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1963
Jackson, Gainor W.: 
The Australian Beach and Boating Book.
Cassell Australia, 210 Queen Street Melbourne, Victoria, 1963.
Hard cover, 127 pages, black and white illustrations, Index.
Review
Basic instructional book for beachgoers, with a major focus on boating.

See Source Documents
1963 Gainor W. Jackson : Riding the Rollers.


2006
Jackson, Ivan: 
Sand Between My Toes - The Story of Surf Lifesaving in New Zealand.
Penguin Group (NZ)
67 Apollo Drive Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand, 2006.

Soft cover, 215 pages, black and white and colour illustrations and photographs, Appendix: Club List, References, Index.
Review
Based on archival material, club records and personal recollections, the book concentrates on the formation of the various New Zealand clubs and associations, detailing notable rescues and profiling administators and competitors.
Note Part 10 Chapter 29 Craft and Rescue Equipment: Surf canoes page 182, Surf boats page 184, Surf skis page 187, and Surfboards and Paddleboards page 189.

Copy courtesy of the Gold Coast Library.


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 photographs, 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.
Importantly, he places the Australian movement in an international context and examines the growth popularity in surf bathing and early developments in rescue techniques in the UK and USA.
In Australia (essentially Sydney) he examines the opening of the beaches to daylight bathing, the growth of surf life saving from the (English derived) Royal Life Saving Society, connections with competitive swimming clubs, the somewhat convoluted establishment of the first life saving clubs, and the development into a national organisation.
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:
Surf (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 (1959) page 69; Harris (1961) 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 Onofre to Point Dume 1936-1942
Photographs by Don James
Chronicle Books  85 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, 1998.
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.
Review
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.
Also see

1941 Click : Surfboards Ahoy!, California.
Text and photographs (by Dr. Don James) from Click, August 1941.

1977 
Jarratt, Phil : 
The Wave Game
Soundtracts Publishing Pty. Ltd. 
P.O. Box 281 Broadway NSW 2007, 1977.
Soft cover, 95 pages, 16 colour photographs, 67 b/w photographs.
Review
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, 1985.
Soft cover, 84 pages, 50 black and white illustrations.
Review
Humorous surfing definitions by Phil Jarratt (see Tracks magazine and other works on 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, 1997. 
Hard cover, 192 pages, 130 colour photographs, 72 b/w photographs, 11 newspaper / magazine reproductions, cast update. 
Review
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. 

2010
Jarratt, Phil : 
Salts and Suits - How a bunch of surf bums created a multi-billion dollar industry ... and almost lost it.
Hardie Grant Books
 85 High Street Prahan, Victoria, 3181, Australia, 2010.
Soft cover, 265 pages, colour and black and white plates, Where are they now?, Acknowledgements, Glossary, Index.
Review
Expansive and indepth account of the rise of the major Australian based surf fashion companies by former Tracks magazine editor and industry employee, Phil Jarrartt.
The first six chapters are an historical overview of the expansion of surfing from its Polynesian roots up to the end of the 1960s.
Regretably these are not flawless - note, for example, another repitition of the Gocher myth (page 27) and Jarratt's apparent confusion between Cook's mariner William Ellis (died 1785) and the missionary Rev. William Ellis (1789-1872), pages 12 and 13.
As the book progresses it  becomes more involved with the development of ever increasing complex business models and corresponding intricate boardroom politics.
This copy provided courtesy of Paul Flack.

2011
Jarratt, Phil : 
Australia's Hottest 100 Surfing Legends.
Hardie Grant Books (Australia)
Ground and Level One 
Building One 
658 Church Street Richmond, 3121, 2011.
www.hardiegrant.com
Hard cover, 234 pages, colour and black and white photographs, Acknowledgements, References, Index.
Review
A chronological overview by decade of Australian surfers, beginning with famed bodysurfer, Freddie Williams, and with each entry limited to one page of text and one of images.
The selection of the number of "legends" is invariably prone to dispute, in this case with the later decades (19800-2000) possibly over repesented.
In particular, note the absence of Terry Richardson (Wollongong) and Victoria's Maurice Cole.
Unfortunately there are a number of historical errors, particually in the earlier chapters. 

2012
Jarratt, Phil : 
Surfing Australia - A Complete History of Surfboard Riding in Australia.
Hardie Grant Books (Australia)
Ground and Level One 
Building One 
658 Church Street Richmond, 3121, 2012.
www.hardiegrant.com
Hard cover, 234 pages, colour and black and white photographs, Acknowledgements, References, Index.
Review
Released in conjunction with Surfing Australia's 50th anniversary, this highly detailed and richly illustrated history of Australian surf riding substantially surplants all previous similar publications.

Disclaimer: "It would be a brave historian indeed who attempted to put together the story of Australian surfing without reference to  the following books, magazines and websites: ... surfresearch.com.au (Geoff Cater),..."


2014
Jarratt, Phil : 
Surfing Australia - A
Hardie Grant Books (Australia)
Ground and Level One 
Building One 
658 Church Street Richmond, 3121, 2014.
www.hardiegrant.com
Soft cover, 289 pages, black and white photographs, Sources, Notes, Acknowledgements.
Review
Excellent.


2014
Jarratt, Phil : 
Bali: Heaven and Hell
Hardie Grant Books (Australia)
Ground and Level One 
Building One 
658 Church Street Richmond, 3121, 2014.
www.hardiegrant.com
Soft cover, 334 pages, black and white and colour plates, End Notes, Acknowledgements, Index.
Review
An expansive history of Bali focusing on its development as a world-wide renown tourist destination, including the impact of visiting surfers.


2017
Jarratt, Phil:
Life of Brine: A Surfer's Journey
Hardie Grant Books (Australia)
658 Church Street Richmond, 3121, 6 June 2017.
Paperback, 287 pages, black and white photographs, Acknowledgements.
Review
An delightfully honest and highly readable autobiography by Phil Jarratt, one time editor of Tracks and California's Surfer magazine.
Plenty of unique personalities, waves, drugs and sex.



1999 
Jenkins, Bruce :
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, 1999.
Soft cover, 195 pages, 65 colour photographs, 15 black and white photographs.
Review
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.

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

2007
Jennar, Howard :
The Surfer's Textbook - Making a Surfboard.
HJ Surf Designs Pty Ltd.
P.O. Box 22 Bogginbar, NSW, Australia, 2488, 2007.
[Puzzels for Design and Technology Students Book 1]
Soft cover, 416 pages, extensive black and white and colour illustrations and photographs, Glossary, Resource List, Material Suppliers.
Review
A vastly updated edition of Jennar's earlier work, see above.
Mostly comprises intensive instructions for surfboard construction with colour photographs, however, the history section, as recalled by Joe Larkin is excellent (pages 74 to 85), and there are numerous photographs of vintage boards from the fine collection of Carl Tanner, Gold Coast, Queensland.


2015
Jha, Alok:
The Water Book : the extraordinary story of our most ordinary substance.
Headline, London, 2015.
Soft cover, 376 pages, maps.
Review.
Water is a remarkable substance, essential to carbon-based life forms, and there is a lot of it in the cosmos.

Water molecules helped create the Earth, life on it and us.
We have built our worlds, and we are ourselves built of this remarkable substance.
Jha’s book is often remarkable, too.
t is overlong; in places it needed more zealous editing.
But it holds wonders enough that you can swim through the flaws, and into its deeps
.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/the-water-book-by-alok-jha-review




1963 
Johnson, Barry :
Surf Fever
The Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1963.
Soft cover, 32 pages, black and white photographs and illustrations, Glossary.
Review
A basic introductory book with a considerable focus on Queensland's Gold Coast, unlike most o f the early literature which tends to be Sydney based.
Of most interest is the chapter on How a Board is Made, pages 13 to 16, with accompanying photographs from Joe Larkin's Coolangatta factory.
The photographs are probably not in the correct sequence.
The illustrator is not accredited.

See Source Documents:
1963 Barry Johnson: How Boards are Made.


2010 
Johnson, Ivan :
To Save a Life - 75 years of Prevention, Rescue and Rescuscitation by Mollymook SLSC.
Mollymook SLSC Inc.
PO Box 59 Ulladulla NSW 2539, 2010.
www.mollymooksurf.com.au
Soft cover, 148 pages, black and white and colour photographs and illustrations, Appendix: Competition Results, Awards, Office Bearers, Acknowledgements.
Review

1980
Johnstone, Paul : 
The Sea-craft of Prehistory.
Prepared for publication by Sean McGrail.
Routledge and Keegan Paul Ltd.
30 Stone Street London WC1E7DD and
Broadway house, Newton Road
Henley-on-Tyames, Oxon RG91EN, 1980.
Hard cover, 260 pages, black and white maps, illustrations and photographs, Acknowledgements, Abbreviations, Notes, Index.
Review
Although surfboards, indeed surfcraft in general, are not discussed in the book, it does provide an historical context for the earliest types of water-craft in Part1 and some notes on Polynesian craft, Chapter 15.

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surfresearch.com.au
home catalogue history references appendix

Geoff Cater (1999 - 2018) : References - Books - J.
http://www.surfresearch.com.au/rbj.html