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2010 Rhythm Kirra Teams Challenge – A Bondi Boardriders Perspective
By Luke Musset - Feb 2010

I remember years ago when the coke classic used to be held at Narrabeen. One year they held a competition open to the general public for a wildcard entry into the event. The guy that won the competition got knocked out in the first round, but you could sense a slight shiver running through the pros. Sometimes the waves don’t co-operate and you can be beaten by an unknown in rhythm and on their day. What has this got to do with the Rhythm Kirra team’s challenge? Well, this contest provides a very similar opportunity for relative unknowns to come up against and take down higher profile surfers. Due to the heat format of the contest as opposed to the usual tag team format, some heats were packed with talent and sometimes an unknown surfed a brilliant heat and took down some big scalps.

The Kirra teams challenge brings together 36 of this country’s top Boardriders clubs. 8 surfers per club surf one 4-man heat each, from which your place in that heat adds to the accumulative point score for your team. The team with the highest score at the end of the 3 days is crowned the winner. Now, while WCT surfers are not allowed to surf in the event, names like Mark Occhilupo, Matt Hoy, Todd Prestage, Shane Werner, Jay Phillips and young guns such as Josh Kerr, Shaun Cansdell, Dean Brady and many more solid WQS campaigners, mean that the level of competition is unbelievably high. Higher still when Duranbah is throwing up vertical ramps and the occasional barrel, ideal for the best surfers to show their wares.

My experience of this year’s event was as a part of the Bondi Boardriders Team. Our journey began at the end of our comp season with whispers after the preso night of the likely team for the event. Around Bondi this is a slightly mystical event where people disappear for a weekend then come back with a crazed look in their eyes unable to speak of their adventures due to a sworn and binding allegiance to the code (what goes on tour). So when I got the phone call from team manager Ian “Wal” Wallace, I was beside myself with excitement and acceptance into the inner sanctum of this select group was an honour fully appreciated. At the team meeting a few days before the event Wal outlined our simple strategy, ‘improve on our previous best, 24th”.

As a result of overcoming a knee injury just prior to the event I was a late inclusion into the team. Due to this lateness I had made no travel arrangements. I decided to take one for the team and drive up so that we could have the team tent up there to huddle under in the event of foul weather, which was expected. The drive from Sydney to the Gold Coast along the Pacific highway is an all time classic drive. For any East Coast surfer this Mecca like journey is a rite of passage that must be undertaken sooner rather than later. It encompasses waves synonymous with Australian surfing glory. The mere mention of classic setups like Crescent Head, Scotts Head, Angourie, Lennox, The Pass and the points of the Southern Gold Coast, conjure an idyllic image of grassy green headlands combined with endless walls of water that set the surfing imagination free. It’s so easy to catch a plane and just fly right by it all, but trust me you’re missing out on some really good stuff.

Leaving Sydney early on Thursday morning my first point of call was to pick up the team tent and remind team mascot Eddy Scott not to miss his flight (he missed it). I won’t bore you with the details of the trip suffice to say that the afore mentioned points were firing in the favourable conditions. If you have not done this drive you cannot in good conscience consider yourself a serious east coast surfer. Some part of your surfing DNA and appreciation for why we surf the way we do is missing. Upon arriving at the Gold Coast I moved into my weekend abode at the Calypso on Coolangatta beach. Our 2 bedroom apartment was to contain 6 humans, 15 boards and copious amounts of beer (that’s all there was in the fridge the whole trip), it also commanded a brilliant view straight out to spot x and Greenmount. More often than not the boys had their heads out the window hooting perfect empty barrels and deciding when they would fit their next surf in.

There’s nothing quite like a boys trip of this nature. You’re forced into confined living quarters, there’s no privacy, bodily ablutions become a serious source of humour, and you surf together, eat together and cheer each other on. For a club to have any chance in such hostile territory at an event like this they must present a unified front. Ian “Wal” Wallace, our team manager and Bondi real estate mogul, made it plain to all that everything we did in the ensuing days we would do it as a cohesive unit; those who did not wish to comply would not be invited back.

We had our first team surf at d’bah on the contest bank just prior to the competition starting on Friday morning. Of your competing surfers 2 of them must be juniors or under 21, and the opening of the tournament would begin with them. For this year’s event Bondi looked to the future by enlisting talented young grommets Pama Davies (14) and Jack Campbell (16). With a simple strategy of sets get scores and go as hard as you can, our grommets took to the water. Considering the waves were 6 foot and pushing hard and they were surfing against older more experienced competitors, both surfers 3rd placing were acceptable results. Pama particularly stuck to the mantra and forced his competitors to beat him after leading at one point. As the day progressed Mother Nature must have begun her cycle, as the weather fluctuated from sunny and glassy to gusting rain and wind victory at sea. While Pama and Jack experienced the former my heat was more of the latter. Without a wave after 13 minutes I could only manage a single scoring ride which gave me another acceptable 3rd place. Sunshine Coast WQS surfer Ryan Campbell went to town with a polished backhand vertical display. We finished the day with a late arvo team session out at the points that you could link right through to Kirra. Post surf beers, tall stories and whatever carousing opportunities presented brought the day to a satisfying close.

With more of the same conditions as the previous day we got into the guts of the opens competition on the second day. The heat of the day was not without its controversy. Shaun Gossman of Snapper and Tai Graham of Northend went absolutely ballistic in their heat. Gossman’s vertical approach Verses’ Tai’s carving hooks made for an interesting contrast of style. However many on the beach were left scratching their heads when Shaun blew the hell out of one wave and got a 4 needing a 6 to take the lead.

From a Bondi perspective we had an awesome day. Former WQS campaigner Mick Marj blasted his way to our first win with a totally committed approach. Throwing so much spray people had to leave their umbrellas up even though it had stopped raining. Our second surfer Dr Jono Arnold got caught by the often horrendous paddle out and a rampant hacking Hoyo. By the time our third surfer Brett Anderson hit the water mother nature’s benevolent side appeared, and Ando went to town with great wave selection and fins free surfing to gain our second win of the event and taking down fancied local hero Dale Richards in the process. We capped off the day in similar fashion to the first, indulging our penchant for beers, burritos and babes.

The final day of competition saw 2 of Bondi’s best rising stars hitting the water. WQS charger Clancy Dawson and Pro Junior pin up boy Perth Standlick were entrusted with bringing home the bacon. With Bondi placed in the top 10 we had already surpassed our expectations, and a solid showing by these guys would keep us there. For Clancy surfing for Bondi had created a little controversy. Having moved to the Gold Coast to improve his surfing prospects Clancy had been surfing for the Kirra team, but when he was not selected to compete in this event for them Bondi immediately shot out a lifeline to reclaim a favourite son. Needless to say Clancy wailed his heat securing our 3rd heat win and leaving Kirra team management scratching their heads a little. By the time Perth’s heat came around conditions were bordering on schizophrenic. Waves that looked the goods developed multiple personalities to the point where luck had more to do with it than judgement. In fact leading up to Perth’s heat there was more entertainment watching the trawlers trying to navigate the bar than there was watching the surfers struggle to find the take off zone. With only one scoring wave in his heat Perth managed to secure a 2nd place, instilling confidence in the team that we had managed to secure an excellent overall result.

With the completion of the day’s competition and the event all the teams retired to the Rainbow surf club for the presentation. As the placings were read out from 36 down we were confident that we had beaten our previous best of 24th. However, when we were down to the top 15 and still no mention of Bondi the pulses were definitely racing. Even more so when clubs like Byron, LeBa, Northend and Kirra were read out. When Bondi was announced as 10th place the loudest cheer so far went up and funnily enough everyone smiled at us recognising good old fashion stoke when they saw it. At the top end of town Werri won the event with Snapper second. Snapper president Bruce Lee’s impassioned speech about the value of this event and the fantastic way in which all the clubs conducted themself throughout with their surfing and team spirit brought impassioned cries from the smiling masses happy to have been a part of such an awesome event that helps to bond surffg communities across the country. Bring on next year, I’ll be there.

Check out the team pic and a video on the event below!

In a side note my one gripe with the event was that it was held at D’bah when the points around the corner were definitely doing their thing particularly Kirra. It is called the Kirra Teams Challenge after all.

The 2010 Rhythm Kirra Teams Challenge Team

If you can't see the vid below click here for a video of the event from a Bondi perspective.

The Greatest Surfer You've Never Heard Of
By Jed Smith

He is described by Two Time World champion Tom Carroll as “easily as good, just not as keen.” After a junior career in which he and his Bondi cohorts would stamp their indelible size five foot prints on the profession of surfing, in the process radicalising the very way people rode waves, Ant Corrigan went on to achieve little else in the sport. The billings were huge, the expectation immense, and the potential available to consume it all. And yet he never even came close. Bar a few from his era, no one in the surfing world would remember the name Ant Corrigan.

We had met at his local pub, ‘The Royal,’ up there on the hill at South Bondi. It is a worker’s pub. The interior consists of a TAB, a video jukebox and the type of people that make you want to look at your shoes as they pass by. If there was one remaining bastion of Ant Corrigan’s era in Bondi this place was it. A few months back an Irishman was beaten to death on its corner over a game of pool. They don’t put up with much here. Its patrons are a particular breed… the intimidating breed.

The fact it exists in the heart of a suburb known most recently for its A-B-C grade celebrities and hordes of other wealthy white collar workers, is actually not as ironic as you’d think. The enclave of decadence Bondi resembles today is a world away from the festering, drug addled suburb Ant Corrigan knew.
“Yeah, we ‘ad all kinds of crews, gangsters that sort of stuff. We ‘ad a heavy drug trade through the 70’s with the heroin” begins Ant in a typically unphased tone. Strangely drugs remain as the one constant between the two eras, though in Ant’s day they definitely weren’t recreational. Drugs were a way of life.
“There was thousands dying weekly round the area” remembers Ant.
“[It] had very hard repercussions. I had good friends die just from, ya know getting in with the wrong crew, following a different lifestyle. And ya know, it’s quite sad, but that’s life.”

The force of heroin was realised perhaps most severely throughout the surfing community. Ant however, displays a disturbing nonchalance to the whole saga. “Surfers were naïve an' gullible. [They] didn’t’ have the structured life needed to cope or comprehend what they were dealing with. I was fairly lucky in that respect.”

Dressed in khaki pants and a blue fleecy sweater with a pair of cheap ‘sunnies’ wedged firmly on his blonde rasp of hair, his face is quite obviously that of the life-sized image adorning the wall of a newly renovated, Westfield surf/fashion store. His words form a steady stream, conjoined by a whirring ‘errr.’ Yet as we continue our talk on drugs and death, Ant’s measured demeanour shifts.
“It’s not a farrrken good thing to lose any friend, a loved one’s worse. But through their own stupidity, ya know, I don’t have any, ya know, sort of remorse or respect for them going that way.”
“…as with people committing suicide ya know, it’s a fucken weak way out of life…” He pauses.
“The weak bastards, they can’t say goodbye ya know, to anyone. And they don’t realise what they’ve left behind when they do.”

In terms of sheer magnitude, if there was one rival to the legacy of surfing that emerged from Bondi, it was the legacy of heroin. The drug made an absolute mess of the area. ‘The Hammer’ turned Bondi from what Ant reckons “could have been on the Riviera anywhere in Europe” into ‘Scum Valley,’ a beachside slum of scattered dreams and scattered minds.

So what saved Ant from this fate? Ant looks up from the spot on the table at which he’d been staring.
“Well I’ve gotta think more along the lines ya know, where are your family while this was going on. I’ve always had a pretty strongknit family.”
Ant’s face spreads with a proud grin.
“Not only that I’ve probably got ‘bout 300 older brothers ‘round the joint.”

The solidarity of Bondi’s surfing community is the stuff of lore round here. So many of sport and history’s greatest emerged from such harsh climates; spurred on by those who never made it, motivated by those who did. The Bondi community was strong, solidified by hardship. People looked out for each other, kept the young ones on track. For Ant the stage would seem set for surfing greatness.

There is a famous ‘Surfing World’ issue released in the mid 70’s. On the cover, emblazoned in big red letters is the heading ‘The New Generation,’ underneath which is a silver Rolls Royce containing three grinning, white haired teenagers. One of these kids is four time World Title runner-up Cheyne Horan, the other is two time World Champion Tom Carroll and the third sits opposite me in this dank pub- one Ant Corrigan.

The corresponding Article was written by an elder statesman of the Bondi community. A man by the name of Vic Ford, who would become a guiding influence in Ant’s life, and also a person with an innate knowledge of the suburb.
“At various times in the history of Surfing, certain areas, in some instances a single beach, have produced a disproportionate number of the country’s best surfers” writes Ford.
“…at this point the Bondi-Bronte-Maroubra area can boast an abnormally high percentage of Australia’s best surfers.”
Ford then goes on to say this about the likelihood of these surfers ever having an impact on the pro-surfing circuit.
“For some their hearts are simply not in it and they become distracted...Some will follow more traditional Aussie Pursuits” and the others? According to Ford they will submit to the more heinous side-effects of 1970’s suburban life. A path which will see “some die, some [go] to jail.”
“Vic Ford was a tightarse” replies Ant matter-of-factly.
“See Vic had a young persons mind in an old persons body, he wanted to be doin’ what we were doin.’”

Although he rejects Ford’s theory, that very few of Bondi’s produce had the mettle to make the grade, it cannot be denied how prophetic it proved. Ant is a carpenter by trade. The fact this is all he amounted to…well for those who saw him surf, it’s a sore point. The rumours are there. Some speculate to a brief dalliance with the ‘hammer’ as so many of his Bondi brethren succumbed. Some just reckon Ant Corrigan wasn’t suited to the often political and warped ways that was pro surfing in the late 70’s. Though who ever you talk to it seems that Ant Corrigan’s story is one that people really want told.

One man who certainly knows how to tell a story is Ant’s childhood sparring partner Cheyne Horan.
“Ant Corrigan!” booms Cheyne down the line before I’ve even had the chance to ask a question. About their relationship Cheyne tells me in an impassioned voice, “Mate, me and Ant are brothers.” And yet despite their affinity even Cheyne can’t arrive at a definitive conclusion as to why this freakish talent never went on to bigger things. He tells the story of a prestigious junior contest held at the spiritual homeland of Australian surfing, Bells beach, Victoria. A point where Ant’s surfing career was to meet a fork. Success or failure.
“I was there to watch it happen, I was there to watch him become a pro” sighs Cheyne, “and it didn’t happen. He didn’t show up.”
Ant missed the start of his career defining heat. A whole crew of his Bondi brothers were there to watch it happen and the star never fronted. The reason? Well from here things get a little fuzzy. Cheyne attests Ant had been out partying the night before and had missed his ride. Yet he later says that in fact Ant was ready and did want to compete, but the ride never came.
“I wasn’t out on the piss” quips Ant, when I confront him with Cheyne’s claim. “Far from it.”
He pauses a moment.
“I do like the piss though” he giggles deviously.

Ant tells of another significant moment in his surfing career or lack thereof. Once again there is the glimpse of emotion in his voice. At the time the Stubbies Pro, held on the point at Burleigh Heads was the crown jewel of the competitive circuit. With professional surfing still in its infancy, not only did it attract the world’s best but also the invaluable asset of mainstream media coverage. After a blistering display in the trials a teenage Ant Corrigan was all but assured of a spot in the event, listed as third reserve.
“I got shafted to 16th reserve, coz of all the overseas competitors and all this bullshit. I said ‘Fuck them, why didn’t they surf, fucken, in the trials. How come I get shunted!”
Ant tells me 15 of those reserves ended up surfing in the contest. He didn’t.
The old adage ‘champions never give in,’ didn’t apply to Ant Corrigan. He was a realist. When dealt his hand he simply left the table. One gets the sense had the cards fallen his way Ant may well have gone onto fulfil his touted potential. But they didn’t.
“I wasn’t gonna ya know, fuck around it was a decision ya know to pull me fucken finger out, and goin fucken work.”
Some did gamble and won big, like his mate Cheyne Horan. Others gambled and lost it all, literally.

Whether it was fate or simply a lack of resolve that put a full-stop on his surfing career, the next event in Ant’s life would have tested the mettle of any athlete. I ask about his brother. He skirts the question masterfully, throwing off about trips to Cronulla and surf stars like Occy, Dog Marsh and Grub.
“So he was a big influence?” I probe tentatively.
“Yeah” he nods, before finally, in the closest I’ve seen to true lament all night, Ant finishes, “He was my older brother, my best mate, a legend surfer, and ya know, a good bloke to boot.”
About Steve Corrigan, Cheyne Horan states “he was a hero of Australian surfing…one of the best surfers in Australia.”

Ant recalls with a slight glaze to his eyes, an older brother who would pack him up with the rest of his surfing paraphernalia and take him on early morning adventures to surfing hotbeds like North Narrabeen. Through his brother Ant would meet his surfing idols, all of whom had dutiful respect for Steve Corrigan. Along with his mother and stepfather, Ant lists his brother as the biggest influence on his life. To a teenage boy the presence of Steve Corrigan must have been Titanic.
“I had a sixth sense ya know” recalls Ant about the night of his brother’s death.
“I was at a late movie, a surf movie, and I’ve just said to me mate, ‘I’ve gotta go home.’
I remember crying, hearing the cops come to the door. I cried all night. I remember the relo’s [relatives] and that arriving through the night.”
Steve Corrigan was killed in a car crash.
Over the next few years Ant admits “he retreated…did what most 15 & 16 year old kids do; smoked a bit of pot, drank a few beers. I went into my shell a bit.”

With a rumbling laugh Ant tells about the things that excite him these days “a cold beer and a good feed.” He has two daughters that blast a glow through his face upon their very mention. It would be far too easy to write Ant Corrigan off as the bad-luck story, the quintessential Aussie with a thirst for life and an even greater thirst for beer. When given a choice Ant chose life, the simple life. Some may see it as potential wasted, but as Cheyne Horan says “Ant’s the kind of bloke who loves his mates, maybe his potential is hanging in Bondi with his mates.”
As I leave the pub I am cornered by a friend of his.
“Geez, you know it’s a shame seein' guys like Corro, with his talent, doin this” he motions towards a standing Ant, half a schooner of beer in his hand. Suddenly Ant shoots around grabbing his mate, pinching and roughing him up.
“Don’t listen to this bloke” they both crack up, “he’s just a farting, talking, drinking machine.”

Sure Ant Corrigan might be the greatest surfer you’ve never heard of, but don’t feel sorry for him, as he puts it “life’s pretty good the way it is.”

SHOCK START TO SURF SEASON
By Jed Smith. MonthYear
Cataclysmic storms, large surf, some 75 competitors, and last years dead last competitor finishing the day as ratings leader, marked the eventful beginning of the local surfing calendar. With waves edging five foot and offering little face time, the day would belong to the innovative and the aggressive.   One move, two if you were lucky, was the scenario; who owned the volatile, one reo-wonder was the question. Cataclysmic storms, large surf, some 75 competitors, and last years dead last competitor finishing the day as ratings leader, marked the eventful beginning of the local surfing calendar.

As far as the Bondi line-up goes, no one surfs like Chris Symmons.   To watch on as he buries his rail, flying off the bottom with a waves worth of speed into a frontal assault of a descending lip, sending fins, spray and person flying, is to witness the definition of raw, aggressive surfing.   Whereas multiple champion Ian Wallace will map out his wave, carefully slicing portions off it en route to a long, calculated ride, Symmons will either fall off or throw down three turns of a calibre that won't be seen again all season.   It is this inconsistency, however, that has also plagued his title aspirations, having never made an opens final before this.   Though as far as a spectating goes, his heat is a must see.Cataclysmic storms, large surf, some 75 competitors, and last years dead last competitor finishing the day as ratings leader, marked the eventful beginning of the local surfing calendar.

With heavyweight Ian Wallace absent (Chile), a valuable head start beckoned.   Local pharmaceutical professor and widely tipped threat for the crown, Jono Arnold walked away with second place and valuable points.   Chris Symmons took third, though there's a good chance these points will be wasted…or he might win the whole thing.   Whilst loping power hacker, Johannes Leak finished fourth.   To suggest that Luke Firmage would at some point lead the ratings this year, would have been to earn a beer in the face and a schooner to the head.   Last years equal forty seventh competitor, begins 2008 at the top of the table after winning the first event.   Meanwhile the Bondi Grommet factory is in full effect, unearthing more kids than an Amish midwife.   The name Jack Priest has graced these pages before, though special mention is in order for the rare feat of winning both junior divisions.   Reminding that he weighs about 50 kilos, the contest was held in waves of consequence and this required surfing twice as many heats as anyone else.