Friday, March 20, 2009

Surf Fridays!


Veteran surf journalist Nick Carroll along with writers Paul Clarke and Greg Appel, have a new surf documentary for us. Narrated by Jack Thompson, Bombora charts the history of surfing in Australia - the bodies, the boards, the music, the drugs, the fights, the freedom - and shows the cultural phenomenon it is today. Premiering on Australian TV on March 26th, it will be available on DVD on April 2nd.

Bombora follows the wild ride as Australia's love affair with the surf flourished, and features rare archival footage and plenty of surfing icons and bad boys, such as Midget Farrelly, Bob Pike, Nat Young and Michael Petersen. It looks at the innovators like Wayne Lynch and Bob McTavish and the new breed of Australian surfers riding 40ft monster waves off the West Australian coast. It's the story of people living wild lives, craving freedom.

Surfing has pushed the boundaries of Australia's way of life and rules of behavior - becoming a multi billion dollar industry that would one day outsell the high fashion houses of Europe.

Isabel Letham, early 1900s. Isabel surfed with Duke Kahanamoku, who kick-started surfing's popularity at this time in Australia.

Nat Young and girls
photo by John Witzig


photo by John Witzig

Bob McTavish at Noosa
photo by John Witzig


4 comments:

Michael Singman-Aste said...

Jamie, although we don't see each other at the office anymore, I still think of every Friday as Surf Friday. :) Keep the posts coming!

Anonymous said...

But - and this is the big question - is it going to say anything new? Or is it just going to go over the same old stories, images and footage? All will be revealed I suppose...

Jamie Welsh Watson said...

Precisely rj! Will you be watching tonight? I hope it's entertaining at least...

Rebecca Olive said...

I'll be watching indeed - sitting on my floor, accessorized with a few beers! I hate to admit that I'll be watching with a large amount of cynicism though...

But hey! At worst, it will be entertaining, right?