
During the early 1960’s a group of friends had started to hang out on the cliff tops between Ventnor beach and Steephill Cove. These bored teenagers soon began to focus their attention on the ocean. The Island at that time still had many unexplored pockets of coastline or so it felt to this group of friends. The ocean soon became their playground.
Mar 25, 2010 | Categories: The Sixties | Tags: 12ft wooden surfboards, 1960, 1960's, 29 Spring Hill, Archie Trickett, archive, B&W, belly board, belly boards, bellyboard, bellyboards, Biarritz, Bilbo, Bilbo surf shop, Bob Head, Cascades, Colin Burgess, Colin Hicks, compton, Compton Bay, European Championships, France, Freshwater, freshwater bay, Geoff Gardner, Geoff ‘Ned’ Garner, half inch thick wetsuits, history, homemade 12ft wooden surfboards, homemade skateboards, Hutch, IOW, IOW Surf Club, Isle of Wight County Press, Isle of Wight County Press Newspaper, Isle of Wight Surf Club, Joel de Rosnay, John Ainsworth, Kevin Digweed, Lillywhites, Little Stairs, Little Stairs beach, longboard, Mike Hutchinson, Mike ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson, Ned, Newquay, niton, Paint Spot, Pat Morrell, Paul Coleman, people, photo, photographs, portrait, Rod Sumpter, Roger Backhouse, Russell Long, San Diego Surf Championships, Sandown, Skateboard, Skateboarding, skimboard, skimboarding, Steephill, Steephill Cove, stoked, Sue Ellis, surf, Surf Trip, surfboard, Surfer, surfing, Ventnor, waves, wetsuit, wetsuits, Wight Water, wightsurfhistory, wooden belly boards, wooden surfboards, woodwork teacher, ‘Old Joe’ | Leave A Comment »

There were little pockets of surfers scattered around the Island all experimenting with surfing in their own ways
Feb 09, 2010 | Categories: The Sixties | Tags: 1960's, 60's, beach, Belly Boarding, Ben Kelly, boat, canoe, Canoes, Captain Cook, Captain James Cook, Colin Burgess, Cook, Cornwall, Culture, Duke, Duke Kahanmoku, fibreglass, Fishermen, Geoff Gardner, Geoff ‘Ned’ Gardner, Glyn Kernick, Great Western, Hawaii, Hawaiian, Hutch, Insurance, Jimmy Dix, John Ainsworth, Kauai, keel, Keith Williams, Kevin Digweed, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Matavai Point, Mike Hutchinson, Mike ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson, Ned Gardner, Paddled, Pat Morrell, Pip Staffieri, Polynesia, Prince Edward, Roger Backhouse, Russell Long, Sid Pitman, Sue Backhouse, Susan Ellis (Backhouse), The Sixties, Towan, Waikiki, Wave riding, waves, wooden board, wooden boards, Wooden Surfboard, wooden surfboards | Leave A Comment »

Here is an excerpt about the Isle of Wight from Roger Mansfield’s new book ‘The Surfing Tribe’ A History of Surfing in Britain’ Roger Backhouse and his friends Mike Hutchinson, Sid Pitman, Ben Kelly and a handful of others are attributed with being the first island residents to start surfing in 1964. They picked up [...]
Jan 28, 2010 | Categories: Surf Blogs, Uncategorized | Tags: Ankle Leash, Balsa, Bay, Ben Kelly, board, compton, Cosmic, Cosmic Leahes, Cosmic Leash, Derek Thompson, fibreglass, Freshwater, Glyn Kernick, History of Surfing in Britain, I.O.W. Surf Club, IOW Surf Club, Isle of Wight Surf Club, Johnny Fryer, Keith Williams, longboard, Masters, Mike Hutchinson, Rob Ward, Roger Backhouse, roger cooper, Roger Mansfield, shaper, Sid Pitman, South Coast, South Coast Champion, surfboard, Tad Ciastula, The Surfing tribe, Ventnor | Leave A Comment »