ben buckler, ben the bumpy – the hero wave
The bumpiest wave in the southern hemisphere, the most shapeless, the ugliest – but what does this matter when Ben Buckler throws up one of the best Hero Waves in Sydney.
- Buckler pic by Aquabumps
A Hero wave is one best qualified by the ease of an onlooker’s access to a close vantage point; like a carpark with enough room for a couple of bus loads of Chinese tourists to gawk a while before they are turned around and taken shopping, or a municipal park with shaded picnic tables, or a couple of apartment blocks stacked along the water’s edge.
Ben Buckler is an over-achiever here. Councils have been kind. We have three out of three.
Hero waves are famous for their ability to make the ordinary surfer look like a world-beater, particularly when his audience doesn’t even have to get out of the vehicle to watch.
- About 1960 – Nev Manstead spots a lobster
Optimists who like to head out to the Ben for a spot of large bumpy big wave riding are sometimes a little deflated if they happen to trek past the North Bondi Fishing Club’s boatshed door – this is where the members like hanging their trophy shark jaws.
– which is not a surprising seeing as how the headland is a known breeding and feeding area for all variety of sharks – club members, mostly beady-eyed little men burnt the colour of old furniture and who speak in some obscure and guttural dialect, chortle and spit on the ground as surfers pass by. These men are known to bring out their entire collection of shark jaws on the days when Ben is surfable, and lay them threateningly all around. The casual onlooker wandering around their boats and teeth might think that all they do all day is sit in the sun, drink from the necks of beer bottles and listen to the races.
Yet sometimes they would pop a tooth out of a jaw drying on the door and give it to a youngster to wear on some string around his neck, and at other times they bloody well would not.
Ben Buckler is also the home of Demetri Maskovich and his troupe of boofheads – one look at these overmuscled oafs swinging on their ropes should be enough to convince the most sceptical reader of the great deterioration of what was once a quality population in Bondi.
Aub Laidlaw , the Bondi Lawman, would not have tolerated these steroid monkeys strutting around on his beach – out they would go with the girls in bikinis and men with lisps. There can be virtue in intolerance.
banner image by ‘ no worries real estate ‘
petebowes.com 
Reading your posts is a gateway back to the Sydney (i.e. beaches) I traversed as a teen and in my early twenties. Scarily, I am confronted with names and places I have forgotten about – but thank you for reigniting the little grey cells.
🙂
ANDY CAPS, MY FIRST BIG WAVE,
BEN BUCKLER,, , THE SIZE THE ,THE FEAR,THE BIG BOMMIE IN FRONT OF YOU,THEN AFTER THE DROP YOU HAD TO GET AROUND WHAT WAS FOLLOWING YOU, NOW THAT WAS A MOMENT I WONT FORGET,,BUT EVEN BETTER,TO BE OUT THERE WITH DILLON,MAYES ,WARD,ROSS KELLY,PRICE ,ALL THE BIG BOYS.
I STILL REMBER STANDING AT THE RAIL OUTSIDE THE NORTH BONDI SURF CLUB AND ASKING DILLON AND MAYES IF I COULD GO OUT THERE WITH THEM,,THEY REMARKED,,IF YOU DONT TALK, TOLD ME I HAD BEEN VACINED WITH A GRAMAPHONE NEEDLE.AND THATS HOW THE NAME CAME ABOUT,LONG PLAY, STILL LIKE THE STRUT
JACK SAID HOW DO YOU TALK FOR THAT LONG WITHOUT A BREATH?
WELL I SURFED BEN BUCKLER PAST THE BOAT SHED AND MADE IT TO THE NORTH END,THAT WAS A THRILL OF MY LIFE WITH THE BIG BOYS,
THAT’S MY FIRST EXPERIENCE AT BEN BUCKLER,,AND MANY MORE.
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES,
BONDI FOR EVER,
ANDY CAPS . FOR YOU TERRY,
Keep strutting and talking Andy – it brings old Bondi to life when you make one of your regular trips Down Under. You’re the last of what was a wonderful team of Bondi surfing pioneers who gave the place some character.
ANDY C. DA.CAP.
HI TERRY AND PETE.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS,AS ALWAYS YOU PUT A SPARK IN MY LIFE, I WOULD HATE TO THINK IF I WAS ONE OF THOSE ASS HOLES THAT BAG THE BEACH;
SPOKE TO DOOLEY LAST NIGHT,WE TALKED ABOUT THE GOOD TIMES AND THE PEOPLE WE KNEW AND LOST.
WE AGREE THAT WE WERE LUCKY TO HAVE HAD OUR MOMENTS THEN AND NOT NOW, WE SURFED FOR OUR SELVES, TO ENJOY THE MOMENTS IN TIME THAT WE CAN TALK ABOUT NOW.
WELL ON ANOTHER NOTE,I LEAVE HAWAII THIS SATURDAY FOR SYDNEY,THIS TIME I AM COMING DOWN WITH MY SON AND MY GRANDSON AND WILL STAY IN SYDNEY FOR 4,OR 5 DAYS THEN HEAD UP THE COAST AND RELIVE THE TIME I FIRST BROUGHT HIM DOWN. MY GRAND SON HAS HAD HIS BAG PACKED FOR A WEEK,SO HE WONT MISS THE TRIP.
I WILL CATCH UP WITH DOOLEY AND SPEND A NIGHT WITH RICK AT SCOTTS HEAD I AM TRYING TO GET TONY RULE TO COME BY ,IT IS ALWAYS A PLEASURE BEING WITH THAT GUY,THEN UP TO NOOSA FOR A FEW DAYS,THEN HEAD BACK,HAVE A DAY OR SO IN SYDNEY,THEN BACK TO GILLIANS ILD’ B(Hawaii)
WELL MATE,I HOPE YOU ARE WELL,SAY HI TO ALL,WILL TRY TO CALL BY THE COFFEE SHOP AND SEE TERRY AND WHO IS LEFT.
YOR FRIEND,ALWAYS ,DA CAP.
ANDY.C