A is for Avalon, B for Bronte, V for Voodoo, and so on. Sydney accommodates its surfers like few cities on earth, with some 50 different breaks (around one per kilometre) between Palm Beach's Barrenjoey Head and Cronulla's notorious Shark Island. With swimmable water temperatures year-round and a populace which revels in outdoor exertions, Sydney was fated to be Surf City.
In the late 1890s, a Pacific Islander named Tommy Tanner introduced bodysurfing at Manly. The locals took it up with enthusiasm. The next great advance for surf culture came in 1915 when Hawaiian swimmer and surfer Duke Kahanamoku brought the first surfboard to Australia. When, with the Duke's help, young Isobel Letham became the first bronzed Aussie to ever stand on a surfboard, Sydney became - and has remained - obsessed.
On any day in Sydney you can go down to the beach in any weather, from dawn till dusk, and find surfers flinging their bodies, boards, wave skis, boogey boards, malibus, surfboats and windsurfers onto anything that resembles a wave.
To the north of the Harbour, Avalon, Newport, Narrabeen, Dee Why and Manly provide some of the most consistent quality breaks, although beginners should beware - the rips and reefs of surf spots like these are no place for a learner when the swell is up.
To the south there are Bondi, Bronte, Maroubra and Cronulla beaches - all with the same proviso. The best place to watch the action on a big day is from a southern point or headland, such as Dee Why Point, Fairy Bower (off south Manly), Bronte or Cronulla Point.
Sydney's beaches have been boot camp to numerous world champions, like Midget Farrelly, Nat Young, Tom Carroll and Pam Burridge, while its surf culture encompasses a lucrative industry, a language and lifestyle of its own. Brookvale, near Manly, is the heartland of surfboard building in Sydney.
For the city-based visitor, Bondi, where the red-brick sea meets the Pacific blue, is the closest place to watch or try surfing. Naturally, no-one is going to master the surfboard in one or two quick lessons. Having begged, borrowed or rented a surfboard, firstly get someone to instruct you with a few pointers.
Beginners in surfing are pathologically resented (in robust language and deed) when they 'drop in' on another surfer's wave - so stay well clear of other riders when they're already on a wave. If the abuse doesn't bother you, consider the impact on your floundering body when tons of breaking whitewater hurl a sharp, hard surfboard at it. And don't be fooled by the ease with which some lithe 12-year-old is sashaying across a wave face - it probably took her six years to get that good. You might even consider starting on a boogey board instead.
On the north side of the harbour, Manly can be a good beginner's surfing beach, but again, watch out for other riders, and be sure to surf in the zones indicated by the flags and signs. (Certain beaches, such as narrow Tamarama, don't allow surfboards for most of the time during summer months.)
Sydney water temperatures rarely fall below about 14 degrees Centigrade in winter, so with a wetsuit, surfing is still comfortable. In summer everyone takes off as much clothing as is legal - and then some.
A shark watch is maintained on most Sydney beaches during summer, and although the alarm often sounds (leave the water as soon as you hear it), no-one has been taken by shark in the surf since the 1930s.
With its 36,700 km of coastline, Australia probably has surfing more firmly woven into its culture than any nation other than Hawaii. Part of that culture is the Surf Lifesaving Association. All Sydney's ocean beaches have Surf Life Saving Clubs whose voluntary members patrol the shore during the October to April summer season, monitoring the surf conditions daily and positioning red and yellow flags on each beach to indicate the safest swimming area.
The origins of this lifesaving movement date back to 1906 with the formation of the Bondi Surf Bathers' Lifesaving Club. Today, Sydney's 1700 volunteer male and female life-savers (known to boardriders as 'clubbies') still conduct elaborate summer rituals called surf carnivals, in which teams from the city's 24 clubs compete against each other.
Racing with the belt and line through a pounding surf is a real test of surfing stamina, but few events are more spectacular than the surf boat race. These tough craft are built to withstand the conditions. Even so, collisions and capsizes are frequent and racing is highly competitive. A surf-boat 'cracking' a two-metre wave all the way to shore is a dramatic sight. In separate professional events, elite competitors known as Iron Men, and Women, battle it out over a test that involves a surf swim, board paddle, ski paddle and beach run.
If you want the surf without the crowds, try beaches like Avalon, Newport and Narrabeen. Tourists less frequent these beaches so you'll only have the local crowd to compete with. Shane, Newport.
4WD
