Table of contents for Issue 599 in Tracks

The loud ‘thwack!’ of fibreglass on flesh was the first thing that alarmed me. The pain came a split second later, followed by the final shock of seeing my ring finger bent sideways like something from a horror movie. The one-paw paddle in was the worst of it; my progress achingly slow as I tried to avoid bumping the crooked digit hanging from my hand, while being battered by waves. On the beach people stared aghast at the disfigurement. I probably should have put the dislocated finger back in myself there and then, but a past hand injury made me wary of doing more permanent damage. Maybe I lacked courage too. The lifeguard and local doctor wanted no part of it, both refusing to take on the handwrestling task. An…

That’s meAscending the stageHere’s my story arcFinding the exit from another tube rideSeven seconds on the inside I knew my linesThe master of the witty aside(And also Pipeline)Finding the exit from another tube rideSeven seconds on the inside They got the drop on meAt the top of Act 3Up ‘til then I was the leadTaken down by villainsUnited in their devilryThe master of the witty aside(And also Pipeline) Finding the exit from another tube rideSeven seconds on the inside Check out an excerpt from Larry’s new memoir, The Outside’ on page 114.…

Tracks Magazine and its staff acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we operate our business, the Arakwal people of the Bundjalung Nation & the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We also extend our respect to all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across all of Country. Tracks celebrates the rich history of the world’s oldest living culture and their continuing connection to land, water and community.…

BEHIND THE COVER: KEANU MILLER BY SAM VENN “The morning was super heavy! A few of us went down at first light when the swell was maxing and at its peak. A few mad men – Ben Sawyer, Cholo and Brendo – were out there at the time but gave us the report that it was almost unmanageable. The swell dropped out super quick and we got out there by mid-morning. The green/brown water was off the back of some real heavy rain and a massive winter system that hung around for weeks. The mid-morning continued to pump with local guys like Keanu (Miller) always putting themselves in the perfect position. He’s one super stylish dude who knows the wave so well. Most waves that day he took off on…

Sophie McCulloch’s climb into the elite ranks of competitive surfing has had more ups and downs than a North Shore swell chart. After reaching the dizzying heights of qualifying for the Championship Tour (CT) at the end of 2022, she plummeted almost immediately through the lows of two careerthreatening injuries. The most recent one – a fractured vertebrae in a heavy wipeout at notorious West Australian wave The Box in May – was life-threatening. All of this in her first two years on tour. “I’ve realised that I’m not invincible. But I keep getting injured and I keep being stronger for it,” the Sunshine Coast surfer tells Tracks. Blistering start to devastating setbacks Sophie, 26, is the first to admit she’s a fiercely determined competitor. She announced that much to…

I’m motioning through mid-week-monotony when I receive a call from Darcy Ward, asking about the chances of me getting a few days off work for a strike mission. Darcy is the man behind the video lens, a prolific chronicler of all-things surfing over the last decade and currently the creative/marketing director of Vissla Australia. boys (Darcy Ward & Toby Mossop) to pick me up. This wave is the Unicorn we’ve had on our radar for the last eight years. There is no chance I’m going to miss this flight. friends and faces; Chippa Wilson, Harry Bryant, Dion Agius and Kael Walsh. The surfing niche sure makes the world feel small. As I’m amidst a busy summer holidays’ lifeguarding season, I answer with an initial, ‘No chance!’ I hang up the…

“I’m pretty fulfilled with my life of surfing; I’ve done it for as long as I can remember and I’ve been the luckiest person in the world. Now, it feels like I’ve been taken out of one life and put into a new one, it’s a completely different experience,’ explains 61-year-old surfer and shaper, Stuart D’Arcy.” D’Arcy is speaking to me over the phone while sitting on the patio of his home situated near the rural village of Bonalbo, where he and his wife Michelle aim to live organically off the land. The nearest pub is 30 minutes away; the closest supermarket is more than double that distance and it takes three hours to drive to the Gold Coast, where the couple was previously based. ‘The countryside is beautiful; the…

John Respondek, Ted Grambeau, Alex Workman, Jamie Brisick, Melissa Connell, Ben Mondy, Alan van Gysen, Kirk Owers, Al Mackinnon, Jason Childs, Tom Pearsall, Nathan Oldfield, Dom Mosqueira, Joli, Swilly, Andrew Shield, Peter Boskovic, Greg Ewing, Phil Jarratt, Karen Hudson, Anthony Pancia, Kate Allman, Trevor Moran, Bill Morris, Tom De Souza, Mark McInnis, Pete Geall, Ryan Craig, Federico Vanno, Dave Sparkes, Brad Sterling, Be Ryder, Tim Swallow, Ryan Miller, Cait Miers, Nick Green, Brett Burcher, Mike Ito, Stephen Cooney, Hilton Alves, Steve Wilkings, Jeff Divine, Rambo Estrada, Kirvan Baldassari, Marcus Paladino, Isis Flack, Paul Holmes, Brad Sterling, Josh Kirkman, Wilem Banks, Tom Carroll, Tony Edwards, Lauren L. Hill, Peter Crawford, Paul Holmes, Blake Thornton, Monty Webber, Spencer Hornby, Duncan Macfarlane, Daniel Russo, Dean Wilmot, Anthony Fox, Christa Funk, Isis Flack, Josh…

It’s 1993 and 21-year-old, Col Bernasconi, is competing on the Australian A.C.C circuit alongside the likes of Richie Lovett, Jake Paterson and Neil Purchase Jnr. To fund his travels and freewheeling lifestyle, Col does the odd modelling gig. Fortunately, on this occasion, his regular sponsors Mambo were happy to give him a leave pass to be in a campaign for Lee Jeans. The initial plan was to shoot Col wearing jeans in the surf, which saw him paddling out in six-eight ft waves at Little Avalon in heavy denim. “It didn’t quite come off,” chuckles Col over the phone. “I didn’t have a belt on and they were kind of bell-bottomy so I was sort of swimming in them… but I guess Kelly nailed that one at Teahupo’o years later…

I grew up just outside of the small coastal town of Evans Head in Northern NSW, Australia, where there was an abundance of waves and retirees. As soon as I finished high school, I couldn’t wait to get out into the world and start forging my career path as a creative. While I was at university I met Oscar, a Mexican work colleague who would tell me stories of his country and its vibrant, complex culture. From his stories, Mexico always stuck in the back of my mind as somewhere I’d like to live one day. Thirteen years later, I decided to go and check it, equipped with little more than a list of surf spots my cousin had told me about and my previous experiences of travelling through South…

Part 1: God, War, Rebellion, Popular Culture, and Surfing 1914 - 1964 It was not surprising that upon returning to Australia, many veterans of WW1 became Surf Club members. The protection of swimmers at the beach was taken very seriously and the surf clubs were highly regimented. Although these men initially rejected the early surfers’ 14 to 16-foot, hollow, toothpick surfboards, they eventually embraced them, using them for paddling races rather than riding waves. They thought of the surfers as different to them, more interested in having fun than saving lives. In pictures from this period the surfboard riders look like they are mimicking the pose of an athletics trophy; standing bolt upright with their feet glued to the deck of their surfboards. It must have been hard to balance…

When I first met Larry Bertlemann 49 years ago he was still a teenager – only just – but he was already a phenomenon, cover boy (there were no cover girls, yet) on every major surf magazine around the world, star of Hal Jepsen’s soon-to-be-released ‘Super Session’, third in the 1972 World Titles at 17, US champ the following year, recognised as the originator of a new, low-centre-of-gravity style that would change the direction of both surfing and skateboarding. As Drew Kampion would later write: “The Rubberman opened the door. Arriving amid a period of flux, he demonstrated that no limits exist beyond our imagination.” So, I suppose he had every right to keep Tracks photographer, Frank Pithers, and me waiting in Ala Moana Park for an hour or more…