We have all heard folklore from time to time, explaining the many mysteries in our past. However, never had we heard one that strikes so close to home.
Shark Island is an iconic reef situated just past The Point, near Cronulla Beach. The Island gains its surfing reputation from the relentless barrels, sucking and heaving over the often too shallow reef. A hot spot for surfers and bodyboarders, The Island holds a bodyboarding event every year, named The Shark Island Challenge The Shark Island Challenge (recently held) entices professional bodyboarders from around the world to navigate the impossibly complex wave.

This all being true. Often may leave many of us to ponder. How did this very famous, world renowned break come to be named shark island? Well, despite the literal meaning, it may not be because there is an abundance of sharks around the infamous reef.

This tale may have spawned from conversation as long as 50 or more years ago when immigration from Europe was booming. Two sets of European families sought to establish themselves and make a living in Cronulla. Both the Duranti and Casaceli families, teamed up to explore the reef off shore to see what they might find. To their fortune, there on the semi dry reef at low tied, lay an abundance of fresh seafood on the rock, in cracks and pot holes. The families revelled with their culinary finds, enjoying many seafood parties from their harvesting.

The query was? How would they keep the reef’s prosperity a secret? If everyone was to head out the Island and find what they had discovered, the supply would just not cope. When quizzed about the origin of these foods, the Island was mentioned, YES, quickly followed up with a strong mention of the abundance of sharks sighted around the waters off the island. Those who wished to try to venture are welcome to take on the sharky risk. We aren’t sure which family came up with the idea but it was brilliant, hence the rocky outcrop being named, from that day on SHARK ISLAND.

Today descendants of the families still remain in Cronulla. Just who is responsible for the name, is a part of our local folklore. Or is it?

A blast from the past. Cronulla in the 1970’s. Magnificent in every way. The humungous sand dunes that span across the horizon and the simplicity of the entire beach. It was certainly a different time back then.
Here we look at a shot of Wanda and Green hills, the now established settlement.
So what do you think? Do you prefer Cronulla in the past or in the present ?
I can certainly say it was more spectacular, open, and welcoming back in the ‘old days’.

Unfortunately, with time comes change, with a growing population comes development. If you were to go down to Cronulla right now you would struggle to see the resemblance. Fences, houses, and the absence of majority of sand seen in this photo. It was a developers paradise, and they took full advantage of the site.

Don’t get me wrong, their have been positive reinforcements added to Cronulla beach like fencing to protect vegetation, food facilities, sea walls (The Wall) and other amenities that have made a trip to the beach more convenient.

A lot of you would would have first hand experience of Cronulla in the 70’s when it was absolutely booming. For those of us who weren’t, well it seems as if we missed out on one of the best untouched sites in Australia. Whilst still the most prominent site in the Sutherland Shire and tourist destination, I often wonder if change will destroy the Beach.

Shaped in Brookvale by Scott Dillon, this 7 foot 6 vee bottom is a great example of what surfers were riding in the late sixties and into the early seventies. It is worth mention, there is no facility for attaching a legrope on the board, which would hint to me that this surfboard has been retired from the ocean for some time .. like 40 odd years.

The condition that it was received in was quite good, though there were many authentic rashes and holes from going ‘up the rocks’ many times. The colour of the original volan cloth (glassing) is in great condition. We went about repairing all the leaky dings, scrapes and holes, then re finish coated the whole surfboard in filler resin. The finished product is now an original ridable classic shape with the original, in tact, fin.

With great excitement I (Stuart) ventured into the surf to test ride the most authentic piece of surfing history that as ever been available to me in my 30 plus years of building surfboards. The waves were small and clean, perfect to test the vee bottom. The experience was interesting and rewarding, to say the least. Interesting in how it felt to paddle and attempt to turn the surfboard. Fulfilling for the feeling of resurrecting the piece of history and getting the authentic lesson in how to ride these old shapes, combined with imagining how others in the past used these surfboards to ride the waves.

The old Scott Dillon is racked in the factory for viewing. With the right conditions I will be getting on it for another blast from the past, sooner rather than later.

If you are in the shop, feel free to ask about some of my old boards that I have in the shop. In the balance of things, the iconic surfboards all have a large roll to play in what we consider to ride in this modern day.

SP.

At PCC surfboards we consider what the past has influenced our present. The surfboards we make are both contemporary in performance and retro in its artistry. Some models are clearly a direct reflection of a past period, like a 1964 style log or 1970 single fin. The contemporary shapes have some aspects of previous eras without losing the modern overall appeal.

The featured black and white photograph was supplied by a good friend Greg Ferrow, of his father holding his pride and joy, a pre 1960 balsa wood 10 foot log surfboard. The smaller pics are of the registration stickers (mandatory of the time) and a profile shot of the skeg fin. This classic shot depicts so much of the time in the shire, the housing, cars, clothing …. which sends you back to the time of the subjects era.

In surfing now as much as any time, people seem to be embracing the roots of what the sport means, or has meant to them. The common love of the of the ocean and riding surf craft has evolved into a truly timeless pursuit.

Here in this picture I have a little something to share with PCC viewers. With one degree of separation we can related to the history of surfing in Cronulla here. I am so happy to have been a part of so many smiles as a surfboard maker over the years. I hope there are many more years of smiles to come.

The featured board is @pccboards.com.au showroom to view.

SP

Enjoy the Alkali PCC mini simmons keel fin.

Today we have a unique story on the pictured log, a re build of a 1964 ish surfboard built by George rice in Victoria.

I decided to build this on behalf of team classic surfer Danny Cook. The board has a one off quality for many reasons. The first being the timber stringer, the wood used here was given to me from a good friend who was stripping the exterior of his house, the timber is 40 year old Australian cedar, beautiful to the eye and a joy to work with. The blank was hand shaped from Dion foam, which is about a 4 hour process from go to woe. The glassing was also done by myself. I used the old style cloth that is called volan, which leaves
a green tinge to the glassing, especially on the rail where the layers are doubled over. The pre sanding and finish coat were all my work. For this hands on approach I have labeled this one as being master-built.

The fin is an Australian made Alkali 11 incher, made in Ballina.

Over all a very classic surfboard, as you can see from the images.

I have had the pleasure of watching the Danilama surfing her, one of the joys that I have experienced of late.

SP.

Ok – Autumn on the east coast always delivers. Many of you would have seen some epic waves over the last little period. This Picture was taken on Easter Friday at Cronulla Point, surfing picture with thanks to Matty Cook aka Cookiewatch. The board in these above pictures is a 7 foot 2 that I hand shaped a couple of months back. She is a real beauty on all accounts. Glassed in lovely tinted 6 ounce cloth of a few contrasting resin colours. This PCC surfboard paddles amazingly – rides smooth on it’s one box fin, inserted into a softly rolled bottom – there is a tiny concave runs by the fin area out to the tail edges. The unique monica on the deck is a cut out of some vintage cloth that I found on Ebay from New York, looks pretty we think.

Looking here we can see that is is possible to get a tube ride on a single fin these days as it was right here at the Point back in the seventies.

SP.

Over the last few years we at PCC surfboards have been developing a modern retro version of the 1967 transitional board, The Fantastic Plastic Machine. These Vee bottoms were spawned from a crazy period in time where the word was experimenting with all manners of thinking. People were looking at life in different ways, with changing views. In the surfing world these changes were happening on a grand scale. In a period of a few years the surfboard had changed radically in every way. The boards were coming down in size, growing slightly wider, the concept of how the fin worked was being expanded on by many makers and riders alike. As these changes flew past, the evolution of surfboard design continued as it has to this day. Many people have been looking back on the designs of yesteryear, thinking that much that was left behind which could be great today in the right conditions. This is my reasoning behind the renaissance and romance with the Fantastic Plastic.

Todays PCC Fantastic Plastic Machine has many attributes of the old versions, the differences in the modern retro model are slight but telling. The size is similar at around the high sevens to low eight foot mark in length. We have included a fin box which takes a similar design fin as the ones from the past, though not quite as large. This gives the advantage of changing fin size and shape for wave performance. You may also want to remove your fin for travel.

The Vee bottom is not as extreme at the original, giving you the original feeling of rocking in the bottom with more planing speed from the increased flat areas. We have included a tiny stringer, the originals were mostly stringer-less, this is for a more supported flex and a little more strength. The glassing is still quite solid as the originals were with 3 stage six ounce in the order for strength and durability. One of these lovelies would hope to last many years with good use and care.

There is a 7 foot 10 in the shop ready for your test ride. If your interested drop in or drop us a line.

Happy summer surfing !

SP.

image courtesy of http://www.oneshuteye.com/

This week @ PCC surfboards – we have a special for all you visitors to our site.

It is the SHARK ISLAND WEEK !!

Foxtel has shark week right ? So why not shark island week !!

On instagram PCCBOARDS will be sharing a different picture of the island doing its thing all week. So check in on the instagram page to check out the shark island action. The first shot is of Fletch Hayler riding a 5 foot 10 twin fin – would you believe it ? This picture of Fletch is very current, taken only last week during the east swell that hit the Sydney coast.

I am hoping you all enjoy PCCBOARDS and SHARK ISLAND WEEK !!

SP.

Thanks again to One Shut Eye for this timeless shot – check more of their photo’s here:  http://www.oneshuteye.com/