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Can you imagine trying to judge a contest when everyone rode different equipment? Photo: Jeff Divine
Watching the webcast of the recent Rip Curl Narrabeen Classic brought to mind professional events I’d seen held at the very same spot back in the late 1970s. The top surfers of the day included guys like Mark Richards, Simon Anderson, Rabbit Bartholomew, Peter Townend, Terry Fitzgerald, Terry Richardson and Dane Kealoha, with hot groms Tommy Carroll and Cheyne Horan nipping at their heels.
These were the best surfers in the world, competing in front of throngs of enthusiastic Aussie surf fans for the sport’s biggest prize purses and all-important tour rankings. At first thought, not so dissimilar from what went down last week at Narrabeen…aside from one clear difference (and I’m not talking about personal lockers and non-elimination rounds.)