I suppose I have always considered myself a surfer.
I was brought up in Joberg, South Africa, but holidays on the coast at Morgans Bay and Port St Johns near Durban always involved belly boarding on the wooden boards.
It was in Port St Johns in 1970 that I spotted “proper” surfing for the first time, I thought then that’s what I wanted to try. The beach boys came into the café and sat at the table combing their hair, which my mum considered very uncouth, they made a tremendous impression on me as a ten year old.
When we came to live on the IOW it was only a couple of years before I realized that you could surf on the Island, Mr Munt from the teashop steered me towards the Surf club and in 1975 I joined up. Dave Jacobs sent me a nice handwritten letter of welcome and a sticker to “stick where I wanted to”.
I didn’t have a board or a wetsuit, so spent up untill December surfing in a leotard on the rather interesting selection of mals from the surf hut, my favourite was an old blue Bilbo with a split nose. I got a real pasting and went home every week on my moped covered in bruises.
Finally I had a wetsuit made up at the Diving centre in Appley, Ryde, A Beavertail thing with knobs on that were definitely not designed for paddling prone.
I also bought a 6ft pink board that was far too small and traded it in for Diggers green gun that was far too fast. I think every learner has to go through this wrong board thing.
Finally Keith and Jake took pity on me, showed me how to push up, paddled me out back and lent me a suitable board. A 7′ 5″ shortboard that was nice and wide.
The first surf trip I went on to The Gower in Wales in April 1976 was so cold that the wetsuits froze on the hedge outside, as did the loaf of bread for breakfast but the cider was so strong you couldn’t feel a thing.
The next trip to Newquay in September was memorable for a classic swell at Crantock, meals in the Golden Egg, Americans playing pool in the Sailors, in check shirts and caps, how cool, and the first rains for 2 months, and how it rained.
Those were golden times and the club had a real good feel to it, we had BBQs on the beach and played volleyball, met in the 3 Bishops on Fridays and played darts and rode the first skateboards of the era up in the Castle car park and down Staplers.
I’d told everyone I was 18 so I could go to the pub with them, I lied but dipped out, as I couldn’t have a birthday for 3 years!
I think Dave Gray (Digger) summed it up one day when we were all sitting post surf on the beach and a crowd of grockels sat alongside us, rather white and pasty, he looked at them and quoted from a popular advert at the time, “we’re the Prize guys and they’re the thin yoghurts.” We all knew just what he meant.
Surfing continues to be a big part of my life, and I get in at Compton whenever I come back to the Island and miss the camaraderie of the car park. I now live in Newquay and work at Fistral beach, so waves are plentiful, both my daughters surf (much better than I ever will) and my Dad still surfs on his 1950’s Ride the Crest wooden belly board.
Apr 08, 2012 | Categories: Surfer Profiles, The Seventies | Tags: 1950's Ride the Crest wooden belly board, 1970's, 1975, 1976, 3 Bishops, 70's, archive, beach, beach boys, beaver tail, Beavertail, belly board, Belly Boarding, Bilbo, blackley, blog, bruise, Castle, Chelsea Sheath, Cider, compton, Compton Bay, Cornwall, Crantock, Daughter, Dave 'Digger' Gray, Dave Gray, Dave Grey, Dave Jacobs, Digger, Diving Centre, Durban, frozen, Golden Egg, Gower, history, IOW, IOW Surf Club, Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight Surf Club, Joberg, Keith Williams, leotard, longboard, Morgans Bay, Mr Munt, Newquay, paul blackley, people, photo, photographs, Port St Johns, portrait, Ron Munt, Sailors, Skateboard, South Africa, Staplers, Sticker, stoked, surf, Surf Trip, surfboard, Surfer, surfing, swell, tea shop, teashop, The Noughties, Three Bishops, Wales, waves, wetsuit, wightsurfhistory, wooden boards, Zoe Sheath | Comments Off on Gail (Sheath) Broomfield
Soon after this Al was surfing Porthleven with Dean Winter when he went too deep and got smashed into the reef. Al ended up quite battered and bruised and with broken ribs. A Pregnant Julie and Al had already decided to move back to the Island and at that point Al was desperate to get as much surfing in before they left. So even with broken ribs and feeling quite sore Al continued to surf, paddling into waves with one arm until they left for the Island.
Aug 18, 2010 | Categories: Surfer Profiles | Tags: 1950's, 2cv, 4 fin drive, 60's Stylemasters, Al Reed, alan reed, aMY rEED, archive, Ataxia, Ataxia type 6, Bare Knuckle Boxer, Bare Knuckle Boxing, Barney, Barnstormers, Barrels, Beau Young, Bert, Bert Spencer, Blackthorn, Blackthorn Cider, Brighstone, broken ribs, Captain, Catweasle, Cerri Williams, Chapter, Chris Jones, chronic pancreatitis, Cider, Clean, Commodore, compton, Compton Bay, Cornwall, Corset, Custard Point, Dave Gray, Dave Grey, Dean Winter, Duane Desoto, DVD, East Cowes, East Wittering, Fistral, Freshwater, freshwater bay, Glassy, Grange Chine, Guy Leverton, history, Hotdoggers, hypothermia, In The Sun, interclub championships, IOW, IOW Surf Club, Island Myland, Island surf movies, Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight Ferries, Isle of Wight Surf Club, Israel Paskowitz, Jeremy Robinson, Jill Fryer, Joel Tudor, Johnny Fryer, Julie Reed, Ladies Hotdoggers Team, largest ever surfboard, Les Reed, Lifeguard, lifeguards, Lifestyle, Lightning Bolt, Log, longboard, M.M.Y., Mark Neville, Marsh Mellow Yellow, Martin Spencer, MMY, Mohawk, Mount Wise, MOVIE, movies, Naby, Nat Young, Navy, Newquay, Newquay Surf Board Company, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Nodes Hill Holiday Park, North East, North Fistral, Nose Rider, Ocean Magic, Offshore Sports, Olive Saunders, Only fools and horses, Oxbow, Oxbow Longboard European Tour, pancreatitis, people, Perranporth, photo, photographs, Popout, Porthleven, portrait, Prince of Wales, Prince of Wales Pub, punk, punk rock, punk rocker, Quad Fin, Ray Hutchings, Record Breakers, reef, Robert Weaver, Robert ‘Wingnut’ Weaver, Roger Butler, Roger Mansfield, Russell Winter, Sailing Regattas, Sam Lamiroy, Sandown Bay, Saunton, session, sessions, Shanklin Pier, Shore Surf Club, Sid Vicious, South Coast Championships, South Fistral, Spencer Morgan, Spiked, Spikes, Sponsored, Steve Winter, stoked, surf, surf movies, Surf Trip, surfboard, Surfer, surfing, Susan Reed, swell, swells, Takuji Masuda, thruster, Tristan May, TV12, UK Nose Riding Championships, UK2K, Vit Sea, Vitamin Sea, Wales, waves, wetsuit, wightlink, Wightlink Ferries, Wightlink Ferry, wightsurfhistory, Wingnut, Winter | Comments Off on Alan Reed