There were some incredible and highly consequential moments last weekend over the opening two days of the Tahiti Pro, the final event of the WSL regular tour ahead of the finals series at Cloudbreak, Fiji at the end of the month.
Nearing the end of a huge and perfect run of swell, the break they call The End Of The Road because it is, sometimes in more ways than one, turned it on for the men on day one and again, slightly scaled down, for the women on day two. With its jungle-covered volcanic peaks looming behind the bay, it is unquestionably the prettiest surf break in the world, but not for me in this lifetime.
As I write the men are at the round of 16 and won’t resume before deadline, but following the eliminations we have an intriguing situation developing for the composition of the final five, especially if you’re an Aussie supporter. Four of the current top five are still in the event, but the inevitable overtaking of current number four Kanoa Igarashi, who isn’t means that numbers six and seven, California’s Griffin Colapinto and our Jack Robinson, two of the best performers in the opening round, are vying for one spot. The complicating factor here is that if our Ethan Ewing falters, an Aussie might be replacing an Aussie.
Still with me? The women’s draw is a lot simpler, if disappointing for our Tyler Wright, who was an outside chance to make the five, and even more so for Bella Nichols, who was in it for most of a stella season until knocked out at Chopes. The women’s heats produced some stellar performances from all of the frontrunners, but no one more so than Molly Picklum who wears the yellow jersey into Fiji and is now just two heats away from her first world title, and Australia’s first since 2022. Go Pickles!
Farewell to mates
Being officially old means you get invited to more farewells than weddings, but it’s been a particularly bad and sad run of departures lately, and last week I lost two mates you may have heard of.
David Dale was never a surfer but he loved hiking the coast trails and early swims in Sydney Harbour’s rock pools, almost as much as he loved long lunches. And apart from an annoying habit of sampling food off your plate without asking, he was the best and most entertaining luncheon companion I ever had. We were cadet journos together at the Sydney Morning Herald from 1970, him out of uni, me out of the copy boy room, but more than a decade later our friendship blossomed when I worked under his editorship at The Bulletin.
There were a lot of lunches and Dale was always getting us or himself into trouble. It was deadline day and we were at Lucio’s in Paddington when our publisher rang for Dale just after 4pm to demand that the editorial team return to the office immediately. “We’ve just ordered desserts but we’ll be along after that, ta ta,” we heard Dale say before handing the phone back to Lucio.
That didn’t get him sacked but publishing the special issues “Australia’s 100 Most Appalling People” and its sequel, “The Great Australian Balance Sheet”, for which I wrote many of the brief and unflattering descriptions of Bulletin owner Kerry Packer’s best mates, certainly did. But before he departed for greater conquests, Dale and I were hiking in the Blue Mountains one weekend, en route to the fabulous Cleopatra restaurant and guesthouse in Blackheath for dinner and a bed, when he asked, “Do you know a good hand who might be interested in becoming The Bulletin’s Queensland correspondent?” “I might, but would the correswpondent have to live in Brisbane?” “Maybe not, where would you want to live?” Dale and I toasted my new and ongoing Noosa chapter with very good bubbly that night.
Vale David, and condolences to Susan and Millie.
Film director and producer Bill Leimbach is probably best known for the award-winning feature Beneath Hill 60, a beautifully realised depiction of World War I tunnellers, but he covered so much ground and moved so many people with his documentaries on indigenous cultures over a half century career, too many to recount here. We became friends soon after the start, when he made Balinese Surfer, the first surf film to focus on our sport’s cultural impact. Later, making Gulpilil Goes To Hollywood, he brought his friend David Gulpilil around to our house and my kids have never forgotten the tricks and games that sweet man played with them.
Billy was a big affable yank with a huge heart who loved his work and his family. In later years nothing gave him greater pleasure and pride than to be called “the dad of Lime Cordiale”, the hugely successful band of his sons Ollie and Louie.
A life well lived, old mate.
FOOTNOTE: In this column a few weeks back I wrote about Noosa Council passing a motion to request a trial removal of shark nets during whale migration season, wondering why Cr Amelia Lorentson, a surfer who has pushed more than anyone for a review of our netting since election in 2020, voted against it. This is the salient part of a longer response from Cr Lorentson: “My decision was never about opposing non-lethal shark mitigation; I have been a strong advocate for it for years. It was about process, consultation, and respect for community voices.”
