'Talk Story' schedule at Duke's Day
Tomorrow and Saturday the Duke's Day celebrations are happening at Freshwater Beach, Sydney. Part of the celebrations will be the 'Talk Story' gathering featuring surfers as disparate as famed Hawaiian bodysurfer and lifeguard Mark Cunningham, Indigenous researcher and photographer John Ogden, Women's surfing historian and academic Bec Olive, plus the usual smattering of surf journalists such as Phil Jarratt, Tim Baker, Nick Carroll, and Sean Doherty.
There are a bunch of great talks planned. Here's the run sheet to the Talk Story schedule.
FRIDAY 9 JANUARY 2015
10.30-11.00am Aboriginal Coastal Culture - Uncle Max Dulumunmun Harrison talks about the Aboriginal coastal clans and their connection to the ocean and whales.
11.00-11.30am The Saltwater People John Ogden – the Indigenous relationship with surf zones pre-contact, and the early links between Australia and Hawaii.
11.30–12.30am The Women of Surfing and Swimming: a discussion chaired by Derek Hynd -PANEL: Rebecca Olive PhD, Pam Burridge, Belinda Baggs, and Taylor Miller
12.30–1.30pm Duke Surf Team: stories on Duke and Hawaiian surfing chaired by Owen Ravenscoft -PANEL: Paul Strauch, Joey Cabell, and Fred Hemmings.
1.30–2.15pm Isabel: a discussion on Isabel Letham and how women have moved in and out of surf culture over time chaired by Nick Carroll. Panel -Rebecca Olive PhD, Jemma Piggott, and Phil Jarratt.
2.15–3.15pm The Australians: a discussion on the evolution from long boards to short boards, chaired by Barton Lynch -PANEL: legends of Australian surfing including Rusty Miller, Rabbit Bartholomew, Terry Fitzgerald, Pam Burridge, and Simon Anderson.
3.15-4.00pm The Authors: A discussion chaired by Jeff McMullen -PANEL: Nick Carroll, Phil Jarratt, Owen Ravenscroft, Tim Baker, Tricia Shantz, and Sean Doherty
SATURDAY 10 JANUARY 2015
9.00-9.15am Welcome to Country by Bob Waterer
9.15-10.15am Swimming and Surfing a discussion of the sensitive art of pool and ocean swimming chaired by Tim Ford -Panel: Shane Gould, Mark Cunningham, Denis Cotterell
10.15-10.45am Duke's Original Australian Surfboard and the making of the Replica The history and story of arguably one of the most famous surfboards of all, and the making of the Replica board for the Centenary. Talk by Eric Middledorp, and Glen Myer.
10.45-11.45am DUKE: the life and legacy of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku. chaired by Derek Hynd -With Fred Hemmings, former member of the Duke Kahanamoku Surf Team and Kevin Weldon. Kevin is a Knight in the Order of Life Saving, the highest award in water safety. He was also a close friend of Duke and Nadine Kahanamoku.
12-1pm Duke Centenary Re-enactment
1.15-1.45pm HAWAIIAN WATERMEN a talk chaired by Mark Cunningham Talk by Brian Keaulana and Duane Desoto and other Watermen.
1.45-2.45pm Duke Surf Team: Australian and Hawaiian surf culture chaired by Rusty Miller and Rabbit Bartholomew -A discussion about a shared history. The things that link us and the competitive nature of the relationship. -PANEL: Joey Cabell, Paul Strauch, Fred Hemmings
2.45–3.30pm Surf Life Saving and Surfing chaired by Nick Carroll -A talk by Midget Farrelly and members of the Freshwater SLSC.
3.30–4.15pm THE FUTURE: chaired by Tim Baker Linked by the world’s oceans, this discussion will analyse where surfing is headed, and if we are doing enough to protect this much loved resource for future generations. PANEL: Tom Wegener, Simon Anderson, Kirk Wilcox, Belinda Baggs, Robbi Newman, Sean Doherty.
Comments
I wonder if Rabbit will apologize to the Hawaiian's for bustin down the door....insulting Hawaiian culture......??
No offence brutus but if you think violence is the appropriate response to cultural insults perhaps it is a view worth reconsidering in light of the recent behaviour in response to religious insults. For my money if any apology is owed it is the other way. Violence is unacceptable and we have to draw that line clearly.
Can't really agree with you there BB.
It's not like Rabbit was gunned down at his desk.
I'm not a violent fella myself, but i imagine that if I lived on a beautiful tropical island with great waves and some aggressive foreigners rocked up and started paddling rings around everyone in a drug fuelled manner and disrespecting the locals whilst trying to commercialise a previously pure and soulful pastime, then I'd get upset too.
Got to be judged in the context of the times also.
But you were there , not me.
So where do you draw the line Blowin' ? If it is OK to beat the shit out of someone for a relatively minor indiscretion on the grand scale of things, then it is sort of logical to conclude it's OK to murder someone who insults your prophet. Just as significantly the end of result of both actions is to decrease respect for cultures that consider violence a reasonable response to disrespect or mockery.
I don't condone it but maybe in the minds of the perpetrators of violence they see, faced without an alternative, that violence is a punishment and a deterrent?
By way of comparison a very well known Hawaiian surfer, deeply connected to the North Shore came out for an early Surfabout event and acted like a complete arseholle at Narrabeen for the entire week before the event to the point that a couple of locals decided they would punch him out but were prevented by the cooler heads amongst the locals not the pros just the guys who surfed the place everyday. So which culture handled things better ?
Gee BB big stretch between Bustin down the door......and the Charlie Hedbo massacre.......
but the point is that if you are a pacifist and that violence is never justified....what would you do if our family was being raped/killed in front of you....you would just accept it??
the spiritual and psychological damage done by the "bustin down the door "crew is still there today...for rabbit just to cop a smack in the head no damage done VS the repercussions of the BDTD mouthing off pales into insignifigence when you realize a couple of individuals mouthed off at the expense of the Hawaiian Surfers and culture....
Still to this day Shaun T and Rabbit are not really welcome in Hawaii.......a sorry might start closure....
The price we pay for freedom of speech brutus is that people are free to mock our most sacred beliefs. If you allow provocation to be justification for violence than free speech and much else goes out the window. It is a long way from the North Shore to Charlie Hepto but it's the same thinking, insults justify violence. My position is not pacifism. If attacked I will defend vigorously but under no circumstances other than heavy intoxication can I imagine initiating the violence.
At what point does an Antagonist actually worry that their ongoing insults / words are only escalating the situation . The problem these days is no-one ' sorts ' out these issues like real old school men . A bit of push shove , no one is touched once on the ground . But no , people are scared of confrontation and anger is built up to the point that when it does flash over it turns into one ending the other by whatever means , from fright not fight . The fear of having back it up sees people continue on people once they 've fallen ... This is the saddest thing lost in Humanity's confrontations .
But perhaps not as sad as what happened near the town of San Remo in Vic. during the 70's around the time of touring contest surfers . Were you there Brute ? or do you know the story ?
Perhaps its better not shared ? , but perhaps at some stage if Bugs was going to ' apologise ' for something that to this day probably still gives him nightmares , maybe a representative of the Victorian Community would like to apologise with him in unison , whilst still denying that the two incidents were of any relation to each other . Maybe Kanga should be with him , as it was from his stature and presence that Bugs may have felt the safety to make such outrageous claims ...
Is all this better swept under the carpet .... I think not considering what " the Duke " gave us ....
Hmm Free speech......like wiki leaks??
To think we have free speech is also a bit of a stretch....ask Julian Assange.......at what point does free speech reach a point where it is ridiculous ........if someone incorrectly accused you of being a pedophile and a thief......is that free speech...or are there rules to free speech....??
is someone who is an intellectual able to put down and humiliate a person of lesser intelligence ....to the point where a person has been hurt mentally??
hey Southey story on PI yeah.....
yeah Brutus PI .,
was it 77 or 78 ?!?
should that be buried , or is it pertinent .?
I'm not sure that I get your point brutus if you are in favour of increasing free speech but you don't want people to be free to insult other cultures or if they do then violent retaliation should be permissible. Your point about psychological bullying is valid but that is relevant to individuals or small groups being bullied by more powerful individuals or groups so I struggle to see the relevance to the incident we were discussing.
the point is a group of Bustin down the doorers,who had a good education , were leaders in their sport...insulted the Hawaiian Surfing Culture...which was a culture that had stayed at home .....for decades...
the BDTDer's have never really shown remorse or sought closure.........more damage was done to reputation and the Aloha spirit than can ever be gauged...and Rab copped a smack in the head....no real damage,just a bruised ego....
as for free speech it does not exist......and psychological bullying was what BDTD tried on the Hawaiians .....depending how ya tell it......there was a small group of surfers in Hawaii who's Aloha culture was threatened by a group of the top global surfers.....
Didn't the Duke call a meeting/truce to put the issue to bed??
I think the Duke had passed away prior to that Rab. I think it was the Aikau brothers who insisted on the meeting.
(According to the movie anyway)
Cheers Zen. I'll have to watch the movie again. Remember it was someone highly respected in Hawaii.....
Duke passed away in 1968.
Cheers Udo, yep checked it after I posted......
I think we will have to just agree to disagree on this one brutus. Hope you are getting some waves wherever you are!
ah we could have raved for weeks..I am just trying to tell what I see as the real story,and not the glorified version that has been a money maker...so we agree to disagree.....I am sure its not the end of the story as the repercussions from this unsavory continue.....and lets keep surfing.....because what else would we do?
Anyone attend ?
I hung around there for most of the day on Friday, listened to a couple of good talks and enjoyed some fine conversations. One of them was with Tom Wegener, a warm and ebullient fellow whose doing an interesting study on the state of the surfboard industry vis-a-vis its unique structure and economic health. Fella has made some great discoveries and I hope to share them on Swellnet at some point. And of course we had a good ole chat about Alaias.
'Twas also some funny observations to be made about the politics of the Duke. In attendance were friends of the Duke, biographers of the Duke, the Duke's 'official' biogrpaher, and the Duke Kahanamoku Protection Society, each with their own slant on the big fella's history and legacy. Fuck it was funny watching from a distance the tut-tutting and the clenching of fists when opposing people spoke. Phil Jarratt will something to say about it shortly. Best it comes from him as he seemed to be the target of much of the ire.
I popped in for an hour or so, and saw the Duke Centenary Re-enactment - gotta say it was pretty cool. Had the kids so couldn't hand around too long but there was a great assortment of stalls and displays. Was very busy too !
Thanks Ben. Duane looked the part and he pulled it off with aplomb.
I'm surprised they didn't fall off! The last wave in particular was quite late. Interesting to see how they swung under each wave at the last minute rather than paddle further out and build up speed (I presume that's related to the board's characteristics?).
You're surprised! Jeez, I got to say those of us who rode the replica (or attempted to) remain amazed at Duane's skill. Keep in mind that Tom Myers, himself a great surfer, struggled. Lilly (Jarrad Howse' niece would you believe) was awesome. One second they nose dive, the next she's up. The board is a plank, it's a door, hard to call it a board. Tandem on anything less than 9ft is not possible. That it was pulled off on a board 8'6" http://www.surfresearch.com.au/00000100.html is remarkable. Those of us there were just hooting.
Anyone see the future chaired by Tim Baker?
yeah whats the Future??
great event and generated the spirit as it was intended. Its good to get the writers, surfers, swimmers and have a bit of talk fest. Future, well, I sense we know where its going comp wise but I sense there will be variations of style and what is done on the wave. The early morning photo at Freshie summed it up well.
ah but will the Hipster movement take over....??
I saw the Future, it was a bit short to really grapple with the issues. Many nice and heartfelt sentiments were expressed. People talked about eco-friendly surfboards, Simon chucked a bit of cool water on that by suggesting the materials have to be as good or better than the current formulae or they'd never really take off. Crowds and overpopulation were stalked around a bit, Belinda Baggs floated the idea of older surfers learning to give waves away a bit more, wave pools were discussed. Tom Wegener suggested we should all try to be the new Dukes toward people in India, Africa, China etc as they get into surfing and try to instil good surfing values in new surf cultures. Climate change was mentioned but not discussed; John Ogden the panel co-ordinator listed the things he feels we should be concerned about, global warming, fish populations, plastic overuse.
Hi Nic...thanx for the run down of the future....maybe the questions should have been more direct like,
should the commercial entity's of our surf culture keep trying to increase the number of surfers on the planet?
should global surfing become a role model for .....???
is there already overcrowding in surfing?
seems to me all of John O's points are population issues, so why is surfing wanting more surfers??
ha ha I think the genie's out of the bottle on that score
the cold reality is that global population projections have the Earth's human population roughly doubling by the end of the century, when it's projected to begin a slow decline. Surfing is just a human recreational/sporting activity and a pretty small one in that context.
my own thought, surfing has now grown well beyond the control of anybody or any one group in particular, indeed it has grown beyond the purview of the surfing "old world" (i.e. Australia, the US and Hawaii). Other nations, other coastlines, will produce more and more surfers and will have more and more influence.
To me one future challenge for surfers in these old world surfing nations is learning to get used to the idea that we have increasingly less say over what happens in the sport.
Does surfing have intrinsic values, or does the act of surfing produce an intrinsically similar set of values no matter where you happen to take it up or when or how, no matter your general background or the society/culture around you? That's a question for the future I reckon.
Pertinent to that point it was interesting to see the Australian Surfing Media's reaction to Gabe Medina winning the first World Title from a new world surfing Nation. Well, kind of New World.
In the first print editions out after Medina won the Title Aussie surfing media ran the following covers.
ASL : Jeremy Flores.
Tracks: Dane Reynolds.
Surfing World: Kelly Slater.
Apart from the perfunctory recap written by yourself if you'd opened an aussie surfing mag you would have had practically no clue that a major shift in the balance of world surfing power had occurred.
You asked the question what effect Medina winning would have? From the point of view of the traditional Aussie surf media the effect was to give him the finger, turn their back and just pretend the whole thing didn't happen.
I mean, Kelly fcuking slater? Could there be a bigger poke in the eye and fcuk you to Medina and Brazil than to put Slater on the cover.
I thought ASL, considering the racist imbroglio it found itself in after the Otis Carey affair might have been a bit less tin-eared.
Thoughts?
ha ha shearer nice bait attempt.
I can only address the Surfing Life thing in that area, the magazine was at the printers prior to the world title showdown getting sorted out and only jammed the article and wt coverline in at the very last minute - like the morning after the event finished. You can't leave cover shots hanging like that, you have to set it up a bit ahead of time these days, and the editor was pretty psyched on the Europe feature which is the centrepiece of that mag and the source of the Jeremy shot.
Youll have to ask other people about Tracks and SW covers.
You honestly think there is no substance to what I'm saying?
Look at the aussie surfing press and it's like Medina's Title never happened.
SW gave a half an issue to when Mick and Joel won. Not a dicky bird to a Brazilian.
To be fair SW ran a cover of Gabriel the issue prior. Photo by Ed Sloane of Gabs deep inside Chopes with the headline 'Is the world ready for a Brazilian world champ?' The story inside - only a page long from memory - was by Sean Doherty.
And an interesting observation from our end - we ran a shot of Gabriel as WOTD the morning after he won the World Title, and received quite a lot of negative feedback about it - some on the forums here, but also via a lot of direct emails too.
Seems our audience (which is overwhelmingly Australian) wasn't too pleased with our decision to recognise Gabriel's achievement in this manner.
I guess that is my whole point.
You can bet every Aussie surf mag had a cover shot of Fanning or Slater ready in case they won.
C'mon Freeride, Aussie surf mags are not public services; they are precarious businesses, living month by month, trying to sell a product. It's like a pie shop, if the people want meat pies, you better go easy on the pine nut and kale pies or you will be out of business. That is not the pie maker being anti-vegetable.
And people like to cheer for their own countrymen, or people they have learned to like. Everybody is like that, because it makes sense. Cultural differences have formed a bit of a block between Brazilians and the old surfing guard countries, mistakes on both sides there. But, c'est la vie and things will improve.
But it is not racist. Are Brazilians a race? As you know from the U.S. websites, there is a lot of hostility towards Fanno and Parko. Is that racist? Nup, just wrong country.
Of course, the actual rabid anti-Medina types are just hateful irrational dicks who are comical because of their ability to speak without any brain engagement. I'm a Medina fan who thinks Medina is incomprehensibly good. Plus, though he may already be the best surfer, I think that is despite being a little raw and undeveloped. In a few years, I reckon he is going to be a whole other level.
Everything you say makes sense Wally.
I was just talking to Nicks point about the Future and how the old surfing nations will respond to it.
This is one clear example of the Future arriving and so far the response has been denial and indifference.
(to shearer) nah I reckon its fascinating but I'm not gonna go on about it here.
Maybe just like the what has been discussed at length in some Localism threads perhaps as established surfing nations we owe it to developing / emerging nations to try to influence culture for the greater good ... have we failed the brazilliions ? , or are they just the " new aussies " bustin down the door ....
Perhaps we railroaded the " future of surfing back in the late 60's perhaps that can be traced back to the mainland USA doing that first after learning of the sport from the Polynesians post WW2 ???? Is there a date when it all went off the rails , or is surfing just becoming more and more accessible .... It all started that only royalty could indulge ! ? ! ....
All I can say is look out when and if the chinese get interested , talk about dog eat dog culture ......
Southey knows all about China.
Its quite amusing to see that just about everybody has a valid point on the Future of surfing......
I think Nick makes a good point with the fragmentation of the sport taking place with the fall of the Big 3 , the rise of Brazil , the ISA still stumbling along looking for relevance in surfing becoming an Olympic sport,the WSL a privately run business that now controls surfings competitive future and in a certain sense the one major marketing tool of surfing to the masses......
there has been an enormous upheaval in Surfing.....the dust is still settling.....lets hope that Brazil does not do a " Bustin down the door" type of mass marketing....how to alienate and not make friends,at least we have an example of what not to do......hehe
interesting question.
No doubt the genie is out of the bottle Nick and we have a fair idea of those responsible for removing the stopper, but it was all long ago in another land. The real issue is how do we manage the ever increasing crowds in some remotely equitable way. Market forces won't do it and surfers are widely admired in anarchist circles for their immunity to organisation.
The question of the values of surfing is interesting. I think surfers just reflect the local cultural values to a large extent. Crowd behaviour in Japan would be a classic example of that. The way attitudes have changed on the northern beaches over the last few decades is another. If surfing has any impact it is probably fairly minimal and not necessarily positive. The phrase surf nazi tells us something about that.
"Tom Wegener suggested we should all try to be the new Dukes toward people in India, Africa, China etc as they get into surfing and try to instil good surfing values in new surf cultures."
Seems a tad colonial, even though I am sure Wegener meant anything but. He seems like a cool person.
These places have "good surfing values". In China, at least, there isn't the same negative discourses and practices attached to surfing. It's all pretty positive and communal, at the moment. It is sometimes the expats and incomers who bring the problematic discourses and debates into the fray and when locals hear about them they are surprised that there are such issues e.g. resentment against Chinese board makers consisting of people simply trying to make a living and feed their family, localism (huh?), aggression in the line-up (huh?), etc. He may be referring to the environmental aspects of the production and commercial side of things. However, we've largely made a mess of this ourselves so what we have to say would have to be taken with a grain of salt. Although, environmentally, people like Wegener could have some helpful ideas for local crew.
Sounds like it was an interesting two days.
The 'Talk Story' worked well, in an ideal world it would have been great to have as an event on it's own. But that was the deal, we tried to pack in as much as we could into two days. A diverse and deep bunch of contributors there too. ...and in the boaties shed!
Maybe, but it's a short hop from Wegener to Wagner.
Overall the 2015 Dukes Day Centenary Celebrations were a fantatstic 2 days!
The mix of the Freshwater Beach events, the Talk Story sessions, the Surfboard etc. displays, the Aloha Cocktail party and the Duke K. surfing re-enactment offered something for everyone!
I've been viewing the postings today on the Dukes Day facebook site:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dukes-Day/127117070686248
There's lots of comments, pictures, some videos + media reports posted up there.
Worth a visit to get a good feel for what went on.
Jack McCoy filmed most of it for a future documentary on it he's making about it.
A Freshie local filmmaker told me she is also making a documentary on the 2015 Dukes Day events from the August 2014 Oceanfest in Hawaii through to Jan. '15 at Freshie - she was still filming interviews this morning inside Freshie SLSC.
Australian Surfing is now the subject of numerous PhD's and post Doctoral research papers etc.
It is now attracting serious interest with Intellectuals etc. as well as the Arty crowd - the days of it being the sole domain of a bunch of uneducated Waxheads is long gone.
Surfing is now attracting the arty crowd ?
That explains the over earnest gentleman trying to get photos of my scrotum as I got changed out of my wet boardies today then. It was art.
That's a relief.
Yep,sounds like the old boys club had a get together to chart the coarse of surfing for thier fun and profit, working class not welcome, yeah sounds pretty colonial.
Regards
Your favourite hater
The Future- yeah freeride the silence has been defining.
U-turn- please no.., not in the boaties shed.., that fucken not on.
Blowin- is it art if I take a photo of my own scrotum?
Shaun- you are my favorite hater.
The Talk Story sessions also included a old Boatie who hangs around Freshie SLSC.
His public views espoused during a session he was on the Panel of included how the "Authoratarian" ways of Surf Club Committee Members - were now a thing of the past.
I later on observed him at close range on Freshie Beach during the Duke K. re-enactment - verbally abusing a visitor to it - and also threatening him that he'd be "Kicked Off the Beach".......
HMMMNNN.........
The sooner these old Clubbie Dinosaurs all die off or drown - the better!!
Volunteers at the beach telling you to leave. Huh ?
C'Mon Freshwater Head, "kicked off the beach", you really are creating mytholgy. Those who were near you heard nothing like this. Verbally abusing? Careful.
Be accurate. No one acts like this, seriously you're attemting to create your own history.
An interesting response from a Freshwater SLSC Member - about one of his fellow Freshwater SLSC Clubbie mates - that he worked on the Duke K. re-enactment with.
If you had witnessed this incident first hand on Freshwater Beach like I did - your assertion above would be totally different!
Or ask the guy himself -who was very abused on Freshwater Beach by your Clubbie mate!
Check your facts objectively - rather than simply relying on what your Clubbie mates tell you!!
Best of a bad bunch hey ;-)
Once a fascist always a fascist.