Tracks

The morning session goes down in junky, East-Sydney peaks, an urban battlefield where waves are typically hard won. Today the crowds are thinner than usual as a light onshore ruffles the unruly easterly swell that is a precursor to cyclone Uesi’s qui

A LITTLE FURTHER ON IN THIS ISSUE YOU’LL STUMBLE UPON A FEATURE TITLED ‘AFTER THE INFERNO’, IN WHICH TRACKS SCRIBE, KIRK OWERS WRITES ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE OF VISITING THE SOUTH COAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES AFTER THE DEVASTATING BUSHFIRES TORE THROUGH THE

MY NAME IS TERRY ROSS, AND IF YOU HAVE A MINUTE I’D LIKE TO TELL YOU A SHORT STORY. During the mid-80s there was this young guy from Avoca Beach who was my best mate. We grew up together, played together and surfed together. He was a young athlete o

When you ‘have’ to take advertising pictures, you make use of what’s available… and that’s how Doug ‘Claw’ Warbrick got to star in one of his own advertisements, and why we used the grand surroundings of my Whale Beach house to shoot it. Those are th

IT WAS BACK IN MID-FEBRUARY THAT TROPICAL CYCLONE UESI JUMPED OUT FROM BEHIND NEW CALEDONIA AND SPRINTED SOUTH INTO QUEENSLAND AND NSW’S SWELL WINDOW. THE STORM’S URGENT PACE MEANT THE SWELL WAS SHORT LIVED, MOSTLY PRODUCING ONLY ONE DAY OF CLASSIC W

He looks exactly like a pro-surfer should. Lean, neatly dressed and a telltale fluidity to his movements which mimic those in the water for which he is now so well known. The hair, still wet, hints at a last-minute surf or shower (or both) while th

There are places you don’t want to be during a bushfire. Places with no escape route. Places surrounded by snap-dry forest. Places with limited fire fighting resources and water scarcity issues. Hot places. Dry places. In the summer of 2020, regional

Interim Champion Stevie Noble is over a knee injury and awaits the prime contender from the Top 5 Challenge series. At short notice, and without public knowledge, the first official RAT Championship will be settled sometime after Easter under base ru

At 75kg Dom Walsh cuts a lithe and sinewy figure. It’s a musculature that speaks of long hours in the water with a little yoga and cardio on the side – a far cry from the 95kg he bulked up to when he was playing football for the North Queensland Cowb

The Marina Sports Club. Situated in the bowels of a restaurant that bears the same name, overlooking the sluice of this ramshackle harbour town. An inauspicious place to start a trip – avoiding eye contact, drinking tiny stubbies of beer, and listeni

AFTER HIS MARRIAGE FALLS OVER, BEN DECIDES TO LEAVE HIS COMFORTABLE CORPORATE LIFE BEHIND AND START ON A NEW JOURNEY. HE EMBARKS ON A BOOZE AND DRUG FUELLED VOYAGE OF SELF-DISCOVERY ACROSS MULTIPLE CONTINENTS. CHASING WAVES, WOMEN AND MEETING VARIOUS

I kicked and clawed to catch a tiny two-footer, just as another piercing bolt of lightning split the sky in two above the little wooden shacks that sat perilously atop the headland. It wasn’t as though we didn’t see the fast approaching storm, but th

West Australian photographer, Russell Ord, is a natural raconteur. Whether regaling you with tales of his bold surfing adventures or detailing an encounter with a pompous, celebrity chef he had been assigned to photograph, Ordy is a captivating story

Mexico has provided the soundtrack for much of my surfing life, so it’s no wonder I’m a little smitten with the place, and have been a regular visitor for 45 years. In the early days it was James Taylor and Carlos Santana, of course, but then on my f

IF YOU ARE UNPREPARED IT’S NOT PRESSURE YOU FEEL, IT’S FEAR. Experience can help too when it comes to being a famous surfer, but the only one way to get that is to put yourself in harm’s way. In Hawaii. On the North Shore. At Pipeline. The crucible