Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the running of the first contest at Bells Beach (not to be confused with the running of the 50th Bells Beach contest which was Easter last year).
The BELLS GOLD exhibition which is currently on display at the Surfworld Museum, Torquay and will run until April 2012 and features rare photographs, surfboards and trophies from the Bells Beach Surfing Contest and Rip Curl Pro.
It’s sorta wild to think that yesterday, fifty years ago a surfing institution was created!
John Foss | Projects and Tours Officer, Surf World Museum Torquay
The BELLS GOLD Exhibition
Bells Gold tells the story of the Bells Beach and the pioneering Bell family who settled in the area over one hundred years ago.
It also showcases the exploits of pioneer surfers from the fifties and sixties who literally blazed a trail from Torquay to Bells and established a surf contest that would soon put Bells Beach on the world surfing map and become an important part of Australia’s surfing culture.
The contest, started in 1962 by Torquay surfers and good mates Peter Troy and Vic Tantau, has grown to become the longest continuous running surfing competition in the world now known as the Rip Curl Pro.
From those humble beginnings in 1962 the contest was shifted to the Easter weekend and slowly grew into a major sporting event attracting competitors from New South Wales, Queensland and eventually overseas.
As the contest grew so did its reputation and rich history. Today the Bells trophy is one of the surfing world’s most sought after and revered sporting icons. As the saying goes, “A kook has never won Bells.”
Bells Beach has a reputation for big waves. In 1965 and 1981 the surf was huge as competitors struggled with six metre waves and the urgent need to find suitable big wave riding boards.
Rarely seen movies and photographs of some of the biggest waves ever to have rolled through Bells Beach are on display as part of Bells Gold accompanied by video interviews with Mark Richards, Adam Robertson, Wayne Lynch and others describing what it is like to surf ‘BIG’ Bells.
Many of surfing’s greatest champions have triumphed at Bells with a select few, like ten time world surfing champion Kelly Slater, becoming multiple winners. Slater, MP, MR, Simon Anderson, Tom Carroll, Sunny Garcia, Stephanie Gilmore, Layne Beachley, Gail Couper, Joel Parkinson and other Bells champions are showcased in Bells Gold.
Links
- For further information visit the museum website: www.surfworld.com.au
- Call: 03 5261 4606
