March Of The Stormtroopers: A Brief History Of Deadmans
March Of The Stormtroopers: A Brief History Of Deadmans
I first laid eyes on Deadmans in the mid-70s and knew immediately that I’d never surf it. In fact, nobody did then, or so I thought.
With the recent fuss around the latest crazy Deadmans sessions, I’ve been delving into the history of the break - a history that stretches back longer than I first thought. But before I go any further, a disclosure: Fifty years after first seeing Deadmans, I've remained true to my word. I’ve still never surfed Deadies, yet I've always been a cautious surfer, and I’m OK with that.
Early-80s overview of the Outside Winki lineup (Guy Finlay)
When I started surfing Fairy Bower in the mid to late-70s there was one bloke who always stood out. You couldn’t miss him, always deepest at Winki, absolutely charging on the biggest, meanest days. Looking south from the Bower lineup I must’ve witnessed a hundred or more of Greg Dutch’s barrels through the late-70s and 80s.
For years, there’s been a persistent rumour that Mark Warren and others surfed Deadies just before the '74 Surfabout. I looked at some of the footage and concluded that they were in fact surfing big Winki…but then, I wasn’t there, so I quizzed a couple of surfers who bore witness to these sessions. But as nobody was really surfing Deadies back then - it wasn't a known wave - it was difficult to discern exactly where Deadies ended and where Winki started.
Bob Hastie remembers, “I saw Mark Richards in '74 taking off way behind Winki but not sure how close that is to Deadmans? Mark Warren was surfing with him and when he came in, he was telling us that he could see MR's fins scraping on the shelf. It wasn't super big so not sure if he was surfing real Deadmans or not."
"I remember Col Smith taking off way to the right of Winki during the Coke Classic but again, not sure if that is Deadmans or not.”
It's also worth noting that, around this time, Simon Anderson was surfing big Winki. His name comes up a lot, as does the late, great Robbie Holt’s.
"The contest started on May 1, 1974," wrote Nat Young about the '74 Surfabout, "May is usually a good time of year for waves in Sydney. The event consisted of a number of rounds, and was mobile, moving to the best beach on any given day, so chances of poor waves were minimized. The second round was held on the outside ledge at Fairy Bower, in good 8- to 10-foot surf, and everyone who knew how to ride solid, powerful waves reveled in the conditions."
"The headland was covered with thousands of spectators and looked fantastic from the water—I felt like an actor onstage with all those faces staring down at me. I got one big deep tube which got the highest score of the day, and my self-confidence was restored." (Quote taken from 'Nat's Nat and That's That')
Mark Atkinson, another witness to the '74 Surfabout session, backed up the story that MR was sitting way deep. Mark also suggested that it was quite possible that Rob Lane, Glynn Ritchie, Nipper Williams, John Otton, or even Bob Pike might have had a crack at Deadies prior to this.
Jack Knight reckons the 60s Deadmans possibles are Ronny Lane, Maurice Lee, Glynn Ritchie, or Brian Hannam. “If I had to try and remember for a free beer, I'd say Glynn Ritchie and Ronny Lane...and later in the 70s, I'm almost sure Robbie Holt had a go.”
Alan Galvin - AKA Abba - a bloke who has charged big Winki on his 8-foot guns since the 70s, took a crack at it in 1980, but in his own words, “promptly paddled back to Winki.”
Rick Dabrow, who some of you would know as the Godfather, and the eyes and ears of all things surf related, said “the '74 Coke was at Winki. Nobody used to surf Deadman’s in the 70s that I knew of. First guy I knew was a bodybuilder, John Boom, in the 80s...he was renowned for being alone in giant Long Reef surf and he would buy undersized boards from me to go and surf Deadmans.”
Booma, who will appear again later in the Deadmans story, distinguished himself by writing 'BOOMA' in big red letters on the bottom of his guns, then setting off to ride huge offshore reefs solo, long before it was a fashionable thing. When the rescue helicopter would invariably arrive, he'd hop off his board, then turn it over to reveal the lettering. "It's all good," we can imagine the pilot saying, "it's only Booma."
Mark Butler - AKA Greasy - points out that, in the early-70s, the surfer to kneeboarder ratio was 1:1. Mark’s brother Paul was one of those kneeboarders and they started to surf Winki in the 1970s. “The occasional surfer had a crack during that period, including Neil Purchase Senior, myself, Alan Wilson, Robbie Holt and a couple of others. By '72 to '74, we were surfing Winki a lot and had worked it out well enough to get some great tubes. I can remember going over to Deadmans - which we called You Can Ride It at the time - a few times on smaller days as a novelty in the early-70s but didn’t try to surf it bigger ‘til about 74."
"At that time and at that size we found we simply couldn’t take off over the shelf at Winki and make the drop so we moved inside to the peak at Deadmans.”
It's worth keeping in mind that this was all pre-legropes, which could be a massive reason why many places weren't surfed. Owning a surfboard in the 60s and early-70s was a big thing. Unlike today, not everyone had a board and so the risk ratio of smashing your one and only board on the rocks would cancel out having a go at a lot of spots.
What were the early surfers thinking when they peered up the line from Winki and saw this..?
Lachlan Rombouts, July 2024 (Craig Brokensha)
I thought, if anyone can shed some light on Deadies history it's Dutchy, so I hit him up and he didn’t disappoint. The following dialogue is his response to my request for some clarity.
“Yep, I surfed when the '74 Surfabout was on and MR, Simon Anderson, and Mark Warren were all out there prior to the comp. We were surfing outer reef at big Winki, not Deadmans."
"I used to talk to Greasy about Deadmans. He was the only one surfing Winki regularly at the time as legropes weren't really being used. I started surfing Winki in about 1972 at 11-years old after Greasy took me out there. By 1974 I was wearing a legrope with a hole drilled through the fin for a plug. Talking to Greasy and others in the carpark around 1973, I remember asking if it had a name. I was told ‘not really’ though it had three possible names: Who-Dares, You Can Ride It, and Deadmans. They had not mentioned seeing it surfed before."
"I first paddled out there in 1975 from big Winki with a few of the Bower boys, and although not great at the time, we realised that it could be surfed, especially in big swell. A few years later, in a huge south swell, I was out with Paul Burnett, Duane Heketa, and Dave Bolton and we paddled out to Deadmans. I remember catching a few waves and it wasn’t closing out as much in larger swell."
"I was out the back with Burnetty on my outside when the set of the day came through. We both started paddling and I remember having grave reservations about the outcome, but also knew if I stopped, Paul would take off and just couldn't allow that to happen at my home break, especially as he was on his backhand!"
"Took off on my 5'10" KC twin fin and slid down the face around the step. Realised that I'd made the take-off and was inside the largest barrel of my life. I thought that success was just seconds away and all the hard work was over. Suddenly, the foamball hit me from behind. I was familiar with this from Winki but this was totally different. When it hit me, I was levitated up in the barrel, like lying on my back in the air and just in front of me was my board spinning around in circles on the end of my legrope. All the air exhaled and the whole wave just caved in on top of me and drilled me into the shelf."
"When I came up, I was halfway through Winki!"
Brutal as it was, Dutchy's wipeout was also a revelation. "It was then that I realised the place was surfable, as the drag north past Winki was so great you were unlikely to finish up on the rocks of the cliff face, especially when it's really big."
"That's about all I can remember other than Bobby Mills’ wipeout at big Winki in 1974 prior to the Surfabout starting. He caught the set of the day, and it sucked dry on the outer shelf as it does. He got to his feet but was never connected to the wave. His legrope broke but he paddled back out two-and-a-half hours later with his rope and rubber legrope tied up in pieces to have another go."
"Hope that helps, but no, never heard of or saw anyone surf Deadmans prior to that, only the Winki outer reef.”
Paul Burnett recalls another highlight moment one beautiful sunny day in 1983 with Maris, Dutchy again, and Dougie Lees. They rocked off from the back of the break, as surfers do today from the exit of the carpark. Afterwards, he repeated the exercise, only solo. He caught a big one, jumped the step and got barrelled, tried to repeat it, jumped the step a second time, hit the flats, stopped and got pinned to the bottom for a two-wave hold down.
Paul doesn’t recall surfing it earlier but, like Bob Hastie, saw MR sitting way inside of the pack during the '74 Surfabout: “Not on the ledge proper, but right in the vicinity of Deadies.”
One of the defining features of Deadmans - along with the size of the barrel and its proximity to rocks - is the 'fang' that appears on almost every wave once it hits eight feet or more.
Immediately to the south of Deadmans is the entrance to Sydney Harbour, which in geological terms is a drowned river valley that continues offshore like an underwater canyon. Large southeast swells pass unimpeded over the deep water, then they begin 'feeling' the ocean floor offshore from Deadmans. The process isn't smooth, however, it's irregular with seabed data showing multiple vertical rises as the depth rushes up to break point.
With the wave's underwater energy hitting the equivalent of a rock wall, the wave deforms and throws its one-of-a-kind cuspid. Its appearance is either cursed or celebrated depending on how well the surfer can thread it.
Kye Fitzgerald, during a session in winter 2002, stylishly avoids being impaled. (Andrew Christie)
In the mid-90s, the term 'slab' was entering surfing's vernacular. Surfers began searching for hollow, top-heavy waves that were once considered unridable or just too damn dangerous. The local boys didn't have to look far, there was one of those wave in their very own backyard.
Somewhere along the line, the naming issue had been settled. Deadmans it is.
As far as the history books go, there’s one bloke whose perspective needs to be added here: Mr Dayyan Neve - AKA Dayoof - who led the Deadmans charge from the mid-90s. When I asked Dayoof, the first word he uttered was, “Garlo."
"Jason Garlo," says Dayoof by way of explanation, "From the cliff top, I watched him paddle into what, to a grommet, looked like a twenty-foot wave. He pulled in and got flogged. I didn’t even see him come up.”
From the mid-90s, Elliott Bemrose, Paul Burnett, Werris, and Jan Bruun were all showing up and having a crack at Deadmans whenever it was on. What all these blokes had in common was that they each had a bit of a screw loose, and to Dayoof, he realised that it was only a matter of time before he would also have to step up. Around this time a nut bag by the name of Booma - you remember him? - apprenticed Dayoof. What Booma lacked in skill he made up for with equal measures of balls and lunacy. In Dayoof’s own words: “He was a proper maniac; he needs to be acknowledged”.
With Booma in his corner, Dayoof first took the plunge in '96, and continues to surf Deadies today. He blazed the trail for the current crop of freaks who excel out there.
Above, Dayyan and sparring partner Benny Serrano are lonely figures on a morning in 2012 (Murray Fraser), while below, Dayyan races a near-perfect insider in 2018 (Andrew Christie)
The challenge is no longer who can ride Deadmans - that dare has been accepted. The challenge now is who can ride Deadmans the biggest and deepest, and there's no shortage of takers. Whereas once there were very few contenders, today there are scores of them, and at the pinnacle of that list currently sits Sam Jones. After years of dominating the wave, his name is now synonomous with Deadmans.
The very quiet and humble Billy Langley always shows up and somehow takes down the biggest scores of the session. Michael Lavers, Tom Myers, and Max Hyett are invariably out there and will, like their forebears, no doubt pass the torch onto some unbalanced 11-year-old kid in the near future.
The perspectives may differ but the outrageous proportions are the same. At left, Sam Jones in a cartoonish Deadmans barrel, and at right is Ben Brown's pen-on-paper ode to the break.
"I was thinking of Sam when I drew this," said Brown, "then he stepped up and made it reality." (Craig Brokensha, Ben Brown)
One final gem from Dayoof, and this sums up the camaraderie and competitiveness of the pack at Deadmans. “When I started surfing Deadies, there was a tight pack of us: Kai Otton, Bemmy, Beau and James Mitchell, Rik Love when he was home from the WCT, Kye and Joel Fitzgerald. My buddy from Curl Curl, 'Beef', pushed us all and he coined the term 'Stormtroopers', meaning a huge set was coming around the corner. He’d start singing the stormtrooper chant from Star Wars and we’d all start shitting ourselves and laughing at who was next in line."
"I felt like all these guys charged harder than I ever could and I was pushed right to my wits end just hoping to get a decent set and not come in ashamed and empty-handed."
And it's not just the pressure coming from the lineup but also peanut gallery up above. "One of the gnarliest key factors of Deadies is the amphitheatre effect," says Dayoof. "When a set comes, everyone on the cliff starts up, whistling and screaming…it’s fucken intimidating, scary, and exhilarating, you can hear everything out there."
"Deadmans is a drug; once you’ve had it, you can’t stop, despite knowing what it can do to you.”
(Craig Brokensha)
So there you have it, the history of Deadmans! Confused...? Yeah, me too, a bit. The passage of time, fifty-odd years, has created a fog that makes memorising specific dates, years even, tricky. But I feel that we can confidently say that Deadies proper was first surfed, at the latest, around 1976.
The fact that, prior to the 90s, there's not a single existing photo of someone negotiating that step at Deadies is a bit baffling. I mean, it's an ugly wave, often not photogenic, prior to the outlets it was very smelly, and had many urchins too, but there were no shortage of photographers present during the big swells of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
Perhaps it's the fickle nature of the wave, the fact that a session out there is usually accompanied by rain squalls, and buffeted by cold winds that made setting up the tripod at, say, Dee Why Point, a more attractive proposition.
Or perhaps a photo will be produced and we'll have to revisit this history all over again. Which is fine by me, it's been fun after all.
// PETER MITCHELL
Comments
Great article. A few of those names bring back some memories. Good old Bobby Mills.
I never felt the need to surf Deadmans but used love watching it break when it was huge. In the very early 90s, maybe 1990, I was up there watching it break in a heavy southerly and the carpark and headland was deserted. A car comes in and Tom Carroll and another bloke (can't remember his name but he was a natural footer) pull these long boards out of the back of their car. They climbed down the cliff and jumped off the rocks between some serious sets. They both got some good waves. No cameras. No one around. Was cool to see it go down.
Mike Newling perhaps?
That could be him.
Mr Newling is aware of this Article ....Hope he joins in ...
Good point Ben, Newport guy, so he wasn’t at the forefront of my thinking, but yeah he would’ve been in that stable.
I think Rod Kirsop might’ve been one of the first guys I saw out there, I tried to track him down but didn’t hear back. I’m hopeful my message will find him and he can share his story… the guy is a living legend, still charging huge Waimea and Sunset.
Great article Pete. It's been over 30 years since I've lived there but it was great to read all those names again.
I prefer not knowing who actually surfed it first. Leave history open ended.
First i saw of it was at the end credits of Evolv surf film. Max McGuigan dropping ledges on his backhand. Nutso!
Living in Paddington back in the 70s all i really surfed was Bondi and then i got the opportunity to go over to the North side with John Webber (the eldest of the Webber clan) also with Greg & Monty. I'll never forget driving down Sydney Road in his Hiace Van jumping up & down down in my seat frothing at pumping Bower. I mostly surfed Winki on my kneeboard and on those big days watching the odd soul taking on Deadies. Great memories..
My mates and I grew up in Mosman, before we moved down to Manly.
We would usually hitch to the beach (to save our bus money for food or pinnies)
Crossing the spit bridge we’d know exactly where the wind was coming from by looking at the boats, and even catch a glimpse of the heads as an early swell indicator.
But nothing was more exciting than seeing the Bower come into full view as we came down Sydney road!
Peter ...growing up in Mosman could have been hard not to know the Clancys. Mum who for years looked after babies due for adoption from St Anthony's Croydon...when I was very young...had 15 children of her own and adopted another from Kinkumber orphanage when via the St V de P dad heard a boy's brother had been adopted out and the other left....On his 18th (5 years later) Dad gave him a Gladstone bag and some carpentry tools. He (Gordon) went on to become Carpenter..builder...Clerk of Works and quantity surveyor. Tragically his wife and daughter both died from Cancer when quite young. Dad often was asked by St Ve de P or someone in 'The Knights' to give some down person a job and he did...all but one did him over...Two of them at differnt times took him to the precipice of bankruptcy but his business was popular and he was a great communicator with customer..in the shop...on the footpath and at the Pub...he had a drink with mostly Catholic friends after work on Fridays...solicitors...lawyers...sea captains...mechanics even Mrs .Dawson the owner of the Mosman Hotel at Sit Junction liked him. He lived very much in a spiritual world but was extremely well rad and educated in the arts.
Dad, a world class plus cabinet maker_French polisher had, at Spit Juncton a factory and two shops... after the War. Joe Antcliff the bootmaker...and shopkeepers all along Spit Junction were friendly to us. ...Needless to say dad was not wealthy but we were fed clothed and educated.
In the Catholic School system after the third child the others were educated 'free'...Later Mum...a brilliant Graduate of Uni at 20...(her father was (Maj. Gen Sir George Wootten) a much decorated officer in WW1 and 11) returned to Uni to graduate with Degree in Education and worked at Marist Brothers North Sydney and later at Riverview (where her brother George...RAF, later killed in a Marauder crash in Egypt WW11had been dux of College and her other brother taught for years) ..She and her mother worked tirelessly to help overcome the hatred by some men of those German schoolboys who'd gone home and fought for Germany...or in one interesting case..Italy
.Mum exchanged salary for the education of the last 3 or 4 boys at Riverview. The teaching brother(Bill) was a pharmacist who decided to become a Jesuit...after 13 years training h decided to get out!!...came out with $100 and his suit left with them 13 years earlier...no profit in walking out on 'god'; LOL!! Mum was still teaching religious studied at Middle Harbour School when 82/83...died at 92...after a lifetime of community service.
Back at end of WW11) cars were so much in demand he said (and he never owned one) you had to pay 100 quid deposit just to get a test drive.
Do you recall the Doctor's surgery in the fabulous house set back from the main road directly opposite Mosman Library?. ...Cowles Road down one side and behind the house was Mosman Ice works (No....you junkies...water ice ok!!...so don't go there hoping.....) behind. There was a Dairy there originally. which became a Council depot.
The lovely home/surgery of DoctorNxxxx( trying to recall thename) was was knocked down as were so many superb Mosman Homes...and some ghastly thing erected thee...like a Kentucky Fried...something like that. On the adjacent corner was a person more invisible than "Boo' Radley in 'To Kill a Mocking Bird" ..Colonel Clavell...When I was younger the roads at Spit junction were unsealed...Bread Milk and Groceries were delivered using Horse and Cart. I had the unpleasnat job of collecting Hose-shit in a bucket...for dad's verge garden. On Fridays were 'rabbito...rabbito' and 'clothes props...clothes props' again horse and cart. Milk was ladelled into your container let at your front door. When bottled milk came mum had 10 bottles a day...The magpies used to come and penetrate the lids...especially loving the gold 'full cream' ones..and sucking out what they could. Blackouts were prevalent after the war....but our homes had also Victorian era gas lighting and a huge "Early Kooka" stove. and oven. Tennis was very popular and we had players all weekends.
So many stories...these are just tit-bits....
Occasionally the old Colonel Clavell came out of his home fully and immaculately dressed in his WW1 uniform, leggings and boots and driving his 'showroom'..Dodge I think it was...maybe 1920's....
The Holden .dealer Caulwell. was obsessed with getting a hold of Clavell's home which was on the other corner of Cowles Road. from the Doctor...direction Sacred Heart School. He wanted a showroom there. He already had a workshop etc going behind Clavell's home and out into the road (Wudgong Street) just opposite the Nun's property and school.
Apparently Clavell loathed him and refused to sell his dark brick, evocatively-mysterious old two storey home...Clavell's mother had died there and in my first 20 years in Mosman I saw himself only once...close up in his car. He gave me a wave, Everyone seemed to know a Clancy "you have the Clancy eyes'
Clavell and dad knew each other I believe (and Das knew John Waters who lived down Cowels South) Clavell went into hospital , when he returned his house had been raided...he had a heart attack and died,
Caulwell got a hold of the Colonel's place (and maybe cars and whatever fascinating objects ...place at Auction and wrecked it...but the Colonel 'got' him...Caulwell died 12 months later.
Mosman had from originalmost been an artists and theatrical suburb. in those days it was a great place...not owned by the ''nouveau riche" but solid older people. Mum and dad could never afford a house there but Mum's canny mother ...from a family of London Stockbrokers bought (when Nth shore people were fleeing to Wentworth Falls and Leura in fear of the Japanese) bought two huge houses with Tennis courts and being at the crest of Clifford St,,,water views....for 5000 quid he two!!...and gave one to Mum and Dad.
One of Dad's shops was next to Whittle's hardware...between Dad's shops (48 and 54 Spit Road was a stairway leading to 'Miller and Whitworth' sail makers. A group...including Dad's 'friends' ..the local Dentist, Real Estate agent and others wanted (well before ''discount houses'" to make a compendium at Spit Junction. They started on him...first the factory...Dad had a (protected) tenant in the house behind, a carpenter who used dad's machinery at will,,,At Court the group paid the dishonourable tenant a huge sum 500 quid..to move out...so with the protected tenancy broken, Dad's case was lost...he had to move all his machinery and timber to 48 and 54.
Next was 54. The group got that. in a slimy masonic deal with the Commonwealth bank from which dad leased the shop
Then came 48. Tony Bellanto representing Dad wasn't doing too well!... and 48 was choked with the gear from the factory and from now '54' as well. 54...but dad still had to feed us...He still did not know it was his 'friends' doing this to him. The Judge said "enough is enough of this!!..and dad kept 48. They worked away in the shadows...to get him out.
Eventually they successfully set fire to '48' and Dad lost almost everything...uninsured...so had to pay people for their furniture lost in the fire. Later he told me that was the 7th attempt to burn him out. It then became a bottle shop.
Shepherds were toughies in Mosman, did you know them? ...the Poetes( one (Jim) a renowned plastic-surgeon ) were other end of the scale...Gentlemanly. Several of my brothers managed hotels...Annandale, the Oaks, The Steyne
I was sitting alongside a chap returning from France ...turned out he was a Poete..and going down memory lane with him he told me who raided Clavell's place....
Was the Plume Garage (Cnr Military and Cowles) there when you were there?...and the Wildman Elliott's 'antiques'.. two shops up was the Mosman Tyre works...later on the Military Road Corners of Horenell lane came the NSW Bank and the "El Terror" Mexican Restaurant ...
Over the road (Military) was ..e.g. ..the Record Store and next to the Council Chambers was 'Dawson's' shop...a set of pawnbrokers full of all sorts of things. Old Dawson had been a seafarer of some type, He and his quite educated dark haired wife lived behind a mountain of ladies furs...about two foot or so above counter height...they sort of peered through them to clients. he record shop took over from a lovely old Scottish antiques dealer lady ..who was fond of me and kindly.
Bryant Dawson was a deformed boy who grew to be a somewhat bullied man. Rumour was Police had him castrated. when young as 'women were frightened of him" ..he was a harmless person, rode a bicycle around and was called "Honk' owing to his voice.
Mum took him on after his parents died and he lived with us for at least 20 years. He wet the bed every night and mum cleaned it up...she was an outstanding person....I could go on for ages as I recall all the shops, the wine bar,, old shops of what was once such a joyous place . and many of the people...I hope some of what I've written brings back memories for you. My Regards
Thanks Peter, great read with a knock-off Friday beer!
I recall Rabbit may have claimed to accidently surf it during the 1974 Surfabout in his bio
I was standing on DY Headland one winter and it was huge. Breaking miles out. This bloke came up beside me and said “it looks alright”. I said really? Looks unsurfable to me. He said nah, I’ve surfed that outer reef bigger than this. Problem is someone always calls the cops because they think I’ve been swept out to sea. They’ve had the rescue helicopter come out to me a few times.
So now I’ve written my name on the bottom of my board in big letters and flip it over so they can see. I said that’s insane. He said it was a pain in the arse, but it was the only way they’d leave him alone. I introduced myself and he did the same. My names Booma he said. Then it all made sense.
A serious hellman.
Beeeeefffooooo
How come you didn’t get a mention Flower?
Fair point, Chris’s session in 2000 was the greatest I’ve ever seen there, the point of the article was highlighting historical milestones though.
Haha the ego really took a hit, haven't left the house
I remember living in Manly for a year in a hostel on Pittwater road. Must have been 1998. Dayyan Neve must have been a grim there, but didn’t he own the joint. Saw him once go up a wave and reverse down it. I have no idea how he did it, nor ever seen anyone else do it since. Don’t even know what it was called. Also remember big Richie Lovett smashing the lip like there was no tomorrow. Manly was a great place to live.
Skateboarders call it a rock to fakes.
Great effort putting that together! With 2 surfing buddies I spent 2 days in Sydney May 1975 ex-QLD on our way to Bali. Few flights there in those days, and even fewer crew on them. Friends there in Sydney took us to that car park on the cliff - Deadmans was 12' plus and mean as ... no one out there. Our thoughts at the time - WTF are we doing going to Indo when we're not game to surf waves in Sydney ...
Many Moons ago Kezza said :
Thruster or Quad I don't care. I have surfed Winki at Fairy Bower on a huge day and I mean solid ten foot. I was the only one out till the big fella paddled past me(Simon Anderson) he had his thruster I had my thruster Simon and I started paddling for the horizon you know when you see those dark mountains coming at Deadmans and Winki. Simon got the first one all the way past surge rock into deep water, I followed him on the second wave both were a solid 8-10ft our thrusters performed fantastic out there. As for Quads great for Winki and Deadmans shit for the long fast walls you dont want a board that is going to want to ride high in smashable lips and walls. I dont care as long as it performs the way I want it to great I dont care about scientific reasons why this board goes like this or that. I leave that up to my shaper Mitchell Rae. He shapes and I ridem.
Selling my solid balsa "Outer Island's" 12ft Rino Chaser atm. Good man is Mitch.
Great Article Peter. I had some great waves before the Coke Contest guys turned up that morning in in '74. The biggest days I remember surfing Winki and inside Winki in the 70's were during East Coast lows -rainy days with strong SW winds. In such horrible weather there were bugger all surfers around or photographers. That's probably why there are so few photographs from that period. John Ware and later, Guy Findlay, would occasionally venture out to Winki with cameras in waterproof housings but only on smaller sunnier days. Mark (Greasy)
Thanks Mark, and thanks for sharing your story.
Guy Finlay has an incredible collection of photos, lots of cool North Steyne stuff he shot when he lived in Manly from the 70s through 90s.
A couple more guys I’m yet to hear back from might turn up some gems too.
I’m still surprised that a photo of Deadies pre 2000 hasn’t turned up…yet.
Did you try John Ware? He used to shoot a lot of photos for Surfing World in the 70's and was aften at the Bower. His brother, Peter, still makes kneeboards at Byron.
No I didn’t speak to John, I was so busy chasing down the photographers that I personally knew that I couldn’t find any time.
Hopefully this article might bring more images to light.
One of the problems with finding images was the copyright, not the photographers but the agencies they were working for at the time.
Lots of stuff is warehoused, it’s a real bummer.
Also (some) vintage surfboard collectors hoard caches of old photos and memories…many of the collectors are aging, and have lost interest.
So much history is hidden away in private collections, I find it a bit sad.
Absolutely! Memories fade quickly. You did well to pull together as much as you did.
Peter...can you remember the 'era' when a couple of Nth Steyne blokes started up a fruit salad works?..Very popular while it lasted....then came along Yoghurt...sold more than marijuana for a while...it was like watching horse feeding ...all along the promenade were people eating Yoghurt where once it was fruit salad thy slurped and downed to stay fit and ready for Neptune's wiles.
Jan Brunn dig up that pic of you on that wave at deadies, it’s one of the most perfect and huge waves I’ve ever seen out there. Even the picture scared me
You can find them here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/HuRMyLJyNSX5ze8m/
https://www.facebook.com/share/8hjgq8LkXJ9dzLqi/
Classic Kelly Slater & Jan sharing one out Deadies too:
https://www.facebook.com/share/WW2yDwSrXzyBp5Sp/?mibextid=WC7FNe
Awesome thanks, just as weirdly perfect as I remember- but I know how it ended
That was a great read, thanks. All credit to those who surf it. Crazy wave.
Saw some incredible rides go down here in the 90's and 00's by some of the names above and other anonyous hellmen. The only addition to the article I have is how many insane moments of courage went down on grim mid winters weekday mornings, with no one around, no cameras, nothing......charging just to charge....
Also, in fairness, the lids should get a nod in this history as well. They def played thier part.
Yes, you’re absolutely right about the lids!
Seems like there were no cameras around at all pre 2000, mobile phones soon “fixed” that though right?
Yep Max Dodshon is the first to come to mind, charging the biggest, heaviest gnarliest days.
Yeah I was super impressed watching the lids in that last session, I couldn’t believe how much speed those guys are generating now. They made more waves than not which is really saying something…that last swell did not look easy.
People wonder why I give all my waves away but after decades of having Deadmans, Germany Banks and beyond to myself without even the viewing gallery on those rainy miserable weekdays, I have had more than my share and feel lucky, let alone still be
surfing at all.
One thing of note is after being out to sea and seeing all the beaches closed, the waves seemed small ,
in comparison, different perspective I guess.
Just incase you hadn't seen it.
Thanks for telling these stories Peter. It brought back cherished memories of when I first moved to Oz from the states, and lived in a group hippy house in Manly for about 6 yrs on and off from 1980. It was walking distance from Ferry Bower and I used to work as a kitchen hand at the French restaurant between seasonal jobs in the snowies and in the surf. I l surfed at the Bower a lot, paddling out from the beach in front of the restaurant. It was a lot like the right hand reefs I learned to surf on. I also loved watching Winkies from the top of the cliff on big days. Sometimes I’d paddle out from the beach on big days and feel the energy from the channel. I didn’t see any women out there ever even on small days at The Bower. I loved Manly!
Great read
I had some association with Snowy, he used to also head North Peter Mitchell I recall. You mentioned Winki (winki-pop)...I recall all that and the guns used at the Bower.One guy I can’t recall his full name was nicknamed “Bull” Some blokes from the brigade up Sydney road also surfed there.
I recall the storm in which the bower closed out right across to Freshie... I took film but may have lost it as Kodak never returned two long films of mine. The water ran up the Corso. One insane bastard was out at Queenscliff...
I recall our hero lifesavers who enjoyed impounding boards...and using them sometimes damaging them. Regarded as ‘Adonis’ by some of the girls (wahines) we also were supposed to respect them owing to the job they did, fair enough ...but when out at the bower...and they rowed across in their lifeboat to catch the waves thy caused mayhem surfing it!...”Respect” for smart-arse bullies was not in my mindset...whatever they did useful elsewhere. One of my sisters married one, a Manly lifesaver bloke, late 60’s and he reminds me of the narcissism that they could do as they pleased. All the same if they saved you ...you’d be grateful.
I recall doing two rescues on my board at Nth Steyne on different twilights...and one when I was 12 at Freshie...my first trip to a surf beach...4 of us caught in a rip, the people on the beach looked like ants...two of us saved the other two who were even poorer swimmers, it was a long haul. I recall board surfing about 1965 amongst sewage and condoms at Freshie....so nice ...’sea lice’ .
One of my rel’s was a copper...The water board (The ‘Board’) was great for guys wanting a few days work . Some surfers hearing the Israeli Zionist girls on kibbutz were “all for it” would work at ‘the Board’ to earn airplane fare to travel and ‘work’ on a kibbutz. Apparently they enjoyed ‘the work’.
Cops also did casual work for ‘the Board’ on days off. That rel told me that at (either Dee Why or Collaroy...trying to recall...) they had installed a valve in the sewage line to ‘if necessary’ discharge sewage directly into the ocean.
Under Balmoral esplanade, when I was much younger say late 1950’s I saw huge electric motors underground (covers were off). I must look into that...see what they did if anyone can recall now.
I forgot to mention something else I had in mind...then gone!!...the Freshie bombie...actually Peter Mitchell might have been one who rode that and I seem to recall Snowie out there in his canoe.
Who? recalls the collapse of the dance floor at North Narrabeen?...or Jimmy Caruther’s house right on the sand edge of the beach +/- opposite the Antler, just up from the toilets.
Who recalls the Canopus room, or the South Steyne Friday stomp with little Pattie and Roland Storm,
who recalls golden gloved and very handsome “Pommie” Roy
or Peter Thomas
or my friend Robbie Kerr...killed at 21 after a ‘smoke’ and riding his cycle up Darley Road...didn’t make it around the “S bend”
or Graham “abo” Henry who seemed like a really nice guy to us, he’d come to our group...
or ”Squeakie” and the “Special Spot” girl-magnets group who parked across from Carlton every weekend...
or Chris Johnson a yank with a Dewey Weber board who pretty much introduced skateboarding down there...
or Jeff “fungus” Hollands great rider. (fungus came from ‘Fergus, one of his mother’s husbands) who lived in Carlton Street (oh to own THAT house now. Jeff’s mother was a JW and her then husband (Fergus I think) was a bad tempered brute....something I have found not uncommon with JW’s.
or Barry Reedy, beautiful girlfriend a comparatively skinny guy who was not one with whom to get into a fight
or Neil Purchase...the ultra-handsome guy who worked a lot on the emerging short boards...now in Qld with his son who has a board-making business...
or Greg Whittle...saw him generally at Freshie...a bit bad tempered...keep clear
or Karen Whittle...not related to him I think
or Midget’s pretty sister...
or the very pretty Toni Balmer from South Steyne
Who can recall that mocking term the (such and such a beach) ‘grunter’ cruelly applied to some ‘compliant’ girls. How did the years later treat them mentally...I wonder.
Who can recall the enthusiastic Council ranger who’d go up to the headland up past Manly Hospital...look for parked vans ...bang on the side with his torch “get it out and get out!!!”
There are thousands of memories of fascinating days...quite suddenly altered by the introduction of marijuana and then heroin. I was never interested in that “shit” and have survived (obviously).
All my friends but one were dead of drug incidents by the time I was 24. One killed on his engagement night and I think his girlfriend ultimately also after a head-on on the way home... not his fault. She was his first girlfriend.
Twice Police asked me to find killed-boys parents and tell them their son had been killed. I did that...unhealed wounds on memory..
Quite a few girls gave whatever it took for a joint, out back of Canopus room was common...
Who can recall the surf gear shop at South Steyne...its utterly gorgeous owner and her so-lucky boyfriend...just down the way from the “Dagwood Dog” shop.
Who recalls that Saturday night dance place at Brookie...(where I met my ‘go-go’ dancer girlfriend) and had a pretty savage punch up with a guy deliberately bumping into me. I only went twice! LOL
Ahhhh “those were the days my friends’’...”Bull” I earlier mentioned, big gun Bower surfer ...I wonder if his surname war “Madison” or “Matheson” ...that seems to be emerging. He was pretty well known...someone might recall,
Recently I found a picture of Paul Witzig’s house which was on a sort of Island on a Nth Coast river ...I was considering buying it. Decades later ..2023 I think...I mentioned his name to someone where my daughter was holidaying with her family up North Coast “oh yes...he lives a couple of doors away”...
I’m not actually from Sydney, but can appreciate your nostalgia.
Wow…this is a lot to take in. All of this is before my time but I’ve heard a few of these stories.
Glad you survived, many didn’t.
Carlton street was very much my stamping ground, I know that house well, it remained a surfers house right up till the early nineties, I never lived in it but my mates did.
I was the final tenant in a “surfers house” on Pittwater rd…lived there about 14 years…i took the lease over from a mate who’d lived there for about 10 years before me.
I ran into an old salt at a BBQ years later, turns out he lived there for ages in the late sixties rent free…imagine
https://forum.realsurf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11072
Few more Names of DeadMans Chargers on Page 2 .
Tyson Williams raised the bar more than anyone out there. He went ones that nobody wanted anything to do with, before slab hunting was “a thing”.
Rest in Peace brother
Maniac !!
Of course George Pittar has poo pooed his time at Manly but where else are you going to grow up as a potential WSL standard surfer?
Gold Coast? Great for the points but not much else. NSW north coast? Good wave quality but not much competition. Maybe SW WA with the right parents forcing you in to it from a young age. Maybe Indo or Brazil if your parents are affluent enough.
Let’s face it, the only way you can be a world champ these days is if you have had an extraordinarily privileged upbringing enabling you to surf all day everyday during your childhood, think JJF and in the future Jackson Dorian. Erin Brooks had lived such an incredibly privileged life as well.
It’s a professional sport for the privileged these days
The afternoon the Bower was breaking right across into Freshwater I was standing on the promenade down South Steyne way...with my super-8. The wave looked higher than the Bower headland...It was a enormous...as I said water was running down the Corso....I think that was higher than the Deadman’s wave which (granted the bottom may have changed) petered out by Nth. Steyne. That afternoon it did not peel off...it was one monster all the way past Queenscliff.
I recall up the Entrance way one day. I was getting dropped-in on every wave (bloody locals giving me the ‘piss off!!)so got pissed off and moved closer to the source...close ...closer...same every time. I thought ‘stuff these bastards!!”...took off right inside cranked a right and “oh shit!!!!”...no water... just a rock...end of surfboard...I survived...kind of.
At Catherine I had a similar experience, thin wave... stepped back fast on board to level it and went to flick out...whoops I saw sand vry clearly. Nose dug into the sand...I came a cropper at the other end... Fortunately mates were there as I fell unconscious in the water struggling back to beach. I spent a few painful hours at Newcastle hospital...they were trying to inject a pain killer into my face (mouth nose area) ...needle kept bending sort off ...”forget it...just work without it” I cried!!...I’d splintered the end of the board with my face and had a fair amount of fibreglass to be picked out...I remember that one well...though it was 50 years ago. I have a sort of video memory, when I remember something it’s like a re-run in colour inside my head. It’s like a video jukebox up there!!....and can be a curse.
Tony, that was 1974 when the waves were going up the Corso. Went out at DY Point and got smashed, bleeding from head to foot.
Hope you still have your super 8.
Hi thanks for the heads-up...It was a monster!!..yet on another night it was so hot...incredibly hot...like being somewhere out west in the hottest summer...but inescapable. People were swimming into the so very dark night at Steyne...people on the seats fanning themselves Pheewwww she was hot!
Rob Chapman (who used to own Surf Plus at Dee Why pt) and I were out the Bower late that afternoon in 1974, We were the only ones out. I surfed every big swell that came through in the 70's at the Bower but I think that afternoon was the biggest I ever saw it. Walking up the track just on dark we saw a set feather from way outside Bower across to Queencliff bommie and agreed that it was a good thing we got out when we did. Later that night the pool adjacent to Manly wharf and Walton's boat shed at Balmoral were both washed away. Surfed Chinamen's Beach the next morning and saw set waves break way off Dobroyd Point and roll in towards the Spit Bridge. Days like that stick in your memory.
Tony Jack Clancy I’d, love to see that super 8 footage!
Any chance that could happen?
Guys thanks for the mention.
I first surfed it ( now Deadmans) around 1971. Never hurt myself there as the water seems to bunch up, but always got hurt at Winki even more at Outer Winki. Can't believe I survived the pollution, having to raise my head abnormally high to in attempt to not breathe in the thick foam while navigating through raw intact feaces and modess pads
I did hurt myself a couple of times retrieving my board though. One time my nephew Bert Burger said a client of his was about to buy one of his unbreakable boards then looked down from the bus and saw a my Sunova on the verge in three pieces .
Booma.
Booma, the pollution only made us stronger!
Cool article, brings back some memories. Far as I’m concerned, there were two surfers that properly pioneered deadies - Rod Kirsop and Simon Farrar.
I’d heard rumours from the first Coke comp about pros surfing it (Hakman was mentioned) but reading this I think they just went deep at outside Winki. I surfed Winki religiously from about 74 through to mid eighties, We talked about it a lot on those big outside Winki days, but … we all agreed that it really wasn’t surfable. Plus Outside Winki is a great and rare wave in its own right - who’s paddling up there for a beating or worse? And it was a talented crew - Greasy, Alan Wilson and Greg Dutch were standouts plus Scott Wakefield (Mentawais pioneer).
I do remember when Booma started turning up out there. A triumph of will over skill, shall we say. Never saw him take on Deadies, but he was crazy enough. Don’t think he had the chops to knife a takeoff there. Plus those open ocean bombies were more his thing.
But Rod Kirsop and Simon Farrer started surfing it early mid 80s. Milder days at first, then into proper Deadies. Both amazing surfers. Watched Rod get deep and then backdoor Winki. And then we were off to the races.
Grazza, correct those guys were much better surfers than me but I did surf at Deadmans a lot, especially in the nineties, not so much after a someones towrope went across my throat/neck. It seemed the bigger the wave the better my surfing ability. Only one out at Main break Margaret River 15 metre swell, no place for board flappers, just straight down the line.
Yeah, Simon Farrer is a legend…here’s an interesting piece of Trivia: Simon was part of the NSW schoolboys team that competed in Margaret river, I got a gig (through Mick Mock) to drive the bus from Perth to Margaret river (with a board trailer on the back)
Simon was fearless, that team was amazing: Luke Egan, Brett Warner, Rod Kerr, Sanga, Garth Dicko, Tim Grainger, Luke and Adam Faunce, Scotty Bell, Pauline Menczer.
Box was hilarious!!!
Thanks Grazza, reading this makes me more confident that I did a half decent summary at worst. I’m stoked that it brings up memories for all those involved.
Great piece Peter thanks for the history. For what its worth i can share clear reference point. Prior to mid ‘94. Not withstanding the odd paddle out, sitting at winki on innumerable swells ‘75-‘94 one couldn't say Deadmans was surfed. Went overseas 1994 came back to Manly 2001 just after 9/11 - astonished to see the crew all over it, charging the sets, ripping it apart. So its seems a late 90s when It the guys took it on proper. And to see a bomb ridden Deadmans to racetrack end of Bower one wave - that wasn't thought possible back in the day. Amazing stuff.
Yes, equipment changed, I also reckon…and it pains me to say this but a lot of surfers probably took the cue from the lid riders, same as the kneelos maybe paved the way for the first guys at Winki in the 70s.
Body boards exploded in the 80s here and suddenly every reef slab was smothered in them.
Jet skis were another big factor…thank fuck that all simmered down.
What is the origin of the name "Fairy Bower"? Is it a place,or...a thing?
Fairy Bower took its name from the romantic qualities of the rocky bushland gully and creek that once ran down from Manly's Eastern Hill to Cabbage Tree Bay.
Thanks. Wow
Peter Mitchell,
I should have cleared this up earlier. There used to be an adult and two young'uns who regularly bodyboard surfed No,mans in the early 90's, maybe late 80's as well. He didn't relish the idea of a board rider (in what he thought was an exclusive domain of lids ) getting a quick one in when going past . No,mans is situated between Winki and Deadmans ,but doubt whether it could be mistaken for either as it breaks closer to the cliff face.
Seems strange these days having emphasis on who surfed anywhere, as we just saw a wave and tried it out. One such place was Margaret River when I had to beg my older brother to let me surf there in the early sixties. " "No one surfs there" him and his freinds would say. "It's not a surf spot Yallingup is." Mals without legrope.
Btw I wasn't the first one there, a guy in 1959 was, but us kids in our family were probably the first to swim/ bodysurf WIndy Harbour ( not far) in the fifties. My younger brother found a lot of places to surf on the south coast driven there by mum. He was the beltman for Denmark Surf Club.
Wish I had a name for you as per the 1959 guy, but hopefully someone has.
As far as naming the the break now commonly known as Deadman's, I think Bluefish Pt got a run there circa earl to mid-eighties. As for breaking all the way through to Freshie i don't think that’s actually possible and I’ve never heard that one before. Too deep.
74, didn't peel off to Freshie but nearly closed out across the bay. Probably making Queensie Bombie part of the shorebreak, but can't say for sure, as per too busy licking my wounds.
Peter Mitchell,
I should have cleared this up earlier. There used to be an adult and two young'uns who regularly bodyboard surfed No,mans in the early 90's, maybe late 80's as well. He didn't relish the idea of a board rider (in what he thought was an exclusive domain of lids ) getting a quick one in when going past . No,mans is situated between Winki and Deadmans ,but doubt whether it could be mistaken for either as it breaks closer to the cliff face.
Seems strange these days having emphasis on who surfed anywhere, as we just saw a wave and tried it out. One such place was Margaret River when I had to beg my older brother to let me surf there in the early sixties. " "No one surfs there" him and his freinds would say. "It's not a surf spot Yallingup is." Mals without legrope.
Btw I wasn't the first one there, a guy in 1959 was, but us kids in our family were probably the first to swim/ bodysurf WIndy Harbour ( not far) in the fifties. My younger brother found a lot of places to surf on the south coast driven there by mum. He was the beltman for Denmark Surf Club.
Wish I had a name for you as per the 1959 guy, but hopefully someone has.
Lots of great history and story telling here. Love it, great read.
I never saw anyone seriously surf “Who Dare” (that was its only name I knew)
Hats off, a big doff, from me at least to Elliot Bemrose (mentioned above) a curly lad, a great surfer in the everyday ho hum beachies you find on the poo stained northern beaches with a huge sack that manhandled the wave in the worst conditions you could imagine. Rain, wind etc. impressive.
Its a pretty special place. Has to be the most challenging wave on the beaches
As a grom at Queenscliff early- mid 70 s luv reading this.Never surfed there ,big bower on my back hand was enough.Truly some great names though.Good to see Duane Heketa get a mention ,a very,very stylish surfer.Dutchy was the man at winki but as a young goofy watching you couldn’t go past Burnetti.On his grey twin fin Hot buttered he destroyed everything.Left Barton behind with Bainy somewhere in the middle.Obviously didn’t follow the path they did.No disrespect to either.
Remember being out at wild Curl Curl in awe .Anybody knows that beach knows about wild.I left Manly in 85 for WA and Indo with side trips in between.
Thanks for some nostalgia Peter ,remembering where I’m from.
Now 59 ,in Indo and the waves just won’t stop.
Cheers to all.
Fuck I love nostalgia
One of the better days at Winki/Bower - June 2016....
https://www.dropbox.com/preview/Dropbox%20Transfer%20files/WinkiBower.MO...
Robbie Holt definitely deserved a mention at Winki .Blue paddle pop shape board, many great barrels.
Watched Bobbie Mills go down at big Bower on the 74 swell and waiting for him to surface was a worry. He travelled so far underwater it was ridiculous. Gerry face planting at Winki in the contest is another memory from that time. Manly in the 60’s and 70’s were great times!
In the 30 years I've been living in Manly there's only one day that I thought it looked half inviting.
Can't remember the exact year but around 2018-19. Big but short interval swell with the low pressure system parked at just the right point off Wollongong. Winds had enough west in them to make it clean plus it was raining which often cleans up the faces. It had a shoulder on it and was tumbling down to Winki without the weird step or the death barrel. Still at least 10ft, maybe 15 and a few barrels but gave a semblance of safety and many rides going all the way through past Winki.
I'm with you Pete, the ratio of adrenaline rush vs potential death always falls in favour of life for me but that day looked a bit tempting, even at my level.
By the way, quite a few of the St Augustines guys were surfing it in the late 80's, well and truly on the grommets radar by then
Epic stuff thanks for the awesome tales !
Not sure if has been mentioned but Simon Farrer had a few cracks at it too.
Great stories thanks Pete! Loving all the comments coming out of woodworks too
Thanks Max,
Yeah it’s so good to hear some additional info filtering in, I feel like maybe I just scratched the surface.
Here's old footage of Simon Farrer taking on Deadmans..
Amazing, Simon is a maniac, always was. Great to see some more footage emerging.
Amazing place & a privilege to just be in the water out there (Bower only for me!) on big days watching some of bravest & most skilled barrel riders I’ve ever seen. There was one particular lid rider in the late 90’s who absolutely charged & who got some massive tubes out there. Respect!
Farrer freefalling at Deadmans to Winki
One good thing about living somewhere with a lot of crowd pressure is that waves like Deadmans actually get surfed.