Back when surfboards were hand-shaped, judging was done with pencil and paper and a trip north from Perth was a genuine road trip, a group of surfers in Geraldton had an idea. Give the local kids somewhere to compete, invite a few surfers from down south, turn up the music and put on a show. That was 1976. Fifty years later, the Sunshine Surf Masters is still going strong.
Born in the same year as the Geraldton Boardriders Club, the event was the brainchild of a small but ambitious local surfing community determined to create opportunities for the region’s growing crop of surfers. Founding member Leon Norris recalls that many Geraldton surfers were riding second-hand boards from Perth at the time, with no local board manufacturers and few opportunities to test themselves in competition. The formation of the club began to change that, and it wasn’t long before they set their sights on something bigger.
The first event was aligned with Geraldton’s annual Sunshine Festival, giving the competition its original name, the Sunshine Surfing Competition. Eventually, organisers wanted greater freedom to chase the best conditions rather than being tied to the festival’s September dates, and the Sunshine Surf Masters was born.
“It was exciting,” recalled Norris. “The locals had never really seen anything like it before. The young up-and-comers could surf alongside the more experienced surfers, and everyone was just amazed that we did it.”
It didn’t take long for the Sunny Comp to make waves beyond WA. Norris had developed a strong relationship with legendary Australian surfer and shaper Terry Fitzgerald, who had begun travelling west with surfers to compete in Geraldton. Fitzgerald suggested taking the event to the next level and, with his contacts and the Geraldton crew willing to have a crack, the Sunshine Surf Masters stepped onto surfing’s professional stage as a pro-am event the following year in 1977.
But for all its growing prestige, the heart of the Sunny Comp remained unmistakably grassroots, and it returned to its original format.
“There was always a real buzz around the event,” said Norris. “People would walk around with big smiles on their faces, happy to see each other, cheering, yelling and supporting their mates.”
Above: Front-row seats, Sunny Comp style. Spectators line the dunes to watch the action at the Sunshine Surf Masters. Photo: Leon Norris.
At low tide, spectators would even carry deck chairs out across the exposed reef at Flat Rocks and set themselves up around the keyhole to watch the action. On shore, the club brought a surprisingly professional edge to proceedings, with a large sound system pumping music and commentary across the beach, while food vans and facilities helped turn the competition into a genuine community event.
Fifty years of competition has inevitably produced its share of folklore, but one of Norris’ favourite stories dates back to the early days.
New Zealand surfing champion and board builder Jim Carney was working for Norris at the local Corner Surf Shop when the Sunny Comp rolled around. With the final looming on Sunday, Carney decided his existing equipment simply wouldn’t do. So, he stayed up through the night building himself a brand-new surfboard.
The next morning, the board was barely finished, let alone properly cured, but Carney paddled it out at a pumping Flat Rocks anyway. His first wave on the board was also his first wave of the final.
“He dropped into this head-and-a-half high, right hander. He took off from behind the peak and got probably one of the longest barrels I’ve ever seen out there and went on to win the event,” recalled Norris.
Another year, renowned Australian surfer Derek Hynd arrived in Geraldton without his favourite board after it failed to make the flight. With Hynd already paddling out for the final, the missing board finally arrived at Geraldton Airport. A Corner Surf Shop employee raced out to collect it, while Norris waxed it and fitted the fins and leg rope before it was paddled out to Hynd mid-final. Hynd swapped boards in the water. He won too.
Over the decades, the Sunny Comp has drawn an extraordinary roll call of surfing talent to Geraldton. Norris remembers Australian champions, professional surfers and some of WA’s biggest names making the pilgrimage north, including Dave Macaulay, Mitch Thorson, Paul and Jake Paterson, Mike McAuliffe, Taj Burrow, Jacob Willcox, Bronte Macaulay and Jack Robinson, who first competed at the event as a grommet.
Pictured: Mark Dann in action during the early days of the Sunshine Surf Masters. Photo: Leon Norris.
But perhaps just as important as the champions has been the event’s ability to evolve.
Geraldton Boardriders became an early adopter of electronic scoring, introduced priority at club level and into the Sunshine Surf Masters, and was among the first surfing organisations to livestream its events. It was all part of a philosophy Norris believes has helped the competition endure while countless other events have come and gone.
“We’re always doing something innovative,” said Norris.
Above: Old-school Sunny Comp – beachside judging, loudspeakers and a packed crowd at the Sunshine Surf Masters. Photo: Leon Norris.
Yet underneath all the technology and progression, the formula has remained remarkably simple: good waves, good competition, good vibes and making everyone feel welcome.
If the Sunshine Surf Masters needed a reminder of why it has survived for half a century, its 50th anniversary delivered it in spectacular fashion.
After moving the event into winter and expanding the milestone edition across three days, record entries arrived from Albany to Exmouth. Flat Rocks responded accordingly. The swell built throughout Friday, peaked with solid sets on Saturday, before offshore winds groomed the ocean for a memorable finals day on Sunday. Former club members from the earliest days returned to Geraldton simply to be part of the occasion, turning the weekend into one enormous reunion.
“For the 50th, you couldn’t have written a better script,” said Norris.
By Sunday, Flat Rocks was firing, the beach was packed and generations of the WA surfing community were watching on.
Fifty years after a small group of Geraldton surfers decided to create something for their local community, the Sunny Comp remains exactly that, only bigger. Generations have come and gone, champions have been crowned and countless stories have unfolded at Flat Rocks, cementing its place as one of Western Australia’s great surfing traditions.
For a full recap and results from the 50th Sunshine Surf Masters, click here.
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