I'm sitting at a coffee table at the Beach Shack Café in Currumbin, trying to "absorb" 35-years of Professional Surfing history in an hour. My source is amongst the most reliable and passionate in the world: Doug 'Claw' Warbrick. The Rip Curl co-founder (who created Rip Curl with long-time business partner Bryan Singer) and all time surf aficionado is, to this date, still one of the most excited "grommets" at any Foster's ASP World Tour event.

I could not possibly write about this event without consulting him! There is just too much information, too many surf contests, heats, formats and experiments!

The First Steps of Professional Surfing

It is 1973 and Rip Curl, only 4-years-old at the time, embraces the Bells Easter surfing tournament as its event sponsor. I'm talking three full years before professional surfing even existed as sport; before the first IPS World Title in 1976, before ratings, before careers. Torquay was an even smaller town than it is today with only 2000 inhabitants. Like Torquay's city council, which saw the benefit of a world-class surfing tournament in town and thus created the Bells Beach Surf and Recreational Reserve and paved its access road in 1970, Rip Curl and Surfing Victoria, partners from Day 1, 'saw' the benefit of supporting the sport of surfing at its highest level by embracing the sponsorship of what became known as the Rip Curl Pro Surfing Championships.

The event became something of a 'science experiment' during the crawling stages of professional surfing. It was a gathering of the best surfers in the world where criteria, formats and systems were created and 'tested' and often taken on board by other events in other countries. That 'laboratorial test field' was later incorporated into the first years of the IPS World Tour, in many ways setting a bench mark for what you watch on the webcast as you sit comfortably in your computer chair at home or in your office.

Big Differences/Huge Similarities

Half way through my conversation with Claw, it became obvious that despite the big differences between the Rip Curl Pro today and 35-years ago, there are also some huge similarities. For your delight, I have placed them in chronological order, highlighting the news, innovations and ground-breaking developments as they pertain to the oldest event in our calendar:

1973

• The first year the event is run at Bells Beach and Rip Curl is the event sponsor… still today too!
• Surfing Victoria is already on board and, along with Rip Curl and the professional surfers themselves, they provide the resources to run the event.
• Event admission is charged at the gate. The reasons behind it then (and now) were: to help offset the costs of running the event; to fund the preservation of the reserve and to monitor and control the number of spectators accessing the reserve so as not to damage the pristine area.
• The judging tower is already in place; the famous “Judges Boxes” that were installed would remain on the cliffs for a few months each year.
• Michael Peterson won the event, with Anthony Hardwick in 2nd and Simon Anderson in 3rd. Long time ASP Tour Manager Al Hunt caddied for both 2nd and 3rd place getters, pocketing an astonishing 10% of their earnings for doing the job in 8 to 10 foot surf - $35 bucks! MP would go on to win it again in 74 and 75.

• The ‘Objective or Points per Manoeuvre’ Judging System was in place (73-76). Everything counted: in a heat, every wave… in a wave, every turn. Manouvres would receive individual points. A cut back would be worth 5 points, but a ‘radical cut back’ could be worth 10! Surfers competed three times and a ‘Leader Board’ was used to show who was ahead and who needed to make some ground.
• Competitors had a say in the judging of the day, so if length of ride was receiving too much emphasis, adjustments and changes would be assured for the next day.
• Gatherings were very informal and often took place at open areas or at the Old Torquay Hotel – social life was a huge component of the lifestyle of the event, as it still is today.
• The usage of a ‘Double Decker Bus’ as the Judges Tower was incorporated. The same resource was already in use in Hawaiian events in previous years and proved to be an excellent solution for mobility and foul weather.

• The IPS World Tour starts. Australian Peter Townend wins the World Title, Hawaiian Jeff Hackamn wins the event, with Ian Cairns in 2nd and Wayne Lynch in 3rd.
• It is the last year of using the “Objective or Points per Manoeuvre” Judging System as well as the leader board. IPS leaders, Fred Hemings and Randy Rarick and Rip Curl owner Doug Warbrick start detaching from its guru’s formats, George Downing, to experiment new systems of competition.

• Big Change! Subjective Judging Criteria is introduced and Man X Man heats as well! Along with the Stubbies (that also celebrates this year its 30th anniversary despite the event no longer exist) the Rip Curl Pro Surfing Championships were the only 2 events that year running Man X Man heats.
• Simultaneous heats took place in a very similar way as ASP is now testing the so called “Overlapping Heats” system (2 heats in the water at the same time). Another Trial of the system may take place at this year’s event to fine tune issues with priority system and judging. Back in 77, the simultaneous heat system ran until 1981, when Simon Anderson won the event on the epic giant surf.
• Check this classic “explanatory official release” of the event, talking about Man X Man, the new criteria and 2 heats in the water at the same time:

• Problems with interferences were common with 2 heats in the water at the same time, so eventually heats started to run separately in 1982 and a priority system was created.

So there we go, just a few facts that not many people know or would remember from the good old days of Rip Curl Pro Surfing Championships.

I want also to bring your attention, the fact that for this year’s we’ll have a “late Easter” again, only a week earlier than last year’s event’s fantastic surf! The event’s dates “moves” with Easter dates and history shows that the later (especially if Easter falls into the month of April) the more chances for great surf.

1973 was a later Easter with solid 8 feet clean surf!
1977 late Easter again, 8-10 feet perfect surf!
1981 another late Easter, 12-15 feet huge surf with some 18 feet sets!
1994 late Easter, 6-10 feet, dropping to 5-6 perfect surf in the final!
2006 other example of late Easter, great 6-8 feet surf with some 10 feet sets!

In case you wonder, the record for wave size was way back in 1965, when a massive 20 feet plus swell hit the coast of Victoria! That year, Doug Warbrick remembers that they had to put the event on hold Easter Sunday, on the afternoon! Organizers were worried that the massive tide surge, some of the white water on the 6 feet range, would take spectators off the beach. Tides are always big during the afternoons on Easter Sundays due to the full moon and tat year was recorded that water hit half way up the beach access stairway!

Secret Project

In closing, I would like to pass on to you some 'secret information' regarding one of the many happenings scheduled to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the event. A rematch of one of the all-time professional surfing super-heats: the 1986 semifinal between Tom Curren and Mark Occhilupo saw Tom Curren win the battle with a 3x2 decision (heat results used to be defined by individual judges' scoring sheets). Curren has already accepted the challenge. Upon hearing about Occy's 9.9 score on a 10-foot set wave during his Quarterfinal heat against Andy Irons (according to 'Claw' the best wave ever surfed in Bells) last year, Curren, in his best down the earth style, commented: "I better start training!" Occy has yet to confirm the invitation.

With big chances for an epic swell and a great show guaranteed, stay tuned at aspworldtour.com and ripcurl.com for the live webcast, hoping that we can put 2007 in the list of epic years for the Rip Curl Pro Bells!

Renato Hickel
Foster's ASP World Tour Manager

Many thanks for Doug ‘Claw’ Warbrick, Bob Smith and Al Hunt.