Gold Coast-based surfer and collector Carl Tanner, who died early this month, was a man of many parts, softly spoken, mostly gracious with a gently-wicked sense of humour, not someone you’d necessarily suspect had an aircraft hangar-sized shed which housed nearly 1000 exceptional surfboards.
But around the surfing world Carl was known to his many friends in the surfboard collector network as one of the most astute judges of the pedigree of things of wood and foam, and a man with a keen eye for a bargain. This is why Carl’s hangar has housed some of the most notable collectibles in Australian and international surfboard history. However, unlike some private collectors, Carl was exceedingly generous about sharing his treasures, often allowing his prized boards to be loaned out for exhibitions or museum shows.
Such was the case when I first got to know and understand the bloke when in 2010 I asked him to loan some of his best boards for an exhibition called Private Collections, which was a feature of that year’s Noosa Festival of Surfing. Touring around to gain the support of several of Australia’s biggest surfboard collectors, I broke the ice with Carl by mentioning that he owed me one because when he died in front of the judges’ tower during an all-important semi-final of my age division at the festival the previous year and the judges’ left their stations to help revive him following a heart attack, they’d missed my two best waves, thereby depriving me of a slot in the final.
Carl threw his head back and laughed like a drain. Instantly we were mates, and later that year in California for the Malibu Surfing Association Classic, he, mutual friend Darryl Homan and I shared some wonderful times, in the waves and on the tiles.
A very good surfer from the pioneer days who kept competing with skill and savvy until well into his later years, Carl was also an astute businessman who had many interests, but in surfing was best known for his creation of Finch Swimwear, a successful women’s brand which was a longtime sponsor of women’s surfing at the Noosa Festival.
The past few years have not been kind to Carl, strongly supported by family and friends but facing increasing difficulty in communicating beyond that tight circle. Nevertheless, the gang was out in force when I last saw and wrote about Carl last November when his donation of the famous Michael Peterson “Morning Of The Earth cutback board” was welcomed into Surf World Gold Coast museum, and among the old-timers there to feel its contours before it got locked in a Perspex box, was collector Carl on a rare outing, Rip Curl co-founder Doug “Claw” Warbrick, Joan Peterson, the irrepressible 92-year-old matriarch of the surfing Peterson clan, veteran photographer Mal Sutherland (one of Carl’s closest friends), surf legends Rabbit Bartholomew and Cheyne Horan, and the 1980 Stubbies Pro winner Peter Harris, now curator at Surf World.
Of course I had no idea that would be our last encounter, but he seemed relaxed and happy, which is a good way to remember him. Commiserations to Linda and the family. RIP Carl.
Festival off to a flyer
Well, the waves could have been better but after so many weeks of good surf, it was bound to happen, and the sun shone all opening weekend and there was just enough swell to propel dogs, kids and old folks shoreward.
I paddled out with Matt “The Waxhead” Chojnacki to join multiple world champ Layne Beachley and our own Peppie Simpson in forming the sacred circle and kicking off another nine days of pure stoke, following an excellent welcome to country from the estimable Lyndon Davis. The beach bar was too crowded for wives on walkers, so we took the lift up to the surf club and whiled away the rest of the afternoon sipping cool bevies and watching the action from above.
As I write this I’ve just come back from managing to squeak through the first round of the over 70s, with a lot of early morning help from Coach Layne and official cheerleader Kirk Pengilly. We’ll see what happens later in the day on a dying swell.
But all good fun for young and old, and good luck to all who are still in the hunt for a trophy over finals weekend.
Julian Wilson comeback
And speaking of being in the hunt, at the ripe old age of 36 our Jules (as he used to be before he traded us in for the twin paradises of Merewether and Newcastle) made a strong statement of intent when he beat a hot field to take out the Newcastle WSL qualifying series event last weekend in his first outing in a coloured jersey for quite a while.
On his march from the quarters Julian took out Oscar Berry, Kobi Clements and in the final Axel Curotta, none of whom are much more than half his age. Having been granted a season wildcard entry into the five event Challenger Series, the former world number two and Olympian will be back in action in front of his adopted hometown crowd at the Newcastle Surfest Challenger in June, hoping to start clocking up the points for a return to the world tour in 2026.
