Long Reef Surf Life Saving Club

Club History - David Macintosh

A Bit of History by Dave Mac - 70's and 80's

Long Reef has always had a rich history of younger members who have taken responsibility for running the club as compared to some of the older more traditional clubs.

I was asked by the Club Captain, Doug Lucas, to write a few words on some events, situations and incidents during the 70's and 80's that younger members might find interesting. This period had a culture of using all means whether they be social or commercial to assist one's fellow members achieve their personal goals and ultimately for the benefit of Long Reef Surf Life Saving Club. You could always get the very best advice on a Sunday morning at the Club at no cost and I truly hope that culture is not lost.

Fundraising was and obviously still is a major priority for surf life saving clubs and Long Reef had some unique events. We could raise $1,000 on a Saturday morning at the traffic lights of Sydney Road near the Spit Bridge. That was a lot of money 30 years ago and still is. For years we collected from poor trapped drivers who were backed up for miles because we kept pressing the pedestrian button and caused a traffic nightmare and in some cases a few minor accidents.

In 1975 we were collecting as usual but the traffic was running smoothly much to our annoyance and then suddenly news came over the radio that Cyclone Tracey had just devastated Darwin. Well one of our members had a 'great' idea, why not say we were collecting money for Cyclone Tracey. We hastily made signs and the money rolled in, thousands in fact and we thought we had solved the Club's financial situation forever. Not so. At the next committee meeting all hell broke loose with much lively debate between the conservatives and the less conservatives and we decided to give the money to the 'Cyclone Tracey appeal' (after we deducted some operating costs of course).

New Years Eve parties at Long Reef were legendary and a great fundraiser. All went well up to the magical hour of 12 o'clock and then the party always got out of control. One of our members always got into a fight and everyone got involved. It was fun but hard work.

We then decided to send a sponsorship letter to some 100 companies asking for financial assistance with one positive response, radio station 2UW. We asked for the bold sum of $10,000 per annum and they agreed with one condition. Long Reef provide surf reports Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings for 25 weeks. Now that was a condition. Three budding radio stars were born, Dave Mac (me), Charlie Loudon (Peter Loudon) and Adam Townley (I can't think which name we made him use). The sponsorship lasted 2 years and we were burnt out surf reporters. We were thankful for Mark Warren and Shane Stedman's assistance when it was too hard to get to the beach some mornings.

Another event was a $1,000 gold bar treasure hunt at Long Reef Beach sponsored by the international accounting firm KPMG and extensively reported in the Manly Daily, 2UW and Business Review Weekly.

KPMG gave us a new surf boat and paid for the gold bar. Thousands of people turned up looking for a gold piece of wood which I buried the night before. The beach was turned upside down for 3 long hours to no avail. Luckily I had a second piece of gold wood which was placed in the sand and quickly found. I think one of our members' wives was the lucky winner.

Long Reef surf carnival trips away were always fun and too many to recall in this paper. My first was to the central coast and a member had some contact with TNT who provided a truck with a canvas roof. Seemingly the whole club membership climbed into the back of this truck for a weekend away mainly outside the Florida Hotel at Terrigal after a great weekend. We were about 10 minutes from home going down Warringah Road with the truck travelling about 80 km per hour when to everyone's amazement Charlie Smitts fell out the back of the truck. He hit the ground, rolled along the highway, missed 2 cars and then started running after the truck, climbed in the back again and thanks to 'Tooheys' didn't feel a thing.

The other incident was returning back from the Australian Titles at Clifton Beach, Tasmania in 1982. We competed in the R&R after qualifying at the State Titles at Mollymook. Jim Hutchings, a life member and past President purchased a couple of lobsters at the Hobart market before we got on the plane. Jim placed the bag in the overhead lockers on the full plane. About half way back, the dazed lobsters must have woken up and made the worst noise you could imagine trying to escape. People were hysterical thinking the plane was falling apart but we just said nothing.

Committee meetings can sometimes be lively events with everyone having a say. One such meeting I recall stoney silence when an ex-member, former standover and hit man, Tim Bristow (now deceased) turned up unannounced. He was with a huge bloke with a double breasted suit and a massive hand gun protruding. Tim said he was just having a look to see if his photo was on the wall and to everyone's ease left soon after.

Long Reef Beach was the ideal location for many photo, film and advertising shoots over the years and we have been able to profit from the use of the club house and many keen, poorly talented and willing extras (Longruffiens).

One such occasion in the mid 70's was a short film about a New Zealand comic ' Fred Dag' who had a trademark hat, stubbies, long hair and gum boots (a New Zealand sheep herding and breeding device). We provided a surf boat, four rowers and use of the club for $400. A good deal in those days.

Fred Dag who went on to become the famous TV, radio and comic Roy Slaven, was to sweep the surf boat in full gear and gum boots with a ram (a real one) next to him rowed by us. The surf wasn't big but had a bit of a shore dump and the ram was brought down by its owner with apparently an impeccable pedigree. In other words, it was a big male sheep 'Merino', full of wool and the biggest set of orchestra stalls that you have ever seen.

The first step was to get the ram into the surf boat with a shore dump. This heavy, smelly, cranky beast was hard work with its owner only concerned about its 'cods' which he lifted into the boat with both hands.

Everything was going well and we were asked to row about 20 metres off the beach and the cameras were rolling. Don't forget Fred Doug was sweeping but we kept the boat steady. Filming was almost complete when the inevitable happened. We got hit sideways swamped with a half drowned ram, distraught owner and some great film footage. We never saw the end result but laughed for weeks about 'Fred Dag' and his stinky wet ram

Long Reef has just had its most successful year ever and the President, Captain, Committee and members should all be very proud!

Yours in surfing,
David Macintosh,
28 June 2005