Gato Heroi shaping at Sugarmill

...... fresh from Noosa, Robbie Kegel spent the weekend testing out the new shaping bay at The Sugarmill in Narrabeen. Critical Slide snapper Elle Green dropped in to watch the foam get mowed:

HEAD

Introducing #1 in an occasional series of surf history pieces written by wordsmith & fount of knowledge, Wayne Golding.

First off the blocks:

KINGS OF THE POND
Kevin ‘Head’ Brennan



Kevin Brennan was a surfing prodigy, an extravagantly talented switchfoot who could surf the Platts off riders twice his age and double his size. By the time he’d turned 14 he was doing things on a surfboard that most of his peers wouldn’t be doing until the following decade. He, along with the great and equally tragic Bobby Brown, was a master of the parallel stance.

Known as ‘The Head’, due to his disproportionately large noggin, Kevin had little use for school and from an early age spent most of his time surfing his local, Bondi Beach. The rest of his time was spent dodging truant officers and nurturing a career in petty crime.

Even as a junior, Kevin possessed a talent for attracting crowds, either lined up along the water’s edge watching gob smacked as he walked on water with an agility and unaffected style that disguised a tendency of boards of that era to fight their owners all the way to the beach, or else being chased through the Bondi car park by a mob of fellow board club members after being caught rifling through their gear. On one of the occasions that he was caught he was left, tied naked to a pole at the southern end of the beach. Only lesson he might have learned that day was not to get caught the next time

In 1965 at the age of 15, Brennan did what no other Australian surfer had done before or since, winning both the NSW State junior and senior titles. To win the senior event he had to beat ’64 world champ, Midget Farrelly, and Nat Young who claimed the world title in 1966.



Unfortunately, Kevin’s talent stopped at the water’s edge. Apart from picking up a few minor endorsements and appearing in Paul Witzig’s classic, Hot Generation he was unable to translate his success in the water into a career or even a reasonable living on shore.

Brennan eventually followed his celebrity up to Sydney’s northern beaches where he walked smack into a very heavy, dope-fuelled scene. Never the sharpest knife in the drawer, he quickly immersed himself in a drug lifestyle that eventually left little time for surfing.

Details of his life from that point on mostly revolve around hearsay and distant memory with most of the stories related to drugs and none of them particularly inspiring. The one thing that’s certain is that in 1975, ten years after what was probably the best day of his life, Kevin Brennan died of a heroine overdose in a Kings Cross nightclub. He was 22 years old and mourned by the few friends that he hadn’t managed to completely alienate and a handful of dealers.



photos from A pictorial history of Surfing Paul Hamlyn 1970

solitude

Sage Joske, rinsing off the foam dust & resin fumes after work.

Solitude from Nathan Oldfield on Vimeo.

porch & parlour

Good mates, Benno, Gab and Dude have just opened their new store on Brighton Boulevard, North Bondi called Porch & Parlour (The Porch opens in 2 weeks). They've picked up some great local product including Waxa boards from the local lads Scott Robinson and Po Mcreynolds, a collection of basics from Skinny Nelson and of course TCSS. Gab's stocking most of our current range of Tees, Boardshorts and Boardbags. If you're in the Bondi neck of the woods, drop in, say hey, buy a pair of shorts and knock back a Coopers Pale.

Gab and Benno with Waxa Log

Hand made curtains by Gab

Guard Dog 'Dude' with top marks in Puppy school

TCSS In-Store Now

Lady foam dancer

cloudy rocks

cloudy rolls

Clouds is about to head off to the Solomon Islands for the adventure of a lifetime with TCSS team mate Johnny Gill & compadres Carl Gonsalves & Matt Chonoski.... she's taking a swag of camera gear so stay tuned for pictures from nowhere near here

beautiful losers @ mc

Chris Johanson, Faile, Alexis Ross, Geoff McFetridge, Jo Jackson, Keith Scharwath, Jesse Spears, Thomas Campbell, Ingrid Allen, Teenage Teardrops, Alia Penner,
Steven Harrington, Ed Templeton, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Sister Corita, Terry Richardson, Susan Cianciolo, Raymond Pettibon, Tobin Yelland, Elisa Saether, and more…

mr cherry

this is ridiculously late notice, but maybe you're at a loose end tonight in Sydney town, not quite up for The Happening in Bondi & not yet ready for the sofa.

Mark Cherry is a Sydney film maker with an intriguing sensibility when it comes to "surf movies"... don't expect a lot of air or back slapping, this is more like your early morning dreams of the greenroom..... get there if you can.

(not so) Secret Spots

a trilogy of short films by Mark Cherry

Gallery 329 Clovelly Road, Clovelly on Friday 26^th March 2010 from 7pm to 9pm

3 short films by writer/ director Mark Cherry with collaborators James Marshall, Matt Palmer, Jim Hearn and Amy Frasca will be presented at Gallery 329 Clovelly on Friday 26^th March from 7 – 9pm.

Synopsis –

(not so) Secret Spots is a trilogy of short films by Mark Cherry, which collect impressions from the surf/life experience.

Mark Cherry has worked as a lecturer, writer and film critic. His areas of interest include education, surfing, film and popular culture. He has just finished the third short film in a trilogy called (not so) Secret Spots, titled By way of Grupek - a Super 8 film shot in Lombok Indonesia with Matthew Palmer and James Marshall.

Films -

Duchenne Smile

Even when the surf’s small, there’s another kind of perfect.

Duchenne Smile is the vision of writer/director, Mark Cherry. Part memory, part day dream, the film chases the idea of the unaffected smile. With producer Amy Frasca, graphic designer Jim Mitchell, sound designer Dylan Martin, musician Sofjan Hughes, and sound engineer Gus Till, a subtle emotion is gently coaxed to life.

Duration 4.50 mins

Hospitality

When three travelers find themselves tripping in Indonesia, immersed in a society unfamiliar and strange, they draw comfort from the culture, the people, and the ocean. Hospitality trades on impressionism and poetry, avoiding the easy answers of a high definition travelogue in favour of a more open-ended resonance.

Duration 3.20 mins

By Way of Grupek

Mark Cherry’s 3rd film in the (not so) Secret Spots trilogy, part doco, part home movie. A collaboration with Matt Palmer and James Marshall, it explores place, time and memory. Observational and imagined, a surf break, pushed up from the ocean by repeated Tsunami’s, is the shifting backdrop to a film that’s as much impression, as it is circumstance.

Duration 3.15 mins

Shooting Format Super 8, Mini DV, nokia mobile phone

good morning.......

don't need to say anything really.... another beautiful shot by simon perini

farewell first point

so apparently all good things must come to an end... ie get my ass back to work... some shots from my last couple of hours at Noosa 2010

one last beer at the surf club - good vantage point of Main Beach

always a pleasure to catch up with the Wegeners

Robby Kegal... papped while eating pappadams...
next tour of duty - foam mowing at the Sugar Mill.. get in the queue y'all

the ever charismatic Dane Wilson

Kassia Meador & TCSS gold coast agent Benny Lathlean

thanks to Ben & Jo for hosting me this week... best risotto ever! now back to the drawing board.

Thomas Surfboards

it's the great characters in town that make this week in Noosa so interesting....

check out these beautiful boards by Sunshine Coast shaper Thomas Bexon... hand-crafted & resin tinted, they don't come any better than this.

the man with his masterpieces

tough day at the office

I could get used to this....

brekko at Aroma with Critical Slider Brett Caller

a little surf check.... yeah, looks ok

Nathan Oldfield hasn't stopped filming for 5 days straight

Yuta, brother slider from Japan is impressed by Nate's stamina

Dane Peterson has been on fire this week

Rasta and Joel Fitzgerald heading out at Nationals

Alex Knost taking a breather

the Mondo Booty - big assed Evolution V-bottom...
Wayne Lynch inspired, Gato Heroi shaped

diggin' the Mondo Booty logo

Little Man's home brew!
Liquid refreshments with Jacob & Thomas at Nationals, thanks guys.

one last look

so swell

ok, so my crappy camera doesn't quite capture the magic that is Jonsons working but you probably get the idea from the satisfied grins everybody is wearing today......

mr c & mr t going out for another session

jonsons peeling

5 hours in the water & matty cho is all smiles

when you need to refuel, have a koala hot dog

food of champions!

throw in some burleigh

GC buddy, Marc Llewellyn fired these off and over to us, shot Monday morning. Apparently there's a cyclone swell building just off the QLD coast, just in time for Jim's arrival at Noosa for the festival of surfing. In contrast I was paddling my heart out for 1/2 foot closeouts at 7:30pm last night. Please send some south.