Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew & Peter Harris

Rip Curl Pro, Bells carpark

Easter 1980

In the perfect unscripted moment, Easter 1980, Bugs slugs down the sponsor's beverage post heat with Stubbies Pro victor Peter Harris, his right arm gesturing to his pal about the course of what's just transpired, or could it be to the bogan P plater with the reverse lights on, who’s just asked if he's leaving. The greater aspect of the shot, of course, is the dirt, THE DIRT, the curse of 10000 surfers in the wet.

Derek Hynd 2026

A day worth remembering
Port Campbell, Victoria

Easter 1979

Waiting for some boomers. Port Campbell 1979. The search for surf during a Rip Curl Pro lay day.

Derek Hynd 2026

Maurice Cole and luminaries & Messrs Green McKnight, Lynch, Byrne, Tomson, Pawson Law, McCoy, Llamas, Collier.

Rip Curl Pro Final, Rincon rocks

Easter 1981

The quintessentially most illuminating, if not gregarious, surfer of all, Maurice Cole, points due south at yet another Simon Anderson ride against Cheyne Horan in the 1981 Rip Curl Pro final at Rincon. Just about as much an institution as the event itself, no event seemed complete without an intimate pack of locals, owners, pros and friends compressed against the Rincon rocks on an incoming king tide during an Easter full moon(included amongst others are Alan Green, Bob McKnight (filming), Shaun Tomson, Critta Byrne, Bud Llamas, Vince Collier, Wayne Lynch, John Law, Jack McCoy and the greatly missed John Pawson.

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Quiksilver Trials Bells Beach, Victoria 1979

Buzzy Kerbox, foreground, on the fickle mid-tide in the foreground during the 1979 Quiksilver Trials. The best wave of the heat appears to be about to go unridden, the first about to break in The Bowl.

Derek Hynd 2026

MR and Bugs

Rip Curl Pro, Bells

Easter 1980

Mark Richards and Wayne Bartholomew, dusk, post-event 1980. No disrespect to Cheyne Horan or Shaun Tomson, but for a traditional Victorian crowd at Easter, it was all about flannelettes and piss, M.R. and Bugs. Here, M.R. assumes the apologetic politeness of a Clark Kent in victory, while Bugs assumes Churchillian staunchness in defeat.

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Mark Richards, Margo Oberg, Claw, Greeny

Rip Curl Pro, Bells

Easter 1978

Winners Mark Richards and Margo Oberg, Rip Curl Pro 1978 - the latter paying for champers up the nose as Doug Warbrick let's loose another cork. Alan Green offers Doug some sage advice.

Margo Oberg won the women's division at Bells four times (1977, 1978, 1980, and 1981). MR also won four Rip Curl Pro titles (1978, 1979, 1980, 1982) and won the 1978 final on a twin-fin against Rabbit, riding a single-fin.

D. Hynd / Amac 2026

Keone Downing, Steve Jones, Terry Richardson

Rip Curl Pro, Bells

Easter 1979

Keone Downing contemplates his completed heat at Rincon in 1979 as Steve Jones warms himself.The great single-fin-channel-bottom rider of the day Terry Richardson looms large for his heat.

Derek Hynd 2026

Gary Elkerton, Chappy Jennings
Wayne Bartholomew and Tom Carroll
Bells carpark

Easter 1982

Seminal period shot at the best of the freshly tarred base of the Bells carpark with Gary ‘Kong’ Elkerton, Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew, Tom Carroll and Chappy Jennings, 1982. Literally on the face of it, this Crawford image of a young Kong, with others scratching for a lift down to Johanna, captures key moment in the rise and rise of pro surfing at Bells Beach. Kong's eventual debut main event heat at solid Bowl would feature the destined teen in a signature red/yellow custom Rip Curl suit blazing a low-line to high-line speed attack to leave fans and critics alike speechless.

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Buzzy Kerbox, Larry Blair
2SM Coke Surfabout 
Bells Beach, Victoria

1979

Larry Blair and and Buzzy Kerbox prepare with a sense of urgency shortly after arriving at the airlifted 1979 2SM Coke Surfabout. No time to waste. With Bells pumping, the big gamble has paid off.

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The 1979 2SM Coke Surfabout was notable as the first airlifted surf event in history. When Sydney's northern beaches remained flat for eight days, contest director Paul Holmes organised the unprecedented transport of the final 16 surfers, officials, and TV crew via six light aircraft to Bells Beach in Victoria to compete in 8-10 foot waves. Photographer Peter Crawford travelled with the surfers. The airlift from Narrabeen to Bells was a massive logistical feat, undertaken at great cost to sponsors Coca-Cola and radio station 2SM, to ensure the show went on. Cheyne Horan defeated Larry Blair and Simon Anderson to claim the title in dramatic, big waves. The event was the richest in professional surfing at the time and won a Gold Logie for 'Best Sports Event' on its television broadcast. Surfabout pioneered the "man-on-man" elimination format, adding intense excitement for spectators and viewers.

Amac 2026

Dane Kealoha sails over a 1981 boomer far outside to check the wave of battler Gabe Callaghan's life. Photog Crawford pulls focus with a Century 650. Bells Beach, Victoria

1981

The 1981 Easter Swell at Bells Beach, famously known as "Big Saturday," is regarded as the most iconic day in the history of the Rip Curl Pro. Occurring on Easter Saturday, April 18, 1981, the event featured massive, clean waves generated by an intense low-pressure system in the Southern Ocean. The swell was so significant that it shook nearby Torquay and Jan Juc, with spectators hearing the "dull booms" of the waves before seeing them. Gabe Callaghan rode a particularly memorable wave that started at Bells, passed "the Button," and continued down into Winki. The wave was captured on video and became part of surf lore, often referenced in discussions of epic Bells Beach sessions. While the famous "Big Saturday" swell provided huge 15-to-20-foot waves for the early rounds, the final itself was contested two days later in significantly smaller surf, around 2 to 3 feet, at the Rincon section of the break.

Big Saturday is often cited as the largest clean swell during a professional contest at Bells Beach, surpassing previous records set in 1965. Local lore suggests that "when Easter is late, Bells gets big," a prophecy fulfilled in 1981 when Easter fell in mid-April. The day is remembered not just for the wave height but for the perfect alignment of wind and swell direction, creating long, rideable walls of water. Footage from the day, including the documentary Wizards of the Water, remains a primary reference for big-wave surfing at the location.

D. Hynd - caption / Amac - text 2026

Audience, Rip Curl Pro
Bells staircase, Victoria
Easter 1982

General crowd scene on the staircase at Bells during the semi-finals of the '82 Rip Curl Pro. Rincon is mid-tide and challenging on a failed swell, but the Easter tide will bring the wave to life within the hour.

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Derek Hynd, Wayne Lynch (unidentified), Simon Anderson
Bells Beach carpark, Victoria
Easter 1981

Simon Anderson celebrates his 1981 win with a tinnie out of the boot of the renowned Falcon whilst Derek Hynd - who had Simon roundly beaten in the semis before a five-minute charity extension changed the result - takes solace in the champers. Wayne Lynch might be laughing at something Hynd has said, but Simon could well be thinking about the poetry of it all, "Beer mate, only beer".

Derek Hynd 2026

Note the thrusters on the roof of Simon’s car. The 1981 Easter Swell at Bells Beach, famously known as "Big Saturday," stands as the most iconic day in the history of the Rip Curl Pro. Occurring on Easter Saturday, April 18, 1981, the event featured massive, clean waves reaching 15 to 20 feet, generated by an intense low-pressure system in the Southern Ocean. This historic swell served as the proving ground for Simon Anderson and his revolutionary thruster surfboard design. While most competitors arrived expecting small waves and brought twin-fins, Anderson debuted his new three-fin setup. His victory in the contest legitimised the thruster design, which quickly became the global standard for high-performance surfing. Big Saturday occurred at a unique moment in surfboard design, with single fins, twins and thrusters all being ridden by various finalists. From this point on thrusters would rapidly become the dominant mainstream fin set-up for years to come.

Amac 2026

Bells carpark, Victoria
Easter 1981

The inimitable Jack McCoy, circa Easter 1981, post-Tubular Swells and pre
his great 25-year body of work. Due to the 1970 Bells/Johanna World
Championships and the cultural melting pot they created, Jack, as the Hawaiian team’s first alternate, was so captivated by the country that henceforth Australia was home.

Derek Hynd 2026

Cortina dawn patrol
Bells Beach carpark,
Victoria
1987

Low rider and driver at dawn, Bells Beach 1987. For every planned attack
that paid off, many more will end here in anti-climax. Alas, yet again, the
dreaded Bells swell lag has trumped a buggered surf rat now asleep behind
the wheel. Possibly having done the ton through the night in the Cortina GT
on The Deadly Hume, high on expectations of a booming new swell come
dawn.

Derek Hynd 2026

Cheyne Horan. Easter free surf
West of Bells, Victoria
1983

Cheyne Horan in period colour and board to suit on the groundbreaking
Lexcen/McCoy winged keel design. Whilst critics doubted the validity this
particular Easter with results slipping, next year on a Lexcen/Fitzgerald
winged keel he won the Bell. PC had a unique rapport with everyone. He
could shape-shift to fit a subject’s personality. Notable is Cheyne's
commitment to design evolution, no matter the ramifications, in a highly
subjective sport. Once again, there’s PC striking a photojournalistic balance.
Particularly in the tight space behind PC’s lens, the better the subject, the
better the result. PC could place himself six inches from the best surfers in
the world, pull focus, get the shot, and not be in the way.

Derek Hynd 2026

Derek Hynd, sans contest vest, blown off him during a first wave wipeout, becomes the only surfer in pro contest history to successfully come through a pro heat minus requisite garb, if not in any heat at all - and in soul-black wetsuit at that. Also, the only time this day that a competitor has gone the Hail Mary deep Rincon gamble, about to pay off against the unsighted Dane Kealoha. It is also the only heat featuring both riders on guns. The wind has earlier swung from stormy Sou West to abating West to perfect due North in sculpting best ever conditions. Far off Point Addis has registered every wrapping set over eight hours. All day at this signal, surfers have stroked head down for the horizon. This particular afternoon has literally been the greatest show on Earth.

Out of shot, 1000 plus people stand behind the spectator in a superb act of photographic deception. The sun and the howling offshores have already combined for Simon Anderson's historic centre stage with light beginning to fade. Photog Crawford has already risked life in having been dropped into the lineup by helicopter, survived the experience, and is back on the clifftop for this last main event heat, yet the surfing isn't done. Not by a long shot. The cap comes from two complete surfers - Wayne Lynch via stunning hook under the lip and above the head of rookie Barton Lynch, and Terry Fitzgerald on an island gun with undoubtedly the greatest handful of soul arches ever likely to be seen. By way of grand climactic prelude the prior day, orchestrator Doug Warbrick had privately called this mega swell to just a handful of people at the bottom of an emptying Bells carpark. Most winning pros had left for the day in the assumption that a playful day of diminishing swell was all but gone.

NOT - QUITE. Doug's old secret contact, in the days of finger to the wind and chart at the ready, was 50 miles to the west as the crow flies - and at a lighthouse. He'd just spoken to Doug by phone, "The biggest lift in a sea that I've seen in all my days is bloody well in front of me". Every pro was about to be clobbered without a big wave gun in the arsenal - save Terry Fitzgerald's mob - literally blindsided in dark horror from midnight until incredulous 7 a.m. first light. Few slept right through - from the foundations of Torquay houses shaking.

Derek Hynd 2026

On the face of it, just the big kid in Kong holding court on the main drag. This Easter in Torquay, however, all the attention is running his way. He's the future of Australian surfing. In the looming generation beyond Horan and Carroll, Quiksilver, Rip Curl, and the entire Tracks and Surfing World readership know it.

At this point, notably being 18 months off Occhilupo's transition to Rusty boards,all that needs to unfold at Bells Bowl in the surf. In flash red and yellow neoprene 'leathers’, Kong proceeds to decimate solid Bowl in the greatest debut Australian surfing has thus far seen. Kong's method: low-line-to-high-line power.

Seen here; Kong, obviously; Hans Hedemann to his left; probably Clarke Jones on the roof; possibly Rory Russell driving; maybe Derham Tutton back to camera; chance it's Thornton Fallander through the window, sitting in a cafe, smiling.

Another example of PC's lens setting the stage for a fresh dimension. If Dane at Johanna was all about harmony, this one captures the stage setting for raucous behaviour. The Tour back then wasn't about ratings as much as it was about finding your own level on land.

Derek Hynd 2026

Dane Kealoha, Johanna Beach, Easter 1979, alone to pick a bank. Far from the madding crowd, PC captures the fastest, most frenetic, most fearsome pro on the surging I.P.S. Tour in peaceful symphonic wonder. The shot is primarily dated by the team jacket of the age - the exclusive Rip Curl satin disco blazer. Dark Blue or Maroon, not every team surfer got one, just as not every employee got one, but everyone wanted one. Looking back on the state of the industry, the period from '77 -'82 was pretty well open sky front and back despite primitive financial numbers. Strange perhaps, but despite international growth of core surfing outfits Rip Curl, O'Neill and Quiksilver, the jacket was a symbol of communal evolution before the profit crush - not hinged to cost or benefit. This photo shows the effect Peter Crawford had on every pro surfer, no matter the personality. When with PC, subjects mostly entered a fresh albeit finite dimension.

Derek Hynd 2026

Aussie pipe a.k.a. Black rock 1981
South Coast New South Wales
Australia

Aussie pipe was the perfect location for Crew looking for a fun slabbing left hander hugging Into The Huskisson Bay for Sydney crew a 2 1/2 three hour drive in a short walk Into it perfect set up

Picking up all is well from the south and being sheltered from the north-easters. It was a perfect getaway for the manic wave hungry surfers.

Printed on aluminium composite panel and finished with a hand-applied resin coating that enhances colour, depth and detail.

Produced in a limited edition and supplied with a certificate of authenticity.

Bali 1990s

Peters fascination with getting the shot was prevalent up until he’s passing in 99 here. There was a boat, come a shore shipwrecked on the other side of Bali Peter had sussed out which swell and which angle the boat barge would connect perfectly with the swell. When peter had a vision he would create it this depicts his photography style capturing the moment in time

This photo went on to become the last ever paperback Tracks magazine and dads last cover shot before he’s passing on Christmas Eve 1999.

Shot on a nikononos 111 (borrowed from me )
Pared up with velvia 50 iso
Push processed 1 1/2
Shutter speed 500
Fstop 5.6

Printed on aluminium composite panel and finished with a hand-applied resin coating that enhances colour, depth and detail.

Produced in a limited edition and supplied with a certificate of authenticity.

Hawaii 1978

Buttons Calla was pushing boundaries in Hawaii Surf‘s backyard favourite Waves in the North Shore buttons was really head of the game with his futuristic bottom turned into 360s tale slides and just all around soulful style little fact about buttons to obtain the manoeuvres he did. He used to run his Fin in his spin box without the little lug to tighten it in the thin would shift up and down the board allowing him to use the centre of gravity to manoeuvre the board in all his dynamic ways

Printed on aluminium composite panel and finished with a hand-applied resin coating that enhances colour, depth and detail.

Produced in a limited edition and supplied with a certificate of authenticity.

Wheeler pde (home) 1981
DeeWhy NSW
Australia

PC with array of his slab kneeboards Peter was fanatical about Fin placement and design Peter Patent the long Fin box and had the tri set up before anyone hence why Simon tested his first 3 fin thruster surfboard out Dee Why point. Dee Why point and Peter Crawford went hand-in-hand his technique his style and his approach to The Wave was phenomenal

Printed on aluminium composite panel and finished with a hand-applied resin coating that enhances colour, depth and detail.

Produced in a limited edition and supplied with a certificate of authenticity.

Pc n his flextail crozier

Little Avalon a.k.a. LA northern Beaches,
New South Wales
Australia

"I'd say pic was taken 1977..given Chris' logo and the fact the board is a single fin (Tri fins were more 79-80). Board is a classic PC SLAB. 5'6" x 22" wide with a 13" half round tail and PC 14" fin box. Blank would be a Farrelly (Peter only ever surfed Midgets foam) Oh yeah and it’s a flextail. 
Shaped by Chris, glassed by Paul Connors (Horse) Bassett Street Mona Vale 🙏." - Brett Hart.

Peter Crawford and Chris Crozier‘s symmetry at creating phenomenal knee boards and pushing the upmost limits in design during this period is something that is still regarded to this day as revolutionary for slab style waves like dee why point 5’6”21”2 ½ flew step flex tail super low rails Peter Crawford signature fin box n fin Zoom zoom

Printed on aluminium composite panel and finished with a hand-applied resin coating that enhances colour, depth and detail.

Produced in a limited edition and supplied with a certificate of authenticity.