Terry Richardson

Bells Beach 1981

In 1981 two other photographers & myself drove 12 hours non stop from Sydney to Victoria on Easter thursday to arrive at Bell’s Beach at 1st light. The swell was coming in huge lines between 8-10 feet as surfers were paddling out. Through the day the swell kept building & the next morning had jumped to 15 feet. That day I had to move from the my beach position to the cliff top so I could get the surfer & the wave in the frame & to see the sets coming in. The next day became known as Big Saturday from then on. We slept that night 2 in a 2 man tent & the other in the car, it was so cold the milk for cereal & coffee froze.

The channel 9 helicopter dropped George Greenough into the lineup to shoot water footage for their coverage of the completion where the competitors were allowed 30 minutes to paddle out before their heats. Simon Anderson who went onto win the event , was surfing unreal.

Then came a set that blew away everyone. Terry Richardson paddled into this monster, took the drop ( the shot ) but never made it to the bottom of the wave because of the amount of water underneath him. The photo has graced the pages of Line Up magazine & has done the rounds in Tracks magazine & has been in a number of ads for Pipping Hot wetsuits who Terry was sponsored by.

It was also in the 30 year anniversary of Tracks magazine in 2005 best 30 photos of 30 years which was an exhibition that travelled around Australia after opening at Bondi Beach. Just recently it was inducted into Australian Surfing Museum in Torquay.