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A reunion to celebrate 50 years of surfing was held in Gisborne over Easter Weekend 2009.
Here you can view a gallery of photos taken during the reunion.
- VIEW THE REUNION PHOTO GALLERY
- View "History of Surfing in Gisborne" article at BeachLife Magazine Online
- Return to Beach-Life Magazine Website
Surf city's pioneer days
Gisborne Herald: Tuesday, 14 April 2009 By Marianne Gillingham
The "summer of '69" really did prove to be endless in Gisborne at the weekend, as old friendships over 50 years were rekindled to a background of premium East Coast sunshine and surf at a reunion of the surfing fraternity.
It was six to eight foot at Midway Beach but the wave riders of yesteryear were too engrossed with memories and catching up with each other to be waxing up for waves they would have driven through the night for back then.
For those like Gisborne's first national surf champion Allan Byrne, back for the first time after more than 30 years in Australia, it was Gisborne just how he remembered it in his most homesick moments.
After fulfilling all his surfing dreams, with board shops in America, Hawaii, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, there is nothing he would like more than return to where it all began.
"I could move back here just like that."
His youthful memories of the place were great but now the reality was even better.
"It's unbelievable - Gisborne has changed for the better. From the beach, Waikanae and Salisbury Road still look the same. There are no high-rises and it looks just the same as it did then. And Wainui has gone more upmarket."
About the only thing that disappointed him was the scruffy and industrialised state of Awapuni Rd, where he grew up, which he said looked like it had shrunk from his larger-than-life memories of the old Victoria Township, as the area was once known.
But there are far more restaurants here now - back then there was just a Chinese and fish and chips."
He was overcome with nostalgia to see his parents' old house in Awapuni Rd and it was all he could do not to knock on the door and ask to walk into his old bedroom.
His sons were "blown away" by the surf on what used to be their father's back doorstep.
"At home, the Gold Coast is the hub of tourism and we surf with 200 to 300 other people on one break."
The beaches here were still paradise.
"It's unbelievable."
Byrne was one of about 200 people who gathered for the reunion, celebrating 50 years of "modern" surfing in Gisborne.
Although no single event triggered day one, it stemmed from the advent of fibreglass boards.
Before that, pioneers like surf lifesaver Gary Robinson started standing up on their paddleboards. Robinson had Gisborne's first proper surfboard, made from balsa wood.
"He took it round to Condor Craft boats and Keith McCullough's father Bill glassed it - Keith McCullough was the pioneer of fibreglass in New Zealand. He first got the idea when he was reading a Pix magazine and there were photos of some chicks in Hawaii with boards. That was in 1959."
Vic Jacobs was mulling over this and other memories dating back to the Roberts Road party days over a few beers with friend Kevin Croskery, when he came up with the idea of a reunion.
All he was really envisaging was a repeat of a Roberts Road party but the idea somehow caught on and grew to the point where before long, hews getting calls from all over the place asking him about the reunion.
With each person telling about 10 others, he realised he probably needed a hand.
That was when he asked legendary '60s surfer Gail Patty to come on board.
"She is a professional - organising events is what she does.
"It actually displaced our lives a bit," he said.
But the end result was "incredible" and both were rapt to see everyone on the day.
John"Ducky" Duckworth gave them tremendous help, gathering old photos and home surf movie footage for a massive show on a big screen on Sunday evening, one of the highlights of the weekend.
Once Gail was involved, the whole thing started to take shape, with Vic taking the role of the finder, tracking people down. They even tracked down their favourite band from Makaraka Hall days, Peter Kingi's Crazy Urge, who kept everyone rocking on Saturday night.
Gail took care of the'60s crew and Vic going back to the '70s, tracking down all the people dating back to the days when he did the ding repairs and later theskegs at Bob Davies' factory.
Bob made a few appearances over the weekend but, like many of his old stalwarts including Byrne, is troubled by deafness caused by "surfers' ear".
Others had to cancel trips from overseas because of the downturn in the offshore economy.
But most of the old identities from the old surfing scene made the trip home - with the possible exception of Gary Garvey, who many of the old school remembered with affection.
Among those who did make it back was former board factory and surf shop owner Des Delaney, now a property developer in Vancouver.
He was delighted to discover that although Gisborne had improved dramatically from the '70s, it remained unspoiled.
To him and many of his surfing stalwarts, it remains one of the best surf places in the world.
