The Cronulla surfing community is mourning the passing of two pioneering surfers last month, with photographer and publisher Jack Eden and Terry 'Tossle' Tumeth riding their last waves.
Eden was a first-generation Australian surf photographer from a big family from Sans Souci and the co-founder of Surfabout magazine.
Eden, who was born in 1931 and raised in Sydney's coastal suburbs, began riding waves at Bondi Beach in 1956 and two years later started taking photographs of local surfers.
He launched Surfabout in 1962, just a few weeks before rival photographer Bob Evans began publishing Surfing World. Eden supplied many of the photographs used in books and magazines around the globe throughout the 60s.
Eden's camera captured countless images which gave new life to an irrepressible period of Australian history. It was a time of more freedom and a time when Australia came of age on the waves.
Eden published 24 issues of Surfabout magazine in the mid 60s which gave southside surfers their first coverage. The first photos of Cronulla Point, Voodoo and Sandshoes opened up the possibilities that the southside of Sydney had to offer to the rest of the world.
Surfers like the late Bobby Brown, Frank Latta, and Keith Paull were regularly featured and copied by every grommet in town. Eden also did not leave out the top women of the time documenting world champion Phyllis O'Donell, Gail Couper, Judy Trim and Lyn Stubbins' careers.
Many of his images captured the sport in what Eden referred to as the golden era of surfboard riding. It was all experimental. There were no rules and the surfers back then made it up as they went.
Eden was the patron of Cronulla's Southside Malibu Club and an Australian Surfing Hall of Fame Honour Roll recipient. He also received the Australian Sports Medal from the Queen in 2000 for his significant contribution to the sport of surfing.
Terry 'Tossle' Tumeth was one of Cronulla's most iconic surfing characters. A childhood friend of Bobby Brown who is credited for being one of the first surfers to discover the Sandshoes surf break, Eden took an iconic picture of Tumeth riding a wave at the South Cronulla surf spot wearing a pair of sneakers - and the name was born.
A real pioneering surfer, Tumeth lived his life the way he wanted. There will be a paddle out at Sandshoes to celebrate his life at 1pm on Sunday.
It hasn't been a watershed week for Cronulla surfers with small, wind-affected waves the order of the day.
Yesterday's clean small waves for the early turned into a wind chop when the southerly blew through at lunch dropping the temperature a few degrees and picking up the surf to head high.
The forecast shows this morning the swell is a solid four to six foot and the winds have just got enough sou-west in them to make conditions surfable. This wind will swing more to the south where it is going to sit for the next few days leaving us with overhead waves but poor surfing conditions.
There will be some brief moments of offshore so keep your eyes open and get ready to surf when it's on.
The 2019 Rip Curl GromSearch wrapped up at Newcastle yesterday with six new champions crowned after a series of exciting heats in two-foot surf.
Jordy Turansky was the lone Cronulla surfer who progressed through the heats and went out in the quarters of the under-16s boys which was won by Byron Bay's Touma Cameron.
The series allows surfers to compete against their contemporaries and each result in the four-event series is awarded points that count towards a surfer's GromSearch National ranking. The national champion then represents Australia at the Rip Curl GromSearch International Final.
The Roxy Pro France completed the quarter-finals yesterday in excellent, six foot plus waves on the outside peak of La Nord to decide the last four surfers in contention for the prestigious French event title.
Roxy Pro France Semifinal Match-Ups:
Semi-final 1: Lakey Peterson (USA) vs. Carissa Moore (HAW)
Semi-final 2: Johanne Defay (FRA) vs. Caroline Marks (USA)
The Quiksilver and Roxy Pro France, stops No. 8 and 9 on the women and men's 2019 World Surf League Championship Tour respectively, have been graced with excellent conditions since the first day of the event waiting period, showing everything France has to offer with playful peaks on the first day at Culs Nus, heavy barrels at La Graviere and long open walls today at La Nord.
There are no Aussies left in the women's draw with Sally Fitzgibbon and Steph Gilmore qualified as the highest Australians and therefore Olympic qualifiers.
