By Phil Jarratt
Like the Noosa Festival of Surfing, the Dukefest and the late, lamented Biarritz Surf Festival, Perth’s Whalebone Classic is one of those iconic longboard events that has come much bigger over the years than a mere surf contest. Putting coastal Cottesloe into a festive mood in the depths of a fairly chilly winter, the Whalebone might struggle for waves at times, but there is always plenty of aloha spirit on hand.
I’ve been trying to get to the Whalebone for several years now – the last time I was invited to do a gig there a volcanic ash cloud marooned me in Bali – so I was stoked to finally make it, courtesy of Surfing WA, to the 20th Whalebone celebrations last weekend. Flying straight from a thankfully ash-free Bali into winter in the West was a bit of a climatic shock, but once I’d wedged myself into my 15-year-old 3:2 steamer – was I really that skinny at 50! – I found that the water at Isolators Reef wasn’t too bad, and the little waves on offer were quite fun.
Regular Noosa visitor and great mate, Norm Bateman, kitted me out with a spare Josh Constable Creative Army logger and together we formed the CA Senior Team in the old boy ranks.
After a stellar showing on Saturday, unfortunately both Norm and I fell victim to a high tide wave drought in the Sunday morning grovel, and spent the rest of the event watching from the Gage Roads craft beer tent. Ah, well.
Fortunately for Noosa, our much-improved surf dancer Kristy Quirk held the flag high in the women’s divisions, taking out a swag of trophies, while Hayden Swan was all over the amateur men’s. In the WSL Pro events, Natsumi Taoko got the better of Kathryn Hughes with a best single wave score for the entire event of 9.6, while Jack Entwistle styled his way past Dean Bevan.
Founded by Peter Dunn and wife Simone back in 1998 and named after a whalebone he found on the beach at Isolators, the Whalebone is one of those comps that swirls by in a mist of good times and laughter and seems to be over in a nano-second, leaving you hungry for more.
I’ll be back, with a slightly bigger wetsuit.
Happy homecoming for the ginger genius
In front of a packed house in the penthouse conference room of Lavan Legal in downtown Perth, overlooking the beautiful Swan River, I was stoked to share the guest speaking duties with surfboard builder turned philanthropist Nev Hyman at a cocktail event called The Business of Surfing.
And indeed, I’ve never seen so many suits turn out for a fairly salty evening.
One of the West’s leading legal firms, Lavan is also a great supporter of West Australian surfing and a number of philanthropic causes, which they managed to tie together neatly last Friday night, with me giving a potted history of the surf industry and Nev explaining how he morphed from boardbuilder to a leader in the field of recycling plastics into wood replacement products to build emergency Third World housing.
Nev’s story is a fascinating one, and he held the room spellbound while he told it. Briefly, Nev was born in Perth, he got his start in surfboards with a brand called Odyssey back at the start of the ‘70s, and later changed the name to Nev’s Future Shapes and moved it back east to the Gold Coast. Over the next couple of decades Nev showed himself to be a shaper in demand by some of the world’s leading pro surfers, and a great marketing man. Remember those huge Nev super boards and the Guinness Book of Records attempts?
In more recent times, Nev’s creation Firewire Surfboards has been at the forefront of creating high performance surfboards with minimal environmental impact. His ultimate sale of the company to Kelly Slater and other partners has now enabled him to create NevHouse, which has become his abiding passion.
Listening to Nev explain the philosophy behind NevHouse, what it’s already achieved and where it’s going, was nothing less than inspiring, during our gig at Lavan and over coffee during the Whalebone weekend.
The need for safe, affordable housing in the developing world is staggering. That Nev has discovered a way to deliver it using recyclables is astounding.
And after trials in Vanuatu and other places, he is only just beginning the long road to helping solve a major world problem while building a stable, sustainable company that will go the distance.
I’m working with Nev on some exciting news for NevHouse in Noosa. Watch this space.
FOOTNOTE: The Noosa National Surfing Reserve will present the second of its series of surf nights at Halse Lodge next Wednesday 19 July from 6pm, this one featuring a presentation from the Noosa Boardriders Club, including an encore (one year later) screening of The Shine, the movie of last winter’s mega-swell. Don’t miss out on a great night, with meals and full bar available.
