Surf Town

Send us Fan Mail STUART CAMPBELL - ... Stuart, a well-known Noosa surfboard shaper, is Keith's guest on this episode of SURF TOWN. Stuart is a much sought-after shaper due to his reputation for well-shaped, hand-crafted, high-performance shortboards under the CAMPBELL DESIGNED label. With a deep experience as a life-long surfer, shaper and thinker Stuart brings many ideas and innovative desig...

Send us Fan Mail THE AUDACIOUS SURF TALES OF VLADIMIR BORIS WAXANOV ... Story 5 - BYRON BAY PARENTS DISOWN SON FOR CHOOSING A MEDICAL CAREER OVER BECOMING A YOGA INSTRUCTOR. ... The mystery of Vladimir's whereabouts deepens into a concern. Previously, Keith had Vladimir's girlfriend Tatianna Lovesalotavic in the studio, who whilst giving assurances that Vladimir would be okay (see Story...

Send us Fan Mail DAVID "MEX" SUMPTER - ... Many surfers grew up virtually right on the beach, making their surfing life almost inevitable. David, and his brother Rodney, started life in England well away from any surfing scene that might have drawn them in. However due to their parents deciding to move to Australia and set up home on Sydney's northern beach suburbs, well within easy...

Send us Fan Mail THE AUDACIOUS SURF TALES OF VLADIMIR BORIS WAXANOV ... Story 4 - SEX WAX SAGA -    While the current whereabouts of Vladimir B. Waxanov remains a mystery and a concern, Keith decided to upload one of Vladimir's cheekiest short stories to keep his fun-loving spirit to the fore. As there is next to no Woke emphasis in Russia, especially Vladimir's traditional home village,...

Send us Fan Mail DISCUSSION TABLE 101. Topic:  John "JC" Charlton's favourite surfers. ... JC mentioned, when he was in the studio previously, that he'd like to record an episode concerning his list of favourite surfers. So Keith invited him back to sit down for another session on SURF TOWN to discuss his list along with the question, "What is style?" - and a few othe...

Send us Fan Mail JOHN 'JC' CHARLTON      JC doesn't need too big an introduction to Queensland surfers as he has been a familiar face talking about surfing on their TV screens for a very long time. But what they may not know is some of his rich back story. JC has been a surfboard maker, worked in the surfwear industry with Billabong, a radio surf reporter, chief reporter and editor...

Send us Fan Mail DIAN HADIANI ... Phoning in from Bali, East Java local Dian Hadiani chats with Keith concerning her book, "The Chronicles of G'land" which focuses on Java's fabled surf spot Grajagan, known affectionately across the surfing world as G/land. With, the following introduction on her web page, "Bobby's Surf Camp; Behind the Legendary Tales - describes how...

Send us Fan Mail DISCUSSION TABLE 101. Topic: SURFING WORLD Magazine's 50 Most Interesting Surfers ... Richard Wallace joins Keith in the studio to discuss SURFING WORLD'S lastest edition featuring their pick for surfing's fifty most interesting surfers. It's by no means definitive as there would be any number of people who could qualify. So who to include and who to exclude? I...

Send us Fan Mail CHANNA SENARATNE -  ... It's not every day you get to chat with a man who is a restauranteur, a chef, a commercial fisherman, a surf charter boat operator and skipper, a manager of a surf camp, overseer of surf holidays that gave something back to the island locals, an importer, an exporter and owner of a private catering service - and all the while surfing some of the world&...

Send us Fan Mail RICHARD von WILDEMANN - ... It was a pleasure for Keith to welcome Richard onto SURF TOWN as his first international phone-in guest. Richard is an all-round waterman who has thrived on the wild beaches and coastline of South Africa. His story is a surprisingly similar one to the overwhelming majority of Australian surfers whose first introduction to the surf was via their family a...

Send us Fan Mail JOHN FINLAY - NOOSA FESTIVAL OF SURFING ... - John Finlay, Chairman of Noosa's Festival of Surfing, certainly has an unusual story concerning how he came to pick up the running of this premier surfing event. It all started when he semi-retired to the Sunshine Coast an hour's drive south of Noosa. Semi-retirement generally means you reduce your busy life with the view to...

Send us Fan Mail DAMIEN KING - ... Three-time World Bodyboarding Champion Damien King had an unusual introduction to surfing. It's quite common for surfing champions to grow up close to the beach and thrive amongst mates who all surfed and hung together at their local surf spot. But not Damien (known far and wide as "Kingy"). Sure he eventually found his place in the local line-up,...

Send us Fan Mail THE AUDACIOUS SURF TALES OF VLADIMIR BORIS WAXANOV  ... Story 3 - THE MERMAID'S DREAM ... A few friends had contacted Keith stating they weren't so sure about this Vladimir Boris Waxanov bloke. Geopolitics aside, they express skepticism as to his actual existence. And then, right on cue, as if Vladimir willed it into being, his girlfriend Tatianna Lovesalotavic paid Keit...

Send us Fan Mail PHIL JARRATT - Part 1 ... Phil Jarratt has probably lived the surfing life as fully and richly as humanly possible. With a working life as an author, a journalist, a publisher, surf shop owner and filmmaker - all inspired by surfing, he still managed to keep riding waves throughout his decades - and the world. Reading his CV alone almost makes you tired ... and he's still goi...

Send us Fan Mail PHIL JARRATT - Part 2 ... One interview with Phil Jarratt left this interviewer with a desire to hear more of his wide-ranging surfing life and stories. Certain that others would as well I pressed Phil for another round. Graciously he came into the studio for a second interview, which proved to be every bit as fascinating as his first one. How could it not be? One could easily pic...

Send us Fan Mail THE AUDACIOUS SURF TALES OF VLADIMIR  BORIS WAXANOV ... Story 2 - CHINESE BUSINESSMAN PROPOSES ALTERNATE WORLD PROFESSIONAL SURFING WAVE POOL CIRCUIT TARGETING INDIA, AFRICA, CHINA AND RUSSIA ... The title says it all. Somewhat surprising as the title may be, so are the comments from national surfing bodies revealed in this unusual tale. But then again Vladimir does get around, ce...

Send us Fan Mail Peter Hudson ... With three Australian shortboard and three Australian longboard titles, three New South Wales State shortboard and six New South Wales State longboard titles, a twenty-five-year surf shop ownership, a decades-long surfboard coaching and surf school record behind him, it's fair to say that Peter (Huddo) Hudson has lived a life soaked with surfing. Growing up v...

Send us Fan Mail BOBBY ATKINS - Part Two ... Bobby Atkins is back in the studio to recount more of his surfing life. A lot is personal about his surfboards, his surfing but along the way he tells of many characters who have added so much to Noosa's rich surfing history. Surprisingly, but then again maybe not so much, Bobby never surfed shortboards. Always mals, well longboards for you America...

Send us Fan Mail CHAD WHATLEY ... Chad Whatley represents a new breed of young surf entrepreneurs. There was a day when surf shops only sold surfboards that were constructed on the premises. You'd walked in to be greeted with the air thick with resin fumes. Maybe a couple of board shorts and t/shirts on a rack to the side. These days you walk into a surf shop and be overwhelmed with the racks...

Send us Fan Mail BOBBY ATKINS - Part One  ... Bobby (Bobby Barrel or Bobby Beach - depending on who you talk to) Atkins is a unique Noosa original. Really .. as he was amongst the very first to surf the fabulous points of Noosa back in the 1960's. With only a few years of surfing under his belt he arrived in Noosa on that first day to see the surf at Noosa's First Point and National Park...

Send us Fan Mail THE AUDACIOUS SURF TALES OF VLADIMIR BORIS WAXANOV  ... Story 1 - THE BALLARD OF OWEN ROBERTS  ... Once us Aussies discovered the surf in Bali we invaded. There was hardly a beach anywhere along its coast, and beyond, where you couldn't swing a cat without hitting half a dozen Australian surfers at any given time. Now it's the turn of the Russians. Yes, they have finally...

Send us Fan Mail DANE WILSON - Part one ... Cronulla boy Dane was born into a surfing family with deep roots in the local surf scene and industry. As long as he can remember Dane's father has always made surfboards. When Floyd Smith, partner of the famed American surfboard brand Gordon and Smith, set up a surfboard factory in Cronulla in 1965 it wasn't too long before his father worked t...

Send us Fan Mail DANE WILSON - Part two ... Dane has more surf stories that we can fit into a thirty-five-minute podcast. Yet somehow he manages to tell quite a few, pass some interesting observations of surfing and surfboards, plus recount some of his family's, and his own, adventures. Any one of those topics, with Dane's re-telling, could have easily stretched out into many, many minut...

Send us Fan Mail MIKE DAVIS - Part 1 Mike is one of the first Californian surfers to immigrate to Australia in the 1970s, arriving about the same time as fellow American surfers Bob Cooper and Rusty Miller. It didn't take long before Mike established himself in the Australian surf scene with his enthusiasm for surfing and working within the surf industry along Australia's east coast. Mik...

Send us Fan Mail MIKE DAVIS Part 2 Part 2 sees Mike in the studio to share a free-ranging conversation about his surfing life. He talks of a lap-over between California and Australia which is quite interesting - particularly from an American expat who has lived here for nigh on fifty years. And what it was like in the early days being an American (Seppo) making his way along the Australian East Co...