OUR HISTORY
…the club that calls the Reef and Oak Park Pavilion home
Acknowledging the first surfers
We would like to acknowledge the original Shoes locals. The ones that were here before any of us.
Before the Cabos and the Johnny Hvass-s and Reno Gillespies.
Before the original surfers in the 1960's who wore sandshoes to protect their feet and from which we claim our identity.
We are talking about the Dharawal people and in particular the Gweagal clan. They lived and played at Oak Park and over time we swapped their spears for our surfboards.
We pay respect to these traditional owners past, present and emerging and we acknowledge the continuing connection to Shoes reef and the community that enjoys this sacred space.
60s/70s
Surfing at Shoes began in the 1960s when surfboard riding was in the midst of its first revolutionary charge in Australia as a sport and lifestyle; when long boards ruled; lifesavers took pleasure in locking up boards in Surf Clubs; when wetsuits were barely available; when surf music filled the radio airways.
It wasn’t until the early 70s that surfing was fully recognised as a sport and healthy pastime, paving the way for Shoes to become a formal entity in the Shire…its own wave playground conveniently removed from the bluster, crowds and formalities of the Cronulla Beaches.
The Reef was a regular stop-off for some of the biggest and legendary names in the sport including Bobby Brown, Frank Latta, Peter Townend, Rob Conneeley, Brian Jackson, Mark Occhilupo, Ross Longbottom, John Rhodes, Jim Banks and Garry Birdsall, to name just a few.
Memories are patchy and records even more scarce, however to our best knowledge, it was 1979 when the Sandshoes Surfabout was organised by the Jones brothers (Fatty, Kenny & Monkey). Iain ‘Ratso’ Buchanan took the honours that day in a pumping NE swell. From there a club and regular club competitions began.
Shoes partly by design and partly because of its location at the southern tip of the Cronulla peninsula – has been something of an eternal “country cousin” to the area’s string of large and strong clubs reaching back to the dawn of the surfing craze. Its profile during the various eras was always at the bottom of the totem pole when compared with the likes of Cronulla, Green Hill, Elouera and The Point.
But that is part of the appeal of the break… Shoes Boardriders, in true humanitarian spirit, accepts anyone who wants to join, but there is definitely no shingle out there inviting participation.
A Tight Community
Shoes has a heritage, that is not so much bound up with daring feats in the short, sharp walls and barrels provided by the Shoes’ reef (though there are plenty of examples of surfing heroics in the annals), more so instilled by the cavalcade of riders to pass through the Club’s ranks on their way to elsewhere.
The list reads like a “hall of fame” - from pioneers of the sport to pro tour greats …Brian Jackson, Bobby Brown, Frank Latta, Jim Banks, Robert Conneeley, Ian Cairns, Tom Curren, Ross Longbottom, Steve Core, Peter Glasson, Wayne Roach, Ian Macca McDonald, Peter Townend, Mark Occhilupo, Gary Green, Ross Marshall, Dane Wilson, to name a few. Of late, a local ripper by the name of Jarvis Earle has taken that mantle.
That ride has passed into folklore, not just because of its longevity but because it scored enough points to tie the total points tally for the Surf League match-up. Bondi were stunned that they scraped through on a tie-breaker. It was one of the club’s finest moments.
A hallmark of its enduring existence is Shoes’ competing in every National Surf League knock-out series in the 10-year history of that unique club series during the late 80s-early 90s.
It was always a minnow in the championship, but veteran and club life member Reno Gillespie is recognised for completing one of the longest stretch-five manoeuvres ever… 21 seconds on the nose during a heat against the powerful Bondi In the Nude squad.
The Shoes Boardriders’ dynasty straddles the spectrum of modern surfboard design…from heavy longboards to tiny fishes to light-weight longboards to twin-fin and three fin double enders and the odd mid-length.
Not many of today’s younger members know that Sandshoes got its name from the days when riders ventured out literally wearing sandshoes to help ward-off the perils of sea urchins lurking on the reef below. Even though you won’t find many surfers lacing up today, there’s often a yelp and a laugh when a fellow surfer emerges having copped a few urchin spines in the foot from the last remaining creatures.
Even more enduring is the amenities pavilion built on the hill in front of the reef prior to the Second World War. The showers and toilets service bathers and surfers alike, but the block-like pavilion’s real claim to fame is as the event headquarters of the Club. Like a sentinel it has silently observed the ever-changing faces – as well as the same old faces – that have called Shoes Boardriders home away from home through the decades. Like most board clubs, Shoes has a strong tradition of family ties…fathers and sons; fathers and mothers and daughters; sets of brothers, mothers and grandkids, uncles and aunties moving through the ranks over long periods. Indeed, family links have been a lifeblood for the club, providing a periodical injection of members as toddlers have grown up, and then had families themselves…the Durantes, Gillespies, Wilsons, Horners, Hvasses, Inmans, Joneses, Cooks, Mulders, Cassidys, Flynns, Hatheiers, Moores, Murrays, Withers, Moffats, Hickeys, McDonalds, Earles, Boylans, Wedesweilers, Chegwiddens… the list is enormous.
It remains a tribute to the passion of local surfers that the Club has refused to die, that indeed in the 21st century it is more hearty and resilient than ever. Today, the contests cover Open, Over 40s and Grommets, and hopefully, in the near future a separate Females category– reflecting the growing “family” components.
Shoes Boardriders, thanks to continuing generations catching “the bug”, just keeps on keeping on…Happy, Charging, Reflective, Open-Minded, a special buzz that only Shoes members know the feeling! Our Patron for Life, the one and only and much loved Dr John Murray, continues to watch over us and the Reef…the second home of every member!
