TONIC | news
life member
Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew
In the moments leading up to Mick Fanning’s
third ASP World Title, I found myself
sharing a computer screen with possibly
the best possible person in the surfing
world to commentate the proceeding
events. 1978 World Champion Wayne
“Rabbit” Bartholomew was attending the
Wahu Surfer Groms Comp on the Sunshine
Coast. His sons Jaggar and Keo were both
due to compete later in the day and, like
many, we glued ourselves to a computer
screen to watch Mick surf.
Rabbit, as he’s become widely known, has come full circle
in the surfing world; not only
did he bank himself a world
title, Rabbit helped to create
a the tour that crowns world
champions. He sat as President
of the Association of Surfing
Professionals, or ASP, during
it’s now famous “Dream Tour”
years and helped to lay the
foundations that professional surfing is currently building on.
1978 World Champion
Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew.
Jaggar goes on to place third
on the Sunshine Coast, but
backs it up with win at the next
Wahu Surfer Groms Comp on
the Gold Coast.
Rabbs however, is now sitting
under a tent on the beach with
his sons at the beginning of
the developmental pathway he
helped to create and is taking
a tent full of eager onlookers
step by step through Mick Fanning’s impending third world
title with an insight that only a
world champion can provide.
“The programs are just fantastic now, there’s a clear pathway
and I’ve always thought that’s
probably the most important thing. You can’t compare eras, you know? We had
to carve a path; there was, really the 60s 70s and even the 80s
were all the trail blazers, but
now the pathways are estab-
lished, there is government
funding, you need personal
in place, you need that infrastructure in place and have a
really strong organisation to
make it happen. You can see
Surfing Queensland just adding elements to it, just adding
the base and expanding the
base,” explained Rabbit of the
changes he’s witnessed over
the organisation’s 50-year history.
“There are so many unsung
heroes; when I first went to
ASAQ meetings in 1968 at
the Kirra Pub, it was guys like
John Deane, Billy Stafford and
Gordon Phillips. I was going
wow, here are these very super
well-respected guys that are
giving their time for surfing…
the sport of surfing… I sort
of went, “well this is a sport”,
and so it is always the unsung
heroes that do the heavy lifting
that take the sport to the next
level, and all the kids coming
through the system and all the
people at Surfing Queensland
and through the clubs need
to know the history,” he concluded.
Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew
now imparts his wealth of
knowledge onto his children,
and to the forthcoming talent
spawning his beloved Snapper
Rocks Surfriders Club.
Photo Ben Whitmore.
14 – autumn IssuE surfingqueensland.com.au