Club History

The start and montage

In the early 1960’s, Palm Beach was considered to be a very rough and localized little village, opposed to areas like Surfers Paradise and the big city to the north, Brisbane.

Palm Beach was a localised area,

Southport was a business area and Coolangatta and Surfers were the tourist zones.

There are a lot of local long term families that lived in the Palm Beach, Currumbin and Tugun towns.

As development and tourism improved in the area, people moved to Palm Beach and our town grew and with this growth it attracted a new group of “locals”

A lot of crew came and went in and these “new locals” created a name for themselves, known as “blowins’

Society was out…. and the majority of the town frowned upon a small group of young enthusiastic surfers that had lived in Palm Beach all their lives.

Society deemed that the beach life consisted of joining a Surf Life Saving Club which meant you would have to wear “dick togs.”

Well this wasn’t for the Palmy boys, as they had a rebellious streak, which suited the time and them. Their hair was getting longer and their surfboards were getting shorter.

They weren’t hippies, they were hard-core surfers who liked to party until the sun came up and socialise on a regular basis.

So, in the late 1960’s, in the small village of Palm Beach, a few of the local hard-core lads decided to form a board riders club.

This was due to the common interest of surfing in the community.

There was a desire to emulate the great clubs of that era, which were Kirra and Windansea. There was also a strong feeling to stick by each other, have fun, and most importantly, to get respect for what they loved most, surfing.

So, the lads got together in Neville Palmers parents’ garage at 8th avenue Palm Beach and conducted the founding meeting consisting of various local lads including Ian “Ocker” Gordon, Peter “Ned” Kelly, Peter “Norts” Evans, Shawn Conway, Michael Gillet and Neville Palmer

The guys would get together regularly for meetings and at Palm Beach Avenue for contests.

60 and 70s era

In the months after the first meeting, other surfers in the area gravitated towards Palm Beach Boardriders. Some more local lads to join up then were the Wallace Brothers, Fawcett Brothers, Walker Brothers, Thoughton Brothers, Tommy “Toad” Tyler, Brad “Fish” Taylor, Charlie, Jock, Caveman, Barry and Fin,

How-ever there was still a need for proper formation and direction.

When Bruce and Neil Collins took over the reins of the club this all changed, the lads got a new club house and hang out, “Filthy Franks” on the corner of 3rd Avenue.

The Collins brothers a brought constitution and conducted meetings on a regular basis.

With the likes of Lenny Lindsey, John Martin and John Nancarow joining, they brought transport to the club, they owned cars…… and this was a big deal back then.

The new opportunity to travel, opened up a whole new world to the Palmy Boys, with a great spirit of adventure and the chance to spread the Palm Beach spirit all over the country.

From now on, it wouldn’t just be a surf trip to Bogangar, they would extend their travels to as far as Bells Beach in Victoria and South West Rocks in New South Wales to surf against the local dubs in these areas. Coffs Harbour and Brooms Head were monthly destinations for the Palmy lads.

Palmy was a popular club to be in.

However, not just anyone can join. You had to attend three meetings consecutively and likewise with contests.

After abiding by these rules and regulations you would then have to pass a vote of confidence by all members, whilst you waited outside the clubhouse.

This tradition still carries on today, proving to create loyalty and trust within the club and its members.

Palm Beach Boardnders had a great record in the 70’s competing for the Gold Coast Shield against clubs like Windansea, Kirra, North Shore and Brunswick Heads. The number of good surfers and fantastic members in those days are too great to mention, however Peter Evans, Mark McDougal, Graham Black, Don Shorter and Ian Hutchinson were among the best.

There wasn’t really a lot to do in Palm Beach in the 1960’s and 70’s.

There was the Palm Beach Hotel which was great for socialising and having a beer.

There was the Bert Cockeralls movie theatre, where the lads would be lucky enough to see a surf movie once a week.

These movies would attract surfers from far and wide and some classics nights unfolded, “Morning of the Earth” “Tubular swells” and many iconic movies from the 60’s and 70’s kept Berts Picture theatre alive.

Another hangout for the Palmy Boys was “greasy Nick’s café”, a pinball and snooker parlour where the lads could claim as their turf, a place they could call their own, and run riot when ever they felt like it.

There may not have been a lot of attractions in the early days of Palm Beach but there was always the interest in surfing and having good times.

The 80s’

In the very late 70’s early 80’s, just like life you have growing pains; the club too, had growing pains.

Some of the lads from the sixties and late seventies disappeared or just got on with life out side of the club.

The maturing professionalism within the surfing community was coming about whether some of the members liked it or not.

In 1981 their strength was divided in two with an internal split in Palm Beach Boardriders.

Personal issues, with many carrying their hearts on their sleeves, and fallouts amongst friends and family were all taking there toll on the Palmy clubs’ management.

This split lead to the formation of a rival Board club in the Palm Beach Currumbin area. This new club was called “Salt City.”

Palm Beach has weathered the waves of turmoil that rocked it at the time, but now they only seem like ripples because the Palm Beach Currumbin area is so rich with surfing talent.

The two clubs can co-exist happily now and are still highly competitive to this day.

The Palmy boys were hard-core blokes in and out of the water.

The club created life long friendships for a lot of people. For some guys the club was like a home away from home and they found their club mates were always there when they needed them.

In the mid 1980’s the club took a new direction under founding member Ian Gordon’s leadership. At that time the club’s strength started to develop in the shape of the younger grommets of that era, who still believed in the Palm Beach spirit and the fact that good times were still an important factor.

One of the major accomplishments of the committee of that time was the amalgamation with All Stars Sports dub at the Mallawa Drive Sporting fields. This has lead to huge benefits for every, member and for the financial well being of the club.

The club house, which is still used today, has proven to be a great venue for various important occasions within the club.

Throughout the 80’s the club saw a lot of good surfers come and go such as Mark and Brett McDougal, Darren Sims, Mark Foley, and Mark Trout, but no one dominated the open championships more so, than Glen Elliott with 7 open titles.

Palm Boardnders Club set out to stage a contest to attract potential new members, and at the same time, seek out the best surfer in the local area. This was defined by Currumbin Creek to the South and Tallabudgera Creek to the North, thus naming the contest the Creek to Creek Surf Contest.

Over the years the contest has grown in popularity to an extent where all divisions are filled prior to the contest date.

The depth of talent at previous Creek to Creek competitions has been outstanding.

The Creek to Creek has the ultimate reputation as a home grown event that nurtures the talent of local surfers.

There have been plenty of Palmy members who have had success in the Creek to Creek Surf Classic.

Over the 20 years of the contest, surfers have come from far and wide to the foreshores of Palm Beach and made their mark in the Creek to Creek Classic and has taken their surfing to a higher level.

The contest was recognised by Surfing Queensland as a well organized and successful event and was included in the Queensland Championship Circuit.

The 90’s

From the late 80’s to early 90’s the club went through many changes, with many short term presidents coming and going and with no real direction, until a popular young member took the president’s job.

Brett Provost had been in the club for eight years and had come through the junior ranks. His direction and leadership skills came at a much needed time for the club.

With a new crop of grommets coming through, the next few years proved to be successful for the Palm Beach boardriders

Some standout surfers in the 90’s have included Shane Gilbert, Glen Elliott, Tim Deacon, James Brydon, Daniel Binskin, Dale Stivey, Steve Simpson, Mark Hamilton, Dru Adler Matt Watson and Lee Walsh.

Palm Beach Boardriders have a very proud history in club team challenges, with the large amount of club spirit and unbelievable depth of talented club suffers, it is easy to understand why the club has been so successful over the years with numerous victories and highlights.

In 1996 Palm Beach Boardriders finished second at Australia’s number one club teams challenge, the Straddie Assault.

Palmy trailed by one point in a sea-saw battle against Snapper Rocks who were considered as the best club of the 90s and always had re-known professional surfers competing for them.

At that time, the crop of Palmy juniors were born and bred and were strongest in the clubs history, which was proven in the Jay Carter Tag Team Competition held at Duranbah, which saw the Palmy boys get one back over the super club “Snapper” in the final.

This was a very proud moment for the Palm Beach lads.

2000 and beyond

In 2000, Palm Beach Boardriders future looked solid, with new committees headed by Mal Allan, Beau Flyn and Dan Purkis, Dru Adler and James Brydon.

Matt Stringer, Jamie Young, Chris Turner, Mark McDougal all play an important role for the future benefit of Palm Beach Boardriders.

Palm Beach Boardriders has always had a strong depth of home grown talented surfers.

Our very own Rory Togo has created big news in the world of Indigenous surfing.

In his first attempt, Rory traveled to Tavarua Island to compete in the World Indigenous Titles he placed third in the juniors.

Two years later Rory proved he was world class, when he finally clinched the Open world Indigenous title.

Rory along with the new crop of Palmy rippers are now shredding the peaks of Palmy, Brian Balthazaar, Adam Milne, Ryan Hipwood, Brett Levingston, Kane Powell, Ryan Grey, Mark and James Brydon and the current club champion and aerial wiz Dru Adler are among the many.

Since “Palmys” conception in the late 1960’s our club has gone through many changes but we still retain a lot of similarities. The early days of a group of friends getting together and having the odd surfing “comp” interconnected with many social gatherings are gone. Today we have a club full of friends who gather together to compete seriously but in a social and friendly atmosphere.

Some great surfers have been members of “Palmy” but our strength lies in our depth of spirit and friendly competitiveness across all our age groups. We have never attracted the hottest surfers to our dub instead we have always been content to develop the younger surfers in our area and that is something we are extremely proud of.

We have always been strong because of our consistent depth of good talent and the fact that we have always been thought of as the “underdog” a tag that sits well with us.

Many times over the years we have surprised the more favored clubs and beaten the “hottest” surfers.

The Palm Beach / Currumbin area is a huge breeding ground for competition hungry Grommets. We have 3 high schools and twice as many primary schools in our area and has proved to be a “seething well of talent”.

The new school grommets are many, and most are second and third generation Palmy Board riders.

Josh and Ben Watson, Mitch Bottica, Brad and Ash Turner, Aiden McDougal and Oni Anwar, These lads are our future club champions and committee members.

 

FINAL CONCLUSION

We know that over the years members have come and gone, but once you have been a member of Palm Beach Boardnders it never quite leaves you.

Once in a while we get together to celebrate a club anniversary and to see all some old mates and recount over a few coldies, about all the classic times of the past, and the classic times to come.

We speak for all our members past and present and for our friends that aren’t with us any more that the last 40 years have been a blast and that we are all richer for the experience.

We know the future is in good hands and these days when you draw a member of the Palm Beach Boardriders in your heat you have good reason to worry.

The Palm Beach ‘Board riders club can thank the early members for setting the precedent, for other generations to follow in their footsteps.

The Palm Beach club is a long established and continual running, non- profit organization, a club rich in history and memories.

Palm Beach Boardriders is a unique club; we are a club full of friends who are serious about contest surfing, but just as serious about not taking the fun out of surfing

Palm Beach Boardriders was formed in 1968, our club is 50 years old and we are very proud of it !!!