25th August 2011

The days are getting warmer and its starting to look like summer already. Late afternoon Redhead 25/8/11. A few different peaks showing up.

Redhead surfer surfing the right across the back of the Shark Tower.

Redhead surfer 25-08-11 1

Redhead Surfer on the right on the big Beach.

Redhead surfer 25-08-11 2

Redhead surfer on the left just past the Shark Tower

Redhead surfer 25-08-11 3

Redhead surf Club 25/8/11

Redhead Surf Club 25-08-11

The statue overlooking Newcastle Beach. James Fletcher 1834-1891. A Newcastle man worthy of the view, a mine manager that valued his workers, a politician that fought for workers rights and owner of the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate.

James Fletcher Statue Newcastle 22-08-11

Belmont 16 Footers Sailing Race Sunday 21/8/11. The wind was strong from the east, doing someone at least some good.

Belmont 16s Race 21-08-11

Redhead Shark Tower Rocks 22/08/11

Redhead Shark Tower Rocks 22-08-11

Pigs grazing in the front garden NZ 1977.

Pigs in the garden NZ 1977

Steve Butterworth showing his tube riding skill with smooth style at Redhead 1980.

Steve Butterworth Redhead 1980

The top end of Newcastle. Looking down Watt Street, over the Hunter River to Stockton Beach – 2 water views.

Watt St Newcastle 22-08-11

19th August 2011 Redhead Surf

Redhead Lovely arvo 18/8/11 and a few good waves and some good surfers out.

Redhead Surfer 18/8/11

Redhead surfer 18-08-11 1

Redhead surfer 18/8/11

Redhead surfer 18-08-11 8

Redhead surfers 18/8/11

Redhead surfers 18-08-11 5

Redhead Bluff with the late arvo sun showing out its colour.

Redhead Bluff 18-08-11

But it went pearshaped Friday arvo 19/8/11 a strong front hit wiping the surf out for the weekend.

Storm coming 19/8/11

Redhead beach storm 19-08-11

Bad moon rising 19/8/11 Storm clouds on the way

Redhead stormy sky 19-09-11

Boys at the Barby for TR’s 21st Crows Garage 1980

Crows Garage party 1977

Sidewinder cranking at the Mawson 1978 – Great Band!!

Sidewinder Mawson 1978

Chambers of Horror Newcastle Show 1979

Newcastle Show Chambers of Horror 1979

Peaceful Byron Bay early morning 1979

Bryon Bay 1980

Redhead and Blacksmiths surf June 4th 2011

The swell jacked up for Saturday morning and there were some gnarly waves at Redhead and some hot surfing. Blackies was going off too.

Redhead 4-6-11

Redhead shark tower left 4-6-11

The paddle out was a bit hairy.

Redhead paddle out 4-6-11

There were some great surfers out.

Redhead surfer1 4-6-11

Redhead surfer2 4-6-11

Redhead surfer3 4-6-11

Redhead surfer4 4-6-11

Redhead surfer5 4-6-11

Redhead surfer6 4-6-11

Blacksmiths was pumping off the Breakwater too.

Blacksmiths 4-6-11

Blacksmiths Surfer 4-6-11

June 2011

I met young photographer Sam Glohe at Blacksmiths last Sunday when I was going out for a paddle. Sam took some water shots in the solid closing out but sunny conditions and his photos are awsome.

Check his site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samglohe/

Here is some of his stuff -

Blacksmiths by Sam Glohe

Closed Curtain by Sam Glohe

Pulled Back by Sam Glohe

Stringy by Sam Glohe

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Redhead local Bodyboarder John early April 2011 morning Redhead Little Beach.

Redhead bodyboarder John 2-4-11

Blacksmiths SUP Surfer Rick 14th May 2011

Rick Blacksmiths Beach May 2011

Newcastle Beach mid week May 2011

Newcastle Beach May 2011

Overlooking Newcastle May 2011

Overlooking Newcastle 1st May 2011

Surfer at Redhead Easter Friday April 2011

Redhead surfer 22-4-11

Surfer Newcastle 3rd June 2011

Newcastle surfer 3-6-11

Another Newcastle surfer 3-6-11

Newcastle surfer 3-6-11

Redhead Beach

Redhead Beach at night – Time exposure taken around 1984.

: Redhead Beach by Moonlight 1984

Another photo from the same night as above – The rocks in front of the Redhead Shark Tower. The movement of the water over time has made it appear like clouds.

Redhead Beach in the 1940’s – Details of photo unknown.

Time exposure overlooking Redhead beach with a full moon rising in 1976.

Redhead Beach by Moonlight 1976

Redhead 2nd Creek – June 2007 Storm.

The Pascha Bulker grounded at Nobbys and Redhead’s Second Creek finally got enough water to break its banks and flow again. A rare thing since the 3rd Creek was created and diverted the water flow.

Redhead Beach 2nd Creek June 2007 Storm

Surfing in the 70′s Redhead area

Mark Richards, 4 times world surfing champion taking time out to surf a local break.

Martin Littlewood and Roy Lee making boards in the old Chicken Shed down along the Redhead Road around 1976. Both are now established respected board makers. Martin as Delta Designs in Margaret River and Roy as Pacific Dreams in Newcastle.

Windsurfing was big in the 70’s and Jim Wiley was one of the best shown here at Blacksmiths.

This was a big day at Redhead in 2001, the waves were huge and some of the local guys were ripping. Unknown surfer.

Unknown surfer Redhead Beach July 2001

A classic line up at Byron Bay in the late 70’s

Bells Beach Surfing Competion in 1977. The surf was good and big for the finals. Sorry I can’t remember who it was.

Another good line up – Newcastle Cowrie Hole in 1978.

Out of control storm in June 2007 making a mess of Redhead beach. The storm grounded the Pascha Bulker at Nobby’s the day before.

Redhead Surfers 1970′s

Surfing at Redhead

I started surfing at Redhead in 1963. Redhead was always a great place to surf with good surfers. Somehow I found time to take some photos along the way.

Col Smith was Redhead’s best surfer and in the 70’s and 80’s became respected for his surfing world wide.

Col Smith Channel Boards he took to Hawaii

Col Smith the day before heading to Hawaii with his new channel boards made by Shane, shaped by Jim Pollard. Col went well in Hawaii in 1976 winning the Pro AM and places in all other events including 4th at Pipe.

Col Smith surfing next to the Shark Tower at Redhead about 1976.

Col Smith in his shaping Bay making Channel Boards

Col started making his own harder edged Channels in his Dad’s Shed that he and Martin Littlewood from Delta Designs worked out. This one was my 6?5? single fin.

Martin Littlewood was another good Redhead surfer in the 70’s shown here at Redhead Beach. Martin has been making surfboards since then and is now over at Margaret River WA making all kinds of surf boards under the name Delta Designs.

Martin Littlewood Redhead Beach 1976

Peter Kuba was another good surfer from Redhead shown here in a nice tube same day as the photo above.

Peter Kuba surfing at Redhead 1976

Here is Col Smith again in an excellent position, making getting a good photo easy. These lefts next to the Redhead Shark Tower were solid this day in 1976.

Col Smith Redhead Beach 1976

Redhead Boardriders Club was very competetive and finished 2nd to Merewether in the Newcastle area teams comps, having a great surfer like Col Smith helped. This team photo after a club competition was held at Col’s place and all members were having a good time as usual.

Redhead Board Club 1976

1979 Surfing Redhead and Bells Beach

I am going through my old photos, negatives and slides I have had stashed away for years and picking out some interesting old shots.

Peter Kuba jams a cutback on the inside rights next to Redhead Shark Tower around 1978.

Peter Kuba cuts back Redhead 1979

Bill Giles on a big left behind the Redhead Shark Tower around 1978.

Bill Giles Big Left at Redhead around 1978

Taken on the same day as the above – unknown surfer at Redhead, whoever he was, he knew what he was doing.

Unknown surfer Redhead big day1978

Water shot – no one on it, but still worth a click Redhead Little Beach 1978.

Redhead Little Beach water shot 1978

Bells beach finalists 1977, nervously waiting for the results, they all surfed well, but Simon Anderson eventually got the nod for first place.

Bells Beach finalists 1977

Unknown surfer Bells Beach 1977

Paul Bates pulls into a nice left next to Redhead Shark Tower around 1976.

Paul Bates Redhead 1976

On a trip up the coast mid week, we got Boomerang to ourselves for a while. Kneeboarder Paul “Foot” Johnson on a ruler straight wall around 1978.

Paul “Flatfoot” Johnson at Boomerang around 1978

Paul took the camera duties to catch me on a couple.

Crow at Boomerang 1988

More Surfing at Redhead 1979

Gary “Boston” Searl gets the wave of the day at Redhead’s Little Beach around 1979.

Gary “Boston” Searl on a Big Left at Redhead around 1979

Redhead’s Col Smith on a big grey wave at Redhead around 1979.

Col Smith on a big wave at Redhead around 1979

Water shot of Wayne ”Smiley” Warmsley on the Little Beach at Redhead around 1979.

Smiley Warmsley surfing Redhead around 1979

Greg ” Bugsy” Bargwana on a speed run surfing at Redhead Beach around 1978.

Greg “Bugsy” Bargwana Surfing at Redhead around 1978

Col Smith executes a nice bottom turn at Redhead around 1978, riding an early Jim Pollard channel bottom.

Col Smith Bottom turn at Redhead 1978

Col Smith showing off one of the Hawaiian bound Jim Pollard Channel designs and his sponsor Trackers jacket. The channels worked well for Col there. Taken the day before he left for Hawaii around 1976.

Col Smith with Hawaiian bound Jim Pollard Channel Board

Surfing at Redhead around 1976

Redhead’s Col Smith also had a great backhand. One of the top Hawaiian surfers was quoted as saying he was the best backhand at Sunset he had seen, after Col had won the Pro Am there.

Col Smith Backhand at Redhead

If you wanted a new board made in 1976 at Redhead, this is the front door to the board shop where Martin Littlewood (Delta Designs) and Roy Lee (Pacific Dreams) were making their own designs. This was an overgrown abandoned chicken shed.

Martin and Roy’s Surfboard Factory Redhead 1976

Steven Butterworth was a local at Redhead and got the hang of the lefts on offer.

Steve Butterworth Surfing at Redhead around 1978

A trip up the coast mid week scored nice waves with only a few out at Scotts Head around 1978.

Scotts head 1976

A rain storm came through and the surf cleaned up and lots of locals were on it as the sun came out again late arvo. This is a typical right behind the tower day with the right conditions.