The Australian boardriders club is a uniquely Down Under proposition which gives a sports-mad nation a way of turning a solo activity into a team adventure, a reason to yell and scream and carry on, and an opportunity to celebrate every triumph and drown every tragedy. If you’re bred on the beach (90 percent of Australians live within 20 miles of the coast), you don’t have a say in which club you’ll join; it’s long been decided by your family history and proximity to a particular spot.
But as most clubs work, your team-mates are your brothers. You compete with them. Travel with them. Fight for and against them. Sneak your first beers with them, then steal into caravan parks and kiss girls alongside the guy you’ll take on in the first heat the next day. You learn from the older generation, though it’s hard-knocks schooling, the likes of which you’ll never see in a classroom.
Chapter 3 of Made in Australia takes a deeper look at the rich history of the many Boardriders Clubs that define the Australian surf community.