Ape Anonymous, 1585265926
No doubt that the surfing world re-evolved around Larry "an acrobat". Didn't he have to stop surfing because it caused a back injury? Something to learn in that, I reckon if we want to keep surfing into old age we got to not be so radical.
PKsswellnet, 1585272332
I'm with you Ape, my lack of airs and other radical moves is cause I'm saving my 50 something back.
memlasurf, 1585274878
Great topic Stu and the other thing about shitty social media is that everything is outed. The 70's were truly anarchic and just about anything went and you only heard whispers through the grape vine. Maurice on his Vic west coast pub rampages, drugs everywhere (dope and smack), and explorations of spots you had to find for yourself or be in the know. You had to really work your networks to get any information. LB was one of my heroes as we all rode skaties back then on the street when the surf was flat (the multi level car parks were still open after the shops shut at 12 on Saturday so we all used to take the elevator to the top and a mass race to the bottom) and his turns and cutties were transferable. And the boards were absolute CRAP compared to today. Single fin shit boxes with down rails 4 inches thick and no legrope (not leash, a word that has taken over due to the Yank influence). Shark Island was a mythical slab somewhere in Sydney and Peterson was the man and then came MR and twinnies, Rabbit with his bravado and Shaun in the tube who changed it right up. The big trip for Victorians was the big one up the coast all the way to Queensland or straight up the Newell non stop in a bong cloud. Were some wild times and the population was 1/2 what it is today.
redclement., 1585275945
Loved watching footage of Larry surf he seemed to be throughly enjoying himself.
John Eyre, 1585280170
Instagram is full of heroes self-promoting.............where as with the old mags n movies you had to earn it especially to hit the mainstream media......
Ape Anonymous, 1585281633
Oh. Yeah. Sorry Stu... Thanks for the content. "social media" is a scourge on society -self is now defined by likes on a computer database -weird. Really really weird.
Larry's understudy -Buttons was a huge influence on my transition over the past decade from comp short boards to single fins and eventually ending up on 5 fins.
Memla, not sure the boards back then all comparatively sucked -the average pop-out board today still sucks. In my mind "down rails" give superior performance if they're done in the right way. More than single fins at that stage, -didn't Hoye mention Ben Aipa using 13 fins??
MartinNow, 1585283290
Is hash tag the branding on a big block?
Elliedog, 1585283881
Love history....Hate social media...particularly right now with what's going on in our society. Its taking a toll. This cheers me up Stu. I get it all as i's a member at TSJ but great to see you add the info on this platform.
Pops, 1585288060
Anyone else see a bit of Larry Bertlemann in Mikey February's style?
PCS PeterPan, 1585289009
Stu , well written as usual . More surf history for those who remember and those who are curious . For me , the modern "insta" mentality is both self serving and short lived .
Respect is hard earned , where I grew up , the older surfers were way more adventurous than the millenial surfers of today . Don't get me wrong , modern surfing is more radical , thats where it stops .
jaunkemps, 1585294313
100 % dude, thought about that exact same thing after watching the footage.
billythekid, 1585300758
that's why I fell in love with surfing as a 13 yo
Westofthelake, 1585302415
"...and the one most in motion was the affro-headed sultan of swivel, the titan or torque, the first pioneer of the space age, Larry Bertlemann."
"I rented a board for an hour, and never came back the whole day"
Never been a better time to check the rearview mirror.
Great stuff!
Terminal, 1585302768
Thanks for the treat Stu, great that there was a clip of Bert doing a Bert. Trick still done to this day, I think it's Sandro Dias extending one on vert in a thrasher clip released yesterday, very heavy. If you've got any Buttons' footage hobbitted away somewhere consider this a request for the DJ. In my opinion he was light years ahead and to this day have never seen anyone do switch foot reos, mid-reo, as fluidly. That manoeuvre like an surfing evolutionary dead-end that should never have been abandoned. Looks amazing when done well
wally, 1585304597
Great vid.
And looking at the credits.
Narrator : Robert Weaver. You might know him as Wingnut.
Writer : Drew Kampion. When he was in the mood, one of the handful of the best ever surf writers.
mattlock, 1585308894
Doing a "Bert" on the crappy sloped wall at the next suburb's primary school was the highlight of my 11yr old life.
thermalben, 1585340991
OT - I have transferred all CV related comments over to this thread.
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2020/03/24/plea-australian-living-under-coronavirus-lockdown
As you were.
Elliedog, 1585343569
Good job Ben. You think HT enjoyed the LB vid?.
thermalben, 1585343908
I hope so! It certainly was good viewing, eh?
kirra72, 1585345029
Shark Island wasn't a myth to some of us back then. Used to hang out for those big South swells with a touch of East in them. And the trip to Kirra lasted a few years. Reggie and Tommy lived next door. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
warddy, 1585348466
Yep the Bertleman on the first skate parks ....
Aww right Larry
freerider., 1585376542
I literally got scared at first when I saw that picture linked to your name.....
freerider., 1585376737
I literally got scared for a sec. when I saw that picture--linked to your name.... That guy scares me........
velocityjohnno, 1585377895
Enjoyed the vid but I think I enjoyed Stu's intro moreso. Agree on the social media, but what raised my eyebrows was the mention that History departments are being closed. Is this true? A society without open investigation of the past goes downhill really fast.
Now the surfing - loved it. The forward fin with loose set in the finbox marries to the really low centre of gravity carves (can't do that). Was it LB and Aipa who developed the stinger for this type of surfing? Also good to see how his south shore upbringing formed his approach to the waves. And the Larrials! As of the time of the doco, he was pretty humble after living large.
You can see where Buttons is coming from looking up at Bertleman.
For Aussie surfers, was it Narrabeen Col Smith and WL that sent us down our power surfing/vertical/carving path?
bluediamond, 1585378412
I would agree on those two names VL. Col Smith and Lynch definitely come to mind for me as the first real straight up vertical surfers. But i bet there's a bunch of underground local crew that were also at it around that time too...
Statler, 1585382510
Thanks swellnet, Shared today with the grommets already got the eldest questioning his thin performance board...... What a talented surfer, could watch all day long unlike the Pro's of today
velocityjohnno, 1585384832
Statler, Swellnet did a fantastic article, and it was about short single fins. If you can find a late 70's short single for your eldest, give him a season with it - he will learn to read the wave and flow. In the comments I got Ben to put up a pic of the circa '79 G&S 6'0" that my grom spent a bit of time on when younger, he prefers the modern boards (with adequate float) for his performance and ease of getting in, etc, but it's nice to see how the single has given him flow and speed.
Bonus for your eldest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X0ybabB6e8
Buttons Kaluhiokalani: The Future Surfing
Average, 1585390588
Despite starting surfing in the early 90's, I didn't learn about Larry Bertlemann until the Dogtown and Z-boys Skateboarding documentary. He was a huge influence on the skating scene too. Some of his skating footage here could be mistaken for documentary footage.
Is it just me or is Larry not as famous in surfing history as he deserves to be?
memlasurf, 1585438683
Yeah those late 70's early 80's singles really set the template for modern boards. Bugs had some really good ones through Hot Stuff. I was with LB and put the fin as far forward as possible in the box. And by then we had proper Leggies.
memlasurf, 1585439085
Very famous in my era (60 yo) but he was never a big contest man and by the time the ASP got going with the Bustin down the doors crew he was getting out of surfing. I loved his twinnies and always wanted one of those cool sprays, still do. Him, Liddle and Buttons were way ahead of everyone however the drugs were so ingrained into their lifestyle it burn't them out too quickly. They ended up shells of what they were.
Spuddups, 1585521858
It’s amazing what he was able to do on those boards. The mind boggles when I think about how he would have surfed on a modern shape. Mind you I think he would have lost some of his unique style.
That’s one thing that’s been lost in the modern era. Most pros these days surf in a very similar way. No wounded seagulls to be seen anywhere.
tango, 1585563607
That's the #1 thing missing from today's groms starting on formula 1 thrusters....only a handful of them have any flow. Sure they can go fast, crank few good turns but then only a smidgeon of that handful do it with ....panache. Damn, why can't I underline that?
tango, 1585564165
That footage of him is gold. As groms we were amazed that anybody could even think about doing an air, and Larrials were the thing for the summer of '83 or '84 - I can't remember if it was Follow the Sun part 1 or part 2? Or....?
And that footage from Fantasea......still one of the greatest surf movies ever made.
Agree about social media - everything is like a sparkler at cracker night and flames out after a short burst to be forgotten far too quickly. I'm probably more concerned by the homogeneity of mainstream surfing these days, and find most of the pros technically amazing but pretty boring, really, and very few individuals. Should we thank the GOAT for that, I wonder?
morg, 1585569560
So cool. Larry Bertlemann and Buttons were the guys we wanted to surf like when we were kids. Everyone else in the surf movies at that time seemed to be into tubes and big cutbacks etc (we were kids and had no idea). Larry had us laying tight low carves on our skaties and then trying to do it in the surf. He and Buttons changed the way we wanted to surf.