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2006 Jaggard, Ed (editor): Between the Flags- One Hundred Summers of Australian Lifesaving UNSW Press, Sydney, 2006. Soft cover, 262 pages, black and white illustrations and photograhs, colour illustrations and photograhs, Appendicies, Acknowldegements, Abbreviations, Notes, Index. Review A compliation of themed articles by profesional historians produced to celebrate 100 years of the Australian surf life saving movement, the work has some references to surfriding, mostly in chapters 2 and 5. Given that surfriding was inexorably linked to surf life saving clubs in the first half of the 20th century, Sean Brawley's Chapter 5: Origins and Beginnings provides some essential background to the formation of the organisation that was largely responsible for the exposure to surfboard riding by supporting the demonstrations by the Olympic swimmer, Duke Kahanamoku, in 1914-1915.

Chapter 5: Surf Lifesaving Technology by Alleyn Best examines the methods and equipment employed by Australian lifesavers, but given the wide brief, the coverage is occasionally rudimentary.
The development of the reel, line and belt is detailed pages 109 to 113 and notes the early alternative of the Biddell's torpedo buoy, which finally took prominance in the late 1980s.
After nearly 70 years as the centrepiece of the movement the reel was finally discontinued as official lifesaving equipment, the torpedo buoy and the surfboard "eventually supplanting the reel in 1984 as the prime lifesaving device." - page 122.
While the reel was employed in a large number of successful rescues (see Tables 3.1 and 3.2) it was responsible for a significant number of beltmen deaths, several are detailed in a short essay by Chris Cornick titled Posthumos Awards, page 184.

The Australian surfboat, initially employed as rescue devise by the Sly brothers at Manly circa 1900, is examined pages 118 to 120.
Note that Best's account does not include precedents in England an America (see Brawley in Jaggard, pages 23 to 24) or the impact of an extreme rescue using a commandeered rowboat off Deewhy in February 1914 that resulted in the provision of five new boats to clubs on the northern beaches (see Maxwell, pages 94 -99), certainly a significant encouragement to the widespread adoption of this craft.

Surboards and surfskis, pages 120 to 124, notes the importation of an Hawaiian board by Charles Patterson circa 1908-1912 and the impact of Duke Kahanamoku's Freshwater demonstration in 1915 (sic).
Surfriding historians note that the first demonstration at Freshwater was on 24th December 1914, given front page status by the Sydney press and further demonstrations followed at Freshwater, Deewhy, Cronulla and Manly beaches.
Best notes the board was recognised as a potential lifesaving craft and formalised a rescue proceedure was available in the 1935 Bluebook.
Although not recorded, the potential was possibly indicated by Duke Kahanamoku in post-surfing discussions, Kahanamoku himself was reponsible a noted multiple rescue with his surfboard in California circa 1926.
The earliest recorded board rescue in Australia was by Duke protege and Manly surfer, Claude West, in February 1920 (Wells page 152).
The formalised a rescue proceedure was available as early as the1932 Bluebook, and posibly earlier.
The introduction of the malibu board by US and Hawaiian competitors focuses on the Torquay carnival of 1956, although probaly the most significant impact on boardriders occurred at Avalon a week before, and notes the re-introduction by the Americans of the torpedo buoy.
Although the change from solid to hollow timber boards is noted, there is no discusion of subsequent changes in construction techniques with the introduction of fibreglass and balsawood, later fibreglass and foam, and the early adoption of epoxy by the surf lifesavers for paddleboards, circa 1986.

Questions of construction loom large in Best's account of the development of the surfski, pages 123 to 124.
Citing Galton (2005), he notes
"The first official ski was made 1912-1913 by  Port Macquarie fisherman, Harry McLaren, who saw it as an easy way for Harry and his brother to get about oyster beds in nearby Lake Innes".
Although undated photographs held by the Mitchell Library apparrently support McLaren, it should be noted that the claim was previously identified by Lana Wells (1982) as circa 1930 (page 160) and the earliest images only show the craft in still water on the lake.
Furthermore, they are propelled in a sitting position with two small blades held in each hand- a method unlikely to be successful in surfriding conditions.
Critically, there are no reports of the ski's construction.
Maxwell (1949)  credits the design to Dr. G.A.'Saxon' Crackanthrope of the Manly Club and describes the construction.
"The first skis were built of cedar planking, so heavy it took a man all his time to carry one.
The earliest models were about 8 foot by 28 in., with a six inch depth and a 12 inches spring in the tail."
page 245.
Also see Bloomfield page 69; Harris page 56.
The dimensions would indicate a severely heavy and clumsy craft, a design that would have massive improvement in performance with hollow plywood construction.
Maxwell, and others, date the hollow ski from about 1934 which is a huge lag from its suggested introduction.
If there is any possibilty that McLaren's original design was in fact hollow, for racing sculls the lightweight construction method had been in use since 1856, then this would predate Tom Blake's famous hollow board design developed from 1926 to 1930.
http://www.rowinghistory.net/Equipment.htm

Eight-oared shell (modern rowing boat)
Dating back to 1855 when this keelless eight-oared racing boat made its appearance at Henley on
Thames.
Designed by Matthew Taylor, for the Royal Rowing Club, it was built, with an outer skin of bent or
moulded cedar wood, bottom side upwards on the moulds.
Ribs were fitted inside the skin after the boat had been reversed.
Oxford University launched a similar craft of their own, at Putney in 1857, 63 feet in length and 25
inches in beam.
Over the years the dimensions and fittings varied but these were prototypes for most racing boats
into the 20th century and is used in the University Boat Race crewed by a coxed eight.
Hulls were made of cedar wood imported from Central America which although only three sixteenths
of an inch thick could withstand pressures of 8,000 pounds below the waterline.
During the 1970s experiments were made with fibreglass, and other materials, which has led to the
modern rowing eight and the four which now dominate the sport..
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/jim.shead/Boats4.html

For the boardrider, Chris Cornick's essay Cactus Beach, page 233, has particular resonance.
Cornick records two SLSA Meritorious Awards for rescuing victims of shark attacks and in both cases the victims were fellow club members and the rescue used a surfboard.
At Fairhaven, Victoria in 1959, Russell Hughes positioned an injured Chris Holland, who was body surfing, on his balsawood pig board and swam him back to the beach.
Hughes and his board(s) are shown on page 237.
In 2000 Steve Thomas of Glenelg SLSC and ex-member Anthony Hayes were boardriding at Cactus Beach, South Australia, when Hayes was attacked by a three metre bronze whaler.
Thomas fought off the shark and paddled Hayes and the boards back to the beach, applied first aid, and drove 25 kilometres to meet an ambulance dispatched from Ceduna.

These cases are certainly extreme situations, however many experienced boardriders have stories of rescues they have performed, invariably unrecorded by officials or the press.
While the SLSA has been unscrupulous in collating rescue data, the number of unofficial recues carried out by recreational boardriders is, by definition, unknown but likely to be substantial.

1998 James, Don  Surfing San Onfre to Point Dume 1936 - 1942 Photographs by Don James Chronicle Books  85 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 First published 1996 by Tom Adler Books, Santa Barbara, CA Hard cover, 140 pages,10 colour plates, 104 black and white plates, Introduction by C. R. Stecyk, Notes. * A excellently produced volume of photographs from a golden era of surfing that set the style for the coming popular surf culture.  Design Note : There are no reconisable fins on these boards but several examples of a keel type attachment, approximately 2 1/2 inches by 8 inch base. Plates : page 12; two boards, right page 39; page 115. Performance Note : Despite constant references to the solid wood era surfers as riding straight to the beach, these photographs emphatically show this is not the case. In most photographs the surfer is cutting left or right.

1977  Jarratt, Phil :  The Wave Game Soundtracts Publishing Pty. Ltd.  P.O. Box 281 Broadway NSW 2007.  Soft cover, 95 pages, 16 colour photographs, 67 b/w photographs. *Well written account of the Hawaiian and Australian professional contest circuit 1977, with excellent photographs. History of professional surfing in Chapter 1. Chapter 5 - The Stubbies Classic documents the introduction of Peter Drouyn’s revolutionary  ‘man on man’ contest format that is still in use world wide (except for Hawaii) 20 years later. Note that one of the key features of Drouyn’s original concept (the ‘man-on-man’ hassle) was soon circumvented with the introduction of the priority buoy.

1985  Jarratt, Phil and Edwards, Tony The Surfing Dictionary Sun Books  The Macmillan Company of Australia Pty Ltd 107 Moray Street, South Melbourne 3205 6 Clarke Street, Crows Nest 2065 Soft cover, 84 pages, 50 black and white illustrations. * Humorous surfing definitions by Phil Jarratt (see Tracks magazine and other entries this page) and even better illustrations by Tony 'Captain Goodvibes' Edwards.   Fin - The short, sharp object attached to the bottom of the board designed to maim or decapitate wayward bobysurfers. As the bodysurfer problem has increased, so has the number of weapons employed on each board. As many as five are considered necessary on summer Sundays at places like Bondi. Page 22.

1997 Jarratt, Phil :  Mr. Sunset – The Jeff Hakman Story Gen X Publishing, Park Place, Canary Wharf,   London, E144HJ, United Kingdom.  Hard cover, 192 pages, 130 colour photographs, 72 b/w photographs, 11 newspaper / magazine reproductions, cast update.  *Beautifully produced work (John Witzig), well written and with excellent photographs. Strong on Australian content, likewise drug abuse. Phil Jarrartt is a former editor of Tracks magazine.

Jenkins, Bruce : 1999 North Shore Chronicles : Big Wave Sufing in Hawaii - Revised Edition Frog Ltd , Berkley, California Distributed by North Atlantic Books PO Box 12327, Berkley, California, 94712. Soft cover, 195 pages, 65 colour photographs, 15 black and white photographs. * Second edition updates the previous work with additional chapters detailing the development of tow in surfing (Big Wednesday -page 177) and the death of Mark Foo (The Last Wave - page 191). The photograph selection has been updated.

Jennar, Howard : 1985 Making a Surfboard - The Complete Manual Mason Stewart Publishing Pty Ltd  P.O. Box 746 Darlinghurst New South Wales Soft cover, 96 pages, 140 black and white photographs, Glossary, Bibliography. *Intensive instructions for surfboard construction circa 1985. Some design detail includes single, twin and trifin boards.

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Note
This is not a complete list of surfing books, only books read and reviewed  for this site are listed.
For more comprehensive lists go to...
The Surfing Bibliography - Surfing Books
- Steven  Whelan's comprehensive list of books, film, video and magazines, listed alphabetically.
From England,
and/or
The Water Log Surfing Bibliography
- excellent listing of books and journals  by Daved Marsh USA, listed by category. From USA.

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