Burleigh Boardriders celebrate 50 years on Gold Coast
LIKE the point break wave it’s named after, Burleigh Boardriders club has evolved and changed in the 50 years since it was founded on the traditional home of the Kombumerri people.
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LIKE the point break wave it’s named after, Burleigh Boardriders club has evolved and changed in the 50 years since it was founded on the traditional home of the Kombumerri people.
Formed in 1965 by a bunch of surf-loving locals who didn’t fancy the rules that came with membership of the local surf lifesaving club or its attempts to impound boards, the Burleigh Boardriders’ colourful history has become the stuff of legend.
Its story has been documented in Long Bongs & Burleigh Barrels, a 200-page collection of stories, archived memorabilia, interviews and previously unpublished photos donated by club members and edited by Johnathan “JJ’ Jenkins.
The title paraphrases a tongue-in-cheek advertising slogan adopted by long-time club supporter Billabong in the early 1980s.
Contributors include 1980 Stubbies Classic champion Peter Harris, former WCT tour surfer Jay “Bottle” Thompson and founding members Tony Thompson and John Dowsett, who recall the club’s early days as a golden era of wave riding.
“We were just Burleigh boys who wanted to surf and have fun,” Thompson says.
“I don’t think there was anybody who surfed in that era that was fighting with one another.
“There was no aggro, no one arguing over drop ins. It just didn’t happen like that.”
Back on dry land, it was sometimes a different story. While bodgies and widgies were clashing at Coolangatta, surf clubbies and surfers locked horns at Burleigh — heads in bins, blokes thrown in grease traps, high jinks and dust ups on the hill.
If the surf was flat, there was plenty of fun to be had on the headland. Skateboarding down the hill, rolling grommets around in the old spinning blue rubbish bins, tearing around the national park on pushies ...
The club earned a bad rap during a “darker period” of intense localism in the 1970s and early ‘80s and was almost bankrupted by one of its infamous “red and white” member nights at the Playroom in the late 1990s.
While no members have even been thrown out, “a couple have come close”.
Some members are no doubt happy their boards can’t talk, but former Surfing Life editor Jenkins said he was bowled over by the enthusiasm of the characters who shared their stories (some of them conflicting) and personal photographs.
“While the aggro may be more a thing of the past, the passion is still definitely there,” he notes.
Jenkins said he was surprised to learn how much the point break itself had changed since the club’s early days.
Pre-groyne and pre-sand pumping, the sand flowed differently. Burleigh’s continuous break back then rivalled today’s peeling perfect ride at Snapper when it was on.
“In big swells you’d be out to sea so far you’d be looking into Tallebudgerra Creek,” Noel Gordon recalls.
While the wave hosted competitions and pros, the club’s members maintained a sense of ownership.
“I remember this one time, it was pretty sick,” Fisher recalls in the book.
“Everyone was hanging out under the shed. And we were always heckling the pros when they’d come past before their heat. And one of the boys was like, Oi, f*&%ing Slater! Have a beer. And f*&%ing Kelly came over and fully had a skoll of a beer and all the boys were like, yeaaaaah!”
While “the boys are still having beers under the tree”, the club, like the surfers who consider Burleigh’s barrels home, has grown to become more family focused in recent years as members past and present become parents and grandparents themselves.
An emphasis on training and development programs for club juniors has produced a new breed of surf stars including 2016 Burleigh Pro age finalist Maddy Job, 15, and 14-year-old Kaya Horne, 14.
“All the members come down and help with juniors. It gives kids a sense of community. It’s a tribe,” surf reporter and longtime club member Terry “Tappa” Teece says.
The club’s female membership has also exploded in recent years.
“We’ve always had female members who were brave enough to put up with all the boys but this year we’ve had an influx of over 25s women and girls in the junior ranks,” Tappa says.
While women’s and junior membership is open to all, it’s a different kettle of fish for the over 18s men. Adult men can only join if they are recommended by two of the club’s 12 current life — approval that can only be earned riding waves.
“It takes people surfing out at Burleigh to learn who’s in the pecking order in the line-up,” Tappa says.
“You’ve got to earn your spot.”
Contact Burleigh Boardriders via their Facebook page or email burleighboardriders@gmail.com to buy a copy of the book.
