Aussie Aussie, August 1975 Tee

A warm parchment treatment gives this classic cover a beautifully aged, archival feel, framing Michael Peterson’s barrel-riding poise. But the enigmatic surfer has to share the spotlight with a beer-swilling kangaroo in this unmistakably Australian “All Aussie Issue”. Just who was the best competitive surfer in the world? According to Tracks in 1975, that proud title belonged to MP, who “zipped and zapped” his way to victory in the Pa Bendall Classic on his fabled Fangtail design. The photo inside the magazine makes the board look like something shaped in Count Dracula’s workshop. The “coupla kids” referenced on the cover are Guy Ormerod and Chip Greenfield. After getting a taste of contest success and prize money, 15-year-old Guy’s life plan is refreshingly straightforward: “I’m heading to The Islands to get some tubes and if I haven’t got any money I guess I won’t be eating too well.” Meanwhile, after an East Coast road trip, S. Lane arrives in Byron and claims that “boredom reigns supreme” while the cane toads continue to multiply. Celebrated scribe Phil Jarratt assumes the editorial helm from American John Grissim, marking the beginning of a golden era for Tracks. The outgoing Grissim happily refers to himself as a “septic tank”, while the words he proudly added to his Australian vocabulary include “shaggin’ wagon”, “strewth” and “portable piss-ups”. Opposite Grissim’s farewell, a smiling woman appears in a quarter-page advertisement wearing a pair of early Quiksilver boardshorts beneath the tagline: “Slip into a pair and feel it.” Who could have known that the fledgling Victorian boardshort company would go on to become a global surfing giant?