Rabbit Tales

As Rabbit recalls the pivotal Hawaiian season of 1974/75, we are joined by his old mate and rival, 1977 world champ Shaun Tomson, all the way from Santa Barbara, California. The two old sparring partners recall their glory days mounting the backside attack at Pipeline and their pursuit of the pro surfing dream.

Episode of 4 of Rabbit Tales finds a teenage Rabbit embarking on an epic road trip from the Gold Coast to Bells for the first Rip Curl Pro and on to Margaret River for the ’73 Australian Titles. He had $15 and a fruit cake to last him the whole trip. Along the way he surfed classic Cactus with his hero, Hawaiian great Reno Abellira, got hit by a cyclone-strength storm in Yallingup caravan park and got demolished at big Margarets on a board his fierce rival Michael Peterson had shaped for him. By ’74 the Coke/2SM Surfabout had been launched, the Australian Professional Surfing Association had been formed, and Rab’s pro surfing dream beckoned.

Episode 3 of Rabbit Tales sees a youthful Rabbit day dreaming of a pro surfing world tour as he walks to Miami High along the dusty verge of the Gold Coast Highway, enjoying the last season of classic Kirra before the Big Groyne, making his way to the infamous 1972 world amateur titles in San Diego and running away to Hawaii with the great Michael Peterson.  Along the way, MP sets off a security alert at San Diego airport, Rab and MP are taken in by pioneering big wave chargers Owl Chapman and Sam Hawk and the youngsters are thrown into a Baptism of Fire at huge Sunset.

The second instalment of Rabbit Tales, the new podcast from ’78 world surfing champion Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew, takes us to the emerging surf town of Torquay in 1971 at the beginnings of the surfing industry and the pro surfing dream.

With no Bells event this Easter, for the first time since 1962, Rabbit takes us on a nostalgic journey to the early days of this great surfing migration, as he undertakes the marathon drive from the Gold Coast to Torquay with legendary surfboard shaper Joe Larkin and his Coolangatta mates Michael Peterson and Peter Townend.

He witnesses his surfing heroes carving up the legendary Bells Bowl, wins eating contests at the Summerhouse Restaurant, and begins to dream of a global, pro surfing tour. Back in Coolangatta, he first sets eyes on the miraculous, vertical backhand surfing of Wayne Lynch and Col Smith, the speed runs of Terry Fitzgerald and has a front row seat for the shortboard revolution.

As the old longboard crew make way for a new generation of frothing shortboard rippers, surfing is changed forever.

RABBIT TALES

With 1978 world champion Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew

Stuck at home? Feeling isolated? Practising your social distancing but desperate for a sense of connection, a dose of surf stoke and a good laugh?

Then, pull up a pew, gather round and let Uncle Bugs transport you to a world of uncrowded Gold Coast pointbreaks, sparring for the wave of the day with Michael Peterson and Peter Townend, cutting your teeth in the brutal boiling pot of Hawaii’s North Shore, or duking it out for glory on the fledgling pro tour against Mark Richards and Shaun Tomson.

Rabbit is surfing’s greatest raconteur and, in the time of a crisis, it’s the age-old magic of story-telling which can bring us together, soothe frayed nerves and create a sense of community even when we are all isolating in our own homes.

So, to help you through COVID-19 lockdown and social isolation, Rabbit will be holding court, talking story and riffing through a kaleidoscope of great surf adventures in a weekly new podcast, Rabbit Tales.

“It’s hard to be locked down at home and not be able to go out and I thought it might be a good idea to tell a few Rabbit Tales,” the 1978 world champion said. “If people are at home twiddling their thumbs we’ve just got to break the boredom and hopefully a few stories from the vault might help.”

Joined by award-winning writer and co-author of his best-selling biography Bustin’ Down The Door, Tim Baker, Rabbit Tales will delight and inspire surfers of all ages, sweeping you up in Rabbit’s infectious enthusiasm and ageless surf stoke.

Sponsored and produced by the Surfboard Warehouse, Australia’s largest surfboard retailer, as a public service to the surfing community, Rabbit Tales will be available in video and audio form on all the usual platforms.