “The Tentland camping scenes are of a Dolphin Surfriders club trip. Billy G may be able to help, but I’m thinking that the first one has Bill Gibson in the white tank top, Trevor ‘Kenmac’ Kenyon with his hand on his head, Garry ‘Nicksy’ Nicholas in the red jumper and Bruce Elliott with the long blondie locks.”
Bill Gibson. “Not sure if that is me in the white tank top! I competed in the Club contest Jimac mentioned. The wind had been strong from the Northwest and there was a big swell, then the wind turned Southwest (offshore) and we surfed a left-hand reef break at Stark Bay on Rotto’s north coast.”
Tom. “The second pic I’m seeing Gerg ‘Eggory’ MacDonald holding the cord, John Elliott in the checked shirt and Bruce Elliott in the black top.”
Tom. “This pic shows Jim ‘Jimac’ McFarlane sitting in the cabin of my dad’s 32ft motor launch ‘Mirandah’, that we had borrowed for the weekend. I had helped my dad, Don Blaxell build it in the early 60’s.’
Tom. “Next pic shows me helping Jimac furl up the sail on his surf cat that he had built. A virtual storm had popped up whilst we were moving the convoy around to Parker point, and Jimac had put in a monumental effort to tack up wind into the storm through seriously reef infested waters, while sailing solo.”
Jimac. ”A storm came up and we had to dismantle my surf cat in pretty strong winds! Great memories.”
Tom. “This shot is of Marg Macfarlane, Margo Blaxell, Geoff House, a fellow Dolphins member, me and Jimac, relaxing at Rotto on a much more pleasant kind of a day. In the background is one of the 14’ Blaxell Surfrider runabouts that I used to build. I’m proud to say that to this day, they still hold the record for the greatest number of offshore power boat racing wins in WA.”
Thanks Dolphins Surfriders Club (now defunct) for sharing your vintage Rotto pics.
Don’t forget to visit the Wadjemup Surf Exhibition on your next trip to Rottnest Island.
—————————-
Share this:
Like this: