1960s The Cove Cottesloe

Cottesloe doesn’t get as big as Perth’s northern beaches, probably because it sits directly in the swell-shadow of Rottnest Island, about 20 km offshore. It’s a shame. The groyne, with a beach on one side and a couple of nicely shaped reefs on the other, would make a sweet setup if the energy wasn’t so limp. Still, if the southwest has enough kick in it, or if a rare cyclone swell hits, you can get decent waves. Try the Cove, Seconds or Isolators (the reefs on the southern side of the groyne). Source Cottesloe Surf Guide.

Cove surf breaks

The Cove, found south of Cottesloe Groyne near the carpark, offers mellow right-hand waves off a reef shelf, while Seconds provides hollow lefts over shallow reef. Local board riders have surfed these reef breaks since the late 50s.

1960 Aerial view of Cottesloe Beach and new groyne at Mudurup Rocks Cottesloe. The Cove is located bottom centre. Photo courtesy Grove Library CPM019.

1964 Looking south from from Mudurup Rocks Cottesloe towards the Cove, Seconds & Isolated surf breaks. Postcard mage courtesy Edgar Scheepmaker

Colin Morris. “My good friend Michael Bibby was also a Christ Church Grammar School (CCGS) student and being that we lived a few houses from each other, was my surfing buddy. In the summer of 1960 after scrounging up the money required, I became the proud owner of a Cordingley Brothers hollow wooden board 9’3” long. I was made! We both constructed wooden board carriers which we towed behind our push bikes. These boards were heavy and being that Grant Street was the only way west the journey was a struggle. I did have a state of the art 3 speed Sturmy Archer 3 speed gears on the bike, but crashes and hard peddling were still required.”

1960 Colin Morris with new Cordingley plywood surfboard at Cottesloe. Photo courtesy Morris family.

Mike ‘Bub’s’ Bibby. “Seconds was always part of the Cove back in my day. Folklore has it I was the first to paddle around from the Cottesloe groyne and surf there. It was known as “Bub’s reef” but I have no way of verifying that.”

1964 State Junior Champion Mike Bibby surfing Seconds at the Cove. Photographer unknown.

Rob Malcolm. “Life was great growing up in Cottesloe during the sixties, we had a horse in the back yard, ducks and chickens with surf breaks on our doorstep and no crowds. In the early days I struggled with a ply board with a bung to drain the water and being held together with copper nails. Pretty happy to get my first balsa and resin board, but its weight carrying it a mile to the beach on my head became a bit of an effort.”

Early 1960s Rob Malcolm’s first fibreglass balsa board (manufacturer unknown) in backyard at Cottesloe. Photo Rob Malcolm.

Early 1960s Ashley Jones & Peter Dyson with other school holiday college students at the Cove. Daily News image.

1964 Cottesloe surfers Ashley Jones and Theo Mathews with repaired Malibu surfboard at Mosman Park. Photo Theo Mathews.

Peter ‘Di-Ri’ Dyson. “In the early ‘60s I purchased my first polyurethane and fibreglass surfboard from former wooden boat builders Colin and Rex Cordingley in Stirling Highway, Mosman Park. The board cost 39 pounds and 10 pence and was expensive due to the cost of imported Bennett blanks. The board was a white colour with a red and black stripe. It weighed approx. 30lbs and had a bullet proof fibreglass and resin job. I used to drag it down to Slimys at North Cottesloe for a surf. Cordingley’s purchased adhesives and paint brushes from Dysons, my family’s business in Perth.”

Early 1960s Peter Dyson surfing the Cove. Photo Greg Woodward.

1963 Stef Meyer and Tina Daly (age 15) eating chips and coke from Mario’s around campfire at the Cove. Stef’s board, Karl Schumacher & others Cottesloe lads are in the background. Photo courtesy Tina Wilson (nee Daly).

Tina Wilson (nee Daly). “My husband Joe Wilson was approached by the Camp Association to see if they could hire the venue on the Cottesloe beach front once a month on a Wednesday night. Joe approached the owner who was a very respectful gentleman, can’t think of his name at present, but he said that was great. Thinking it was the Boy Scouts. They all got a shock when it was the gay association. The people who ran the Camp Association were the nicest people you could ever wish to meet. They turned up in suits and were so respectful, etc. In those days the early 1970’s gay people were not really acknowledged. The Wednesday nights turned out a great success and the most alcohol ever consumed in the club. Therefore a very big money earner. They had a stripper called Jason who needed someone like me to talk to, as he would get very nervous before performing. Because his tiny weeny leather outfit was so precious to him, he asked me to stand in the front, so he could throw it to me as he knew I would return it to him.“

1964 Manager of Wipeout Nightclub Joe Wilson with Smokey the dog and his two door Standard Eight sedan (1938-59) at the Cove. Photo courtesy of Arthur Sherburn.

1965 Party wave at the Cove. Photographer unknown.

Ian ‘Mitch’ Mitchell: “In 1966 at age 14 I got my first ever surfboard. It was an 8’11” Cordingley from 329 Hay Street Subiaco and cost $88. I was concerned it was too short and would spin out as my Cottesloe surfing mate Phil Taylor had a 9ft surfboard.“

1966 Ian ‘Mitch’ Mitchell cycling to the beach at Cottesloe with his new surfboard. Photo courtesy Mitch.

1967 Cottesloe surfer Barry Middleton surfing the Cove on his Hawke Malibu. Photographer unknown.

Craig Brent-White. “Vic Kailis remembers the American guy that named “the Cove” among other valuable recollections and the early days of his tenure as president of Cottesloe board club. He still has a pair of the canary yellow board shorts with the black stripes on the left leg.”

1967 Victor Kailis surfing Seconds at the Cove. VG Kailis pics.

1967 Cottesloe surfer Peter Stephens surfing Seconds at the Cove. Photographer unknown.

1967 Southern Surfriders surfer Dave Ellis surfing Seconds at the Cove. Photographer unknown.

1967 City Beach surfer Ronald Moss on the cover Horizons Ahead magazine surfing Seconds at the Cove. Photo Trevor Burslem.

Jim King. “The surfboard in the next photo is a Blaxell replica of the John Arnold Surfboard Australian Junior Champion Wayne Lynch rode in the 1968 Oz Titles held in NSW.”