Millerslocal is starting to build a photo archive of old shots of PE's beaches and surfing from back in the day. All this old stuff's on print, so unless we start making an effort to scan and record this stuff the fish moths are going to eat them stukkend, and they'll be lost forever. Feel free to send in any old surfing/beach shots you have, from the 60's to the 90's. No scanner? No problem, just lemme know and I'll sort it.
Lank old
As in REALLY old. When the suburbs only went as far as the harbour, and the end of the line, literally, was Humewood. Unridden perfection.
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Old Fence
PE's best wave by far back in the day. Less sand (as in 800m less beach) meant big fat wedges turning into big fat barrels.
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Old Humewood
Lotsa sand meant great banks to funnel grinding tubes. Everyone ignored the No Surfing rule, much like they still do today.
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Old Millers
No-one surfed low tide Millers in the early days cos falling off your board without a leash meant dings galore thanks to the reef. Nose-riding comps were aplenty.
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Old Avalanche
Outta bounds til leashes came onto the scene. The manne were those that took of far behind the rock. Still the same rules today.
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Old Pipe
Chilling on the wall at the Summerstrand Hotel whilst checking the surf was what you did. The most consistent spot, then and now.
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Old Wildside
The wildside was wilder back then. Very few surfers made the mission outside the bay. But those who did were rewarded with empty perfection.
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Old Bruce's
Made famous by the Endless Summer. A perfect right point. More perfect then than now.
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Old JBay
Perfect rights were there before imperfect town-planning. Camping in the dunes & surfing uncrowded long lines. Life was good.
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Old Seals
The right at the end of the dirt road. Weekends camping in kombi's & Datsun's. Spoilt for choice, a point & peaky beachies.
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Old EP Surfing
All the EP surf teams of yesteryear. Shortboarding n longboarding, old newspaper clips. Know your history.
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Vintage lifestyle
Before boardies were made by global brands, when surfboards were fat & had no rocker. You chowed at the Casbah roadhouse and drank Kellerprinz.
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Blog Posts on Vintage stuff
King's Beach
King's Beach was the place to be back in the day. Where the skatepark is today used to be the epicentre of beach life in PE. Massive kid's splash pool, the Smartie Train, the skate ramps, the legendary cafe and KB lifesaving club jols. Kyf's, neon & Esprit. Yah, those were the days...
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Old surf stories
Mike Mee an ex-PE local sent in a bunch of kiff shots from the 70's and 80's. He has a couple of flipping funny tales to go with them too, so check out all the kak that the lighties back then got up to!
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Transkei dreams
You don't need to get on a plane to go find world class waves, they're right on your doorstep. Back in the day, Kei trips used to be a right of passage for PE surfers. Check out some beaut shots from Jonty's trips east of the border back then. Epic waves for sure.
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Humewood oldies
Starting in 1902 with the original wooden pier, through to the bathing pavilion, and the infamous ropes. Lotsa classic old Hummies shots from turn of the century to late 70's.
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Pipe back then
Check out some classic old shots of Pollok Beach. Back in the days of the Summerstrand Hotel, brush fences on the beach, red wooden lifeguard towers and ou's in speedo's. Always has been, always will be, the premiere surf/hang/lurk beach in town.
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Box full of treasure
A newly discovered box full of Jonty Hansfords old prints. Some epic shots like this aerial view of cooking Avo's.
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Arrested 4 surfing
Humewood used to have these big "No surfing" signs up on the pylons. Most of the ou's just ignored them and went surfing anyhow...but sometimes the long arm of the long arrived...
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Epic Baked Beans
Hard to believe this shot of Jonty on a smoker is taken at Baked Beans. But every dog has it's day, and Baked Beans had it's on 26 March '81. The only rideable spot in the bay on the day. Check out the Zag feature article on it here.
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Revisiting da 80's
Take a look back on the 80's with Gavin Rother. The early days at JBay - camping in the bush. Elands missions. Surfing in a dry-suit. Major missions to the Transkei. SAU's at Seals. Those were the years.
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Why the pillars?
The ou's climbing the pillars at Hummies got me thinking. Do you ou's even know why there are pillars there? Check out their history.
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90's longboard
Ryan Anderson dominated the 90's on his longboard. World Champs, SA Champs, living in Cali & Hawaii. Modelling for fashion houses. This ou did it all. Check it out.
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The time machine
Hook a ride back in time with Malcolm Turner as we go back to when Denvils (above) absolutely cooked, JBay was first surfed, follow early surf missions to uncharted territories and just get stoked out on how things used to be.
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Gavin Rudolph
Without doubt PE's most successful pro surfer to date, local legend Gavin Rudolph pioneered surfing Supers, won the first Gunston 500 and took the title at the unofficial World Champs at 12-15ft Sunset, Hawaii. Not bad for a PE boytjie. Check out his story here.
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70's JBay article
Huisgenoot featured an article on the hippy surfers that pulled into JBay and lived in the bushes! A gas cooker, tent and board. Sorted.
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Frontline wetties
Back in the day Frontline Wetsuits were THE wettie locally. Found an old one whilst spring cleaning recently so decided to find out what happened to the once-popular SA brand. Check the story here...
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Millers named?
How did Millers end up being called Millers? Plenty of time sniffing through the old history books at the Main Library turned up a few potential prospects, and some interesting stories from back in the day. <read more> |
PE Surf History
A look at how surfing started in PE thanks to the lifesavers, and the the first PE surfboard label - Seal Point Surfboards.
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Macski legend
John Macleod's Macski took paddleski's to the world. Find out how an easterly day at Pipe led to the evolution of the modern waveski, making over 60 000 boogie boards a year, and the only family with 3 members holding World Waveski titles. Small town, big idea's.
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Old Surf shops
Back in the day Rink Street used to be the surfing mecca of PE. Seri-ass. All the surf shops were located there. Here's a look at the history of the first one on the block - Ocean's.
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Dr Muesli Pier
Bet ya didn't know before Shark Rock Pier there was the Dr Muesli Pier! And of course some mischievous surfers had something to do with it. Find out an interesting little piece of history about the fore-runner to the Shark Rock Pier here...
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History of Hobie
It doesn't actually officially exist! Check out the history of this unofficial beach and the development of the Shark Rock Pier here.
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70's surf stories
Jonty Hansford shares a golden time in our surf history back in the 70's - when Fence cooked, so did Millers, Avo's had sand, JBay was all about camping in the bush, and Seals was a full-on mission to get to.
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