THE BRAUPS

The Braups now these were my main friends and still are today even though we are spread out all over the world. We did everything together surfed, partied and everything in between. We spent everyday we could on the beach and in each others homes on all the rest. We got up to all types of mischief and were always so close to getting into real trouble. We smoked weed and we partied hard and alot. The day we came up with our name I will never forget we were all together and stoned and when it came out it was just that is the name and it stuck forever. That and we wanted alt of money with motorbikes and chicks and cool stuff. Those were really cool days for us as alot was going on with our families that was not great and we all had each others backs. If you were ever around us you would never say we were friends we ripped each other apart and play tricks on each other all the time. I remember Zane and myself getting into a wax fight with this freakin crazy colourful wax called snake wax. It got so bad that we rubbed it into each others hair and it was funny at the time but not getting it out of your hair later. These guys were the Bomb in my day and will be my friends for life, they shaped me and even in the craziness of life guided me into alot of good stuff. Long live the Braups.

The older crew

The guys who were just a older then us were hardcore these guys did stuff nobody was doing. Guys like Charles Wilson, Craig Greening come to mind he was part of a guys made up of Gordon Turnbull, this guys surfed better than everyone and I think could have taken the world by storm. He did moves that others had only dreamed of, but he was crazy as was the rest of their crew. I remember getting a lift home with them once after a heavy night of jolling, they drove 100km on a freeway and were climbing out of the car, crawling over the hood and changing seats with the driver. Gordon won the Bear International surf contest and he won a car a week later he gave me a lift home in his new car but decided to reverse the whole way. These were some of the crazy things these guys did. They were always pushing the limits and sometimes they paid the price. But they were later the reason alot of us younger guys came though the ranks and pushed the limits. They were our inspiration at the time and they did things that just kept us all going these dudes are so crazy. There were others like Alfie Saville who was the clean cut surfer who landed a huge modelling contract and travel the world. He too could have become a great surfer he also surfed amazingly.

Some people part 1

The most memorable people that come to mind when I was growing up were all from around Warner Beach. First off was the Braups a group of surfers who hung together and pretty much did everything together. The way the name came about will not be revealed ever. But I will tell you more about the Braups later. There are a handful of guys who were older and kept us all inline. Back then if you did not respect the older surfers you would be buried in your boardbag in the sand and alot more. Alot was more painful and they kept you in your place not like today kids need to be slapped around a bit to keep them respecting there place on the beach. Then there were the older guys who would take you under there wings and push your limits in surfing. Mike Eaton was that guy when I was growing up I remember the waves were 6 foot and at 14 that was huge. He showed me were to jump off the rocks to get to the back and pushed me into bigger waves, this helped alot with my confidence in surfing. Then was the older crew of the Savilles, the Johnstons and of course Cheary, these guys ruled the beach and we looked up to them and they were the bomb to us. They were hardcore they surfed well they partied hard and were guys you did not mess with, of course we always messed with them and paid the price we were always running for our lives from rubbing Vaseline on their boards so they would slip off. They kept us in line but never over did it. There were always some guys who just lost the plot in the water and would throw punches and get beaten up. The one thing you could not do was come to our beach and mess with us we would then gang up on you and kick your arse. That is what localism was then. It was so hardcore that even when we moved to a neighbouring beach I would walk all the way to Warners to surf you would never change your local spot.