November 21, 2024 • 15 mins
It's 50 years since the first George Bass Marathon hit the waves off the Far South Coast, and ask anyone who's suffered the blisters of rowing 190 kays over 7 days, and they'll tell you, it's an exhilarating test of human endurance.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
High fast South Coast. Today, I'm James Fennessy. The George
Bass Surfboat Marathon, which is held along the far South
Coast at the end of every year, is celebrating its
fiftieth anniversary this year.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I remember watching the race when the Common Bank you
is to sponsor it, and as twelve year old, I
was blown away. And that's why I think I'm so
involved now. Just when I was a kid, I just
couldn't believe these people were doing this and they're still
doing it.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
That's the now race director for the George Bass Andrew Holt,
who we're speaking with today about one of the world's
toughest surfboat races.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So basically, in George Best Surfboat Marathon is a surfboat race.
It takes seven days to conflate. It starts in Bighton's
Bay and finishing in eight It's an ocean race. It's
probably the longest, toughest, most grueling surfboat race in the world.
And what happens is basically we go from Bighton's Bay
to Maria. It's the first day. Second day is Maria
to Chiros, then Curos to Naruma, Numa, Toba mcgheem to
(00:58):
Tartar Tartar handler and then Pandula and then they finished
in eight.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
And how long have you been involved with the marathon? Andrew?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I first started in nineteen ninety four. Yeah, I've been
involved in every race since, either as a rower, a
sweep or one of the organizers like I am at
the moment, and I've done that with two different clubs,
with Pambula and with Kiama. So yeah, I really enjoy
the event. And I think this will be my thirtieth year,
So this is my thirtieth anniversary.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, it's pretty special. And how long have you been
the race director and what do you love about that.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I've been involved with the committee for probably about maybe
fourteen years now. A while back we sort of had
fear sponsors drop out and it didn't look like the
race was going to go ahead. So we've got a
new committee together and one man, you build the race
up again. So yeah, now I love it. It is
the best race in the world. Like, no, I'm lot
the surfboat rolling and I love the satellite cost. But
(01:55):
if you're going to do something you are you need
to go and do the georgsh Blace. It's definitely one
to tick up on the bucket list.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You've mentioned about the race itself, can you break down
the sport as well, the surfboating. You know, how many
people are there in a crew, what are they doing
and what kind of conditions are they facing.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, so generally a surfboat is made up of four
rowers and a sweep. So in a normal surf boat race,
you leave the beach, throw it through the surf, turn
a canp outside the break, come back in through the surf,
and that's that's your traditional surf boat race. So the
George Bass your distance you're covering. Instead of being a
short race of so thousand meters, you're doing twenty to
(02:34):
thirty kilometers a day. So you start off with your
first four rowers. Generally you got a team of eight.
Some days the open men will row with teams of six.
So after the start, after you start, you generally row
for about twenty to thirty minutes and then you sweep,
will signal a water change, and as part of your team,
you have a support boat crew which is your support
(02:55):
boat you know, houses your reserve rowers. And then what
he'll do is he'll get in front of the surf boat.
You'll drop the change overallers into the water and then
the sweet will row up onto them. The rowers will
jump out of the boat, and then the new railers
will jump in, and then you'll continue on and there
could be sort of five or six or ten changes
per day depending on the conditions. So it's pretty adventures.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
As you touched on the George Bass is run over
seven days and seven legs and over one hundred and
ninety kilometers. How grueling and how dangerous is it?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
It is growling, It is dangerous, but obviously it will
depend on the conditions. Like you know, you might have
a nice easy nor ease swell with a light wind
and you know, you just it's just a great raw
you roll along, pick up your runners, or you could
have the opposite. You could have a twenty or thirty
suddenly that you've got to row into, which is pretty
difficult as far as like the safety part of it.
(03:48):
We have quite a lot of pretty serious injuries over
the course of the race. The surf or the oceans
can be unpredictable. You know, you don't know what it's
going to throw at you, which has also part of
the adventure. Each day is different as far as fatigue
and the know your body blisters is a big thing
for Tea. You know, your sweeps have got to manage
you fatigue for your rowers, change your crews overseas that
(04:10):
you don't you know, you don't burn them out, and
then you can swap rowers out when you've got your
six person cruise. You know you've got a couple of
caress the next day. So each race is different, Like
you don't know what the weather conditions are going to
be like, so you've just got to be prepared for everything. Really.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, And I've seen some photos of when things don't
go right, which is often as the boats are either
coming back in through the surf or heading out again,
and the photos can be quite spectacular because these rowers
can get thrown up into the air and have boats
land on them. What kind of injuries have you seen
(04:44):
over your time?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Unfortunately, got on their last place, one of the girls
broke her back, which was pretty you know, that's probably
the worst that I've heard of. Unfortunately, it was just
a freak accident. They finished the race, they rode into
the beach, the boat went sideways and flipped and she
under it, So there's pretty unfortunate, but we've taken steps
this year to try and not eliminate, but try and
(05:07):
manage that risk. Sweeps had to undergo like an advanced
education just in handling the boats in the surf So
because obviously nowadays with the litigation and insurances and all that,
you've got to tick all the boxes to allow the
event to happen.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, absolutely, and I mean you've touched on some of
them already. But what makes the one hundred and ninety
k course unique and challenging for participants that choose to
take part in this marathon between Bateman's Bay and Eating.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Well, As I said, it is the toughest, most grueling
surf boat race in the world. So for a lot
of surf boat was just that itself is pretty attractive,
and I think a lot of people just like to,
you know, as they can do the event and finish
the event like it's a massive achievement for them. Obviously,
you've got the biggest, stronger clubs that you know, they
want to win it and it all costs they want
to win. So you've got sort of different levels of
(05:58):
people attending, you know, big clubs in the past like
now your bullies and you're Maria at Baton's Bay Clubs
from inter state, Like, it's a big challenge to come
over and do it. So even a lot with their
crews from Darwen come down so you can imagine, you
know they've driven all the way from Darwin to compete
in the race and then you know they've got to
make it all the way home. So that's a two
or three week adventure.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Really, what's the prize for winning the George Bass? Are
there prizes or is it purely bragging rights?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Mainly bragging rights? There is some monetary prizes, but I
don't think anyone does it for the prize money. I
think people will do it for the bragging right. So
like it's a pretty big honor for pretty big achievement
and quite often a lot of crews that do win
the George Bass Marathon often go on to win the
Australian titles and the surf.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Rowing stick around. More to come from the race director
for the George Bass Surfboat Marathon and Reholt.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I art Fast South Coast, I Fast South Coast.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Hi There, I'm James Fennessey. We're chatting with Andrew Holt.
Who's been involved in either participating in or the running
of the George Bass Surfboat Marathon since the early nineteen nineties.
The race itself was first held in nineteen seventy five
with twelve cruz and andrew says, like most sports, it's
evolved a lot over the last fifty.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Years, so we've got different categories. We've got obviously the
open men and open women. As the events evolved over
the years, now they've had the Veterans women and the
Veterans men's. Sometimes you might have an under twenty three
division if we get some junior cruise and now because
some of the older cruse are now still rowing, we've
created another group called the Supervets. So you might have
(07:40):
six or seven or eight divisions.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
What does it mean for the George Bass to reach
its fiftieth running at the end of this year. It's
on from the twenty ninth of December until January four
Just how big is that to celebrate fifty years of
the George.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Bass, Matthew, It is huge. It all started off really
back in probably about nineteen seventy three. Turely Annabelle. He
was a tourism advisor to the South coast back then,
and he went to a tourism seminar and basically our saying,
if you know you want your areas to prote you've
got to come up with something big. So he decided
that something like the Josh Bace Serveboat Marathon would be
(08:18):
something big, which it is because it's still going. So
it took him a couple of years to get it going.
So really in the background, this has been going for
longer than fifty years, but as far as the race goes,
this will be a fiftieth anniversary and it's at its moment.
So in the twenty twenty we know he lost it.
We had to cancel the race because of the fires.
And then after that, obviously COVID came along and we
couldn't have the race because they everyone their bloody COVID.
(08:40):
So yeah, it's at its obstacles and it's at its roadblocks,
but he had finished the fiftieth of the awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Is there anything special that's going to happen at this
year's event to celebrate that milestone?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
At the start? What we've got organized is a lot
of the older rowers that you were back in the
early days, they're actually going to come along and they're
going to start the race. We're going to do like
a kilometer of the first leak, so they're going to
row into the start line and then then they're going
to hand the baton over to the new rowers and
then there they're going to complete the course. So I
just think having the race fifty years, you know, we've
got good numbers. We're looking like we've got about twenty
(09:14):
six crews for the boats and about twenty crews for
the skis, So it's going to be a big fleet.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And that's a nice nod to the past getting those
older rowers in. What's one of the most memorable or
defining moments from the marathon's history that you could share
with us, Oh.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
There's so many. Probably one day that really sticks out
to me is Buret Chiros. I can't remember what here
it was, but the leading boats started making their way
in and Throller just got bigger and bigger and bigger,
and by the time all the boats were in the
swell at Coyle of I don't know how big it
was Broe fifteen foot. Anyway, there were some of the
boats we couldn't get in, and so one of the girls.
(09:49):
Crews couldn't get in, so one of the race directors
back then, Bert Hunt, decided that he'd bring the boat
in himself with no crew. So he's jumped in his
sweep and then one of the support boats just nuged
him into the wave zone and he swept this boating
by himself and it was huge and he had off
to him that was a pretty awesome day.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
That sounds like the stuff of legends.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Oh yeah, that was good. I just can't believe in
this day and age now on videotor but e when
you get locked to the finish and you know the
cruise that are coming in last I've seen some of
the bigger crews have come in the boats hit the
beach and they've just picked them up with the crew
siwing the boat and walked them up the beach. You know,
stuff like that. It's just hard to describe, but it's
a real community and then you just need to be
(10:31):
part of it to understand how good it is.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Teams come from across the country and as you told
me previously, even from across the globe sometimes to take
part in the George Bass. You said there's around twenty
six teams expected this year. Do you have any standout
competitors or returning champions to keep an eye on.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well, we've got it. We've got two New Zealand crewis
coming over, a men's crew and the women's crew. So
traditionally they've always been strong, so there will be a
bit of cross has Mi rabalry or spurs. I know
the Maria Crue. Why it's going to be good?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Is there a favorite who's I guess in the box
seed or and are there any leading events that can
give you any indication to that.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
We've had rarely had a fairly griffin nice team, a
club the pub. I think the guys from wander and
North Caronola they might be up there. They've been doing
pretty well in the vet's division. The Tartar Boys they
won't last year. I think if they can have another
crack at it. I think North Carnoa have got a
veterans crew.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
What's your message for locals and visitors? Where's the best
vantage points if they want to go and check it out.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, so you can get to the start line. We're
starting at Corrigan Speech this year, so you'll be able
to watch them row out through the river at Batman's
Day and then if you can get to all the
different headlands, you'll see the crews on their way down.
The case at Brawley on the first day, we've got
to row in around a boy at rare Ley, so
if you can get out on the rocks of Brawley
you'll get an advantage point. Yeah, and then try and
(11:58):
get to every finish line. You're better to watch all
the coming it's here. It's a pretty awesome event. And
even just with all the port boats and everything, so
Pitchure you've got twenty six serve boats, so you're can
have twenty six support boats, so you can have over
fifty vessels on the on the water ahead and their
way down, plus all the surfkemes.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, it's fantastic. And is the event going to be
live streamed or will there be live tracking so you
can monitor online?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
We do have light trackers. Originally we brought them in
as a safety device, but you'll be able to log on.
If you get on the website, there'll be a link
and you'll be able to log on the live trackers
to see where all the where all the clue like
the Sydney Dehovardis and.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
That's Georgebassmarathon dot com dot au. Events like these rely
on a lot of community support. Can you just tell
us a bit about the volunteers who make the George
Bass possible.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah. So we've got a George Bass Committee. I've got
some good helpers who have been helping me over the
last few years. I've got Seu Hunt from Marua and
Wendy Law from browlea Lean Constable from Naruma, a branch
President Toney Ricky Dobo and Yangi from Naruma. Andrew ad
Means has been to be part of it, Polly and
Bert Hunt, they've been to be part of it over
the years. And there's been hapes of helpers. I can't
(13:06):
know them all, but yeah, so we work together probably
twelve months out from the Bass, and then we've got
to get permits. Yeah, there's a lot of the approvals
we've got to get before we can actually hold the race.
And then during the race, we have all the local
life savers, you know, they're manning ivs and jet skis,
and we've got all the volunteers at surf clubs that
help pack up and set up PUSS, all the support crews.
(13:27):
There's a lot of people that have to volunteer to
make the event happen.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Looking ahead, Andrew, what are your hopes and plans for
the future of the George Bass Surfboat Marathon.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well, the future is looking really good. Actually, when the
events that have got a bit rocky, We've had a
mob called Capital Chemists who are directly involved with the
Annabel family and Curly Annabel's son Bruce, him and Capital
Chemists have been able to sponsor us every year for
probably the last twelve or six years, and then now
this year we've been able to get a new sponsored
jump on board that's staff at Hardware and there really
(13:59):
came to be involved in the future. So I think
the future looks good.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Just lastly, George Bass, who the race is named after.
Can you give us any insight into George?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Well, I think what happened is when Curly went to
the tourism seminar back in nineteen seventy two or whatever
it was, they bear area is now called the Cephali Coast.
Back then they were going to call it the George
Bass Strip, obviously named after George Bass, who the explorer
that wanted down the coast. So yeah, so that's where
that connection came from, so yeah, we were Now he
(14:31):
called the George Bass Strip, not the Cephali Coast. There
you go. I did not know that, I know that
until they're three hours ago.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Well I'm glad you've shared it with this, Andrew mate.
Thank you so much for giving us some of your
time today and sharing some of the history and the
highs and lows of the George Bass Surfboat Marathon. I'm
sure it'll be a cracker this year for the fiftieth
running of the event, and we we wish you all
the best for it. The George Bass Surfboat Marathon fiftieth
(15:01):
Anniversary edition starts in Bateman's Bay on December twenty nine
and finishes in Eden on January fourth. That's all for now.
When I heart Far South Coast, proudly supported by the
New South Wales Government, I'm James Fantasy. Catch you next time.
I Heart Far South Coast.
High fast South Coast. Today, I'm James Fennessy. The George
Bass Surfboat Marathon, which is held along the far South
Coast at the end of every year, is celebrating its
fiftieth anniversary this year.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I remember watching the race when the Common Bank you
is to sponsor it, and as twelve year old, I
was blown away. And that's why I think I'm so
involved now. Just when I was a kid, I just
couldn't believe these people were doing this and they're still
doing it.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
That's the now race director for the George Bass Andrew Holt,
who we're speaking with today about one of the world's
toughest surfboat races.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So basically, in George Best Surfboat Marathon is a surfboat race.
It takes seven days to conflate. It starts in Bighton's
Bay and finishing in eight It's an ocean race. It's
probably the longest, toughest, most grueling surfboat race in the world.
And what happens is basically we go from Bighton's Bay
to Maria. It's the first day. Second day is Maria
to Chiros, then Curos to Naruma, Numa, Toba mcgheem to
(00:58):
Tartar Tartar handler and then Pandula and then they finished
in eight.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
And how long have you been involved with the marathon? Andrew?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I first started in nineteen ninety four. Yeah, I've been
involved in every race since, either as a rower, a
sweep or one of the organizers like I am at
the moment, and I've done that with two different clubs,
with Pambula and with Kiama. So yeah, I really enjoy
the event. And I think this will be my thirtieth year,
So this is my thirtieth anniversary.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, it's pretty special. And how long have you been
the race director and what do you love about that.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I've been involved with the committee for probably about maybe
fourteen years now. A while back we sort of had
fear sponsors drop out and it didn't look like the
race was going to go ahead. So we've got a
new committee together and one man, you build the race
up again. So yeah, now I love it. It is
the best race in the world. Like, no, I'm lot
the surfboat rolling and I love the satellite cost. But
(01:55):
if you're going to do something you are you need
to go and do the georgsh Blace. It's definitely one
to tick up on the bucket list.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You've mentioned about the race itself, can you break down
the sport as well, the surfboating. You know, how many
people are there in a crew, what are they doing
and what kind of conditions are they facing.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, so generally a surfboat is made up of four
rowers and a sweep. So in a normal surf boat race,
you leave the beach, throw it through the surf, turn
a canp outside the break, come back in through the surf,
and that's that's your traditional surf boat race. So the
George Bass your distance you're covering. Instead of being a
short race of so thousand meters, you're doing twenty to
(02:34):
thirty kilometers a day. So you start off with your
first four rowers. Generally you got a team of eight.
Some days the open men will row with teams of six.
So after the start, after you start, you generally row
for about twenty to thirty minutes and then you sweep,
will signal a water change, and as part of your team,
you have a support boat crew which is your support
(02:55):
boat you know, houses your reserve rowers. And then what
he'll do is he'll get in front of the surf boat.
You'll drop the change overallers into the water and then
the sweet will row up onto them. The rowers will
jump out of the boat, and then the new railers
will jump in, and then you'll continue on and there
could be sort of five or six or ten changes
per day depending on the conditions. So it's pretty adventures.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
As you touched on the George Bass is run over
seven days and seven legs and over one hundred and
ninety kilometers. How grueling and how dangerous is it?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
It is growling, It is dangerous, but obviously it will
depend on the conditions. Like you know, you might have
a nice easy nor ease swell with a light wind
and you know, you just it's just a great raw
you roll along, pick up your runners, or you could
have the opposite. You could have a twenty or thirty
suddenly that you've got to row into, which is pretty
difficult as far as like the safety part of it.
(03:48):
We have quite a lot of pretty serious injuries over
the course of the race. The surf or the oceans
can be unpredictable. You know, you don't know what it's
going to throw at you, which has also part of
the adventure. Each day is different as far as fatigue
and the know your body blisters is a big thing
for Tea. You know, your sweeps have got to manage
you fatigue for your rowers, change your crews overseas that
(04:10):
you don't you know, you don't burn them out, and
then you can swap rowers out when you've got your
six person cruise. You know you've got a couple of
caress the next day. So each race is different, Like
you don't know what the weather conditions are going to
be like, so you've just got to be prepared for everything. Really.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, And I've seen some photos of when things don't
go right, which is often as the boats are either
coming back in through the surf or heading out again,
and the photos can be quite spectacular because these rowers
can get thrown up into the air and have boats
land on them. What kind of injuries have you seen
(04:44):
over your time?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Unfortunately, got on their last place, one of the girls
broke her back, which was pretty you know, that's probably
the worst that I've heard of. Unfortunately, it was just
a freak accident. They finished the race, they rode into
the beach, the boat went sideways and flipped and she
under it, So there's pretty unfortunate, but we've taken steps
this year to try and not eliminate, but try and
(05:07):
manage that risk. Sweeps had to undergo like an advanced
education just in handling the boats in the surf So
because obviously nowadays with the litigation and insurances and all that,
you've got to tick all the boxes to allow the
event to happen.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Yeah, absolutely, and I mean you've touched on some of
them already. But what makes the one hundred and ninety
k course unique and challenging for participants that choose to
take part in this marathon between Bateman's Bay and Eating.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Well, As I said, it is the toughest, most grueling
surf boat race in the world. So for a lot
of surf boat was just that itself is pretty attractive,
and I think a lot of people just like to,
you know, as they can do the event and finish
the event like it's a massive achievement for them. Obviously,
you've got the biggest, stronger clubs that you know, they
want to win it and it all costs they want
to win. So you've got sort of different levels of
(05:58):
people attending, you know, big clubs in the past like
now your bullies and you're Maria at Baton's Bay Clubs
from inter state, Like, it's a big challenge to come
over and do it. So even a lot with their
crews from Darwen come down so you can imagine, you
know they've driven all the way from Darwin to compete
in the race and then you know they've got to
make it all the way home. So that's a two
or three week adventure.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Really, what's the prize for winning the George Bass? Are
there prizes or is it purely bragging rights?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Mainly bragging rights? There is some monetary prizes, but I
don't think anyone does it for the prize money. I
think people will do it for the bragging right. So
like it's a pretty big honor for pretty big achievement
and quite often a lot of crews that do win
the George Bass Marathon often go on to win the
Australian titles and the surf.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Rowing stick around. More to come from the race director
for the George Bass Surfboat Marathon and Reholt.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
I art Fast South Coast, I Fast South Coast.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Hi There, I'm James Fennessey. We're chatting with Andrew Holt.
Who's been involved in either participating in or the running
of the George Bass Surfboat Marathon since the early nineteen nineties.
The race itself was first held in nineteen seventy five
with twelve cruz and andrew says, like most sports, it's
evolved a lot over the last fifty.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Years, so we've got different categories. We've got obviously the
open men and open women. As the events evolved over
the years, now they've had the Veterans women and the
Veterans men's. Sometimes you might have an under twenty three
division if we get some junior cruise and now because
some of the older cruse are now still rowing, we've
created another group called the Supervets. So you might have
(07:40):
six or seven or eight divisions.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
What does it mean for the George Bass to reach
its fiftieth running at the end of this year. It's
on from the twenty ninth of December until January four
Just how big is that to celebrate fifty years of
the George.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Bass, Matthew, It is huge. It all started off really
back in probably about nineteen seventy three. Turely Annabelle. He
was a tourism advisor to the South coast back then,
and he went to a tourism seminar and basically our saying,
if you know you want your areas to prote you've
got to come up with something big. So he decided
that something like the Josh Bace Serveboat Marathon would be
(08:18):
something big, which it is because it's still going. So
it took him a couple of years to get it going.
So really in the background, this has been going for
longer than fifty years, but as far as the race goes,
this will be a fiftieth anniversary and it's at its moment.
So in the twenty twenty we know he lost it.
We had to cancel the race because of the fires.
And then after that, obviously COVID came along and we
couldn't have the race because they everyone their bloody COVID.
(08:40):
So yeah, it's at its obstacles and it's at its roadblocks,
but he had finished the fiftieth of the awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Is there anything special that's going to happen at this
year's event to celebrate that milestone?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
At the start? What we've got organized is a lot
of the older rowers that you were back in the
early days, they're actually going to come along and they're
going to start the race. We're going to do like
a kilometer of the first leak, so they're going to
row into the start line and then then they're going
to hand the baton over to the new rowers and
then there they're going to complete the course. So I
just think having the race fifty years, you know, we've
got good numbers. We're looking like we've got about twenty
(09:14):
six crews for the boats and about twenty crews for
the skis, So it's going to be a big fleet.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And that's a nice nod to the past getting those
older rowers in. What's one of the most memorable or
defining moments from the marathon's history that you could share
with us, Oh.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
There's so many. Probably one day that really sticks out
to me is Buret Chiros. I can't remember what here
it was, but the leading boats started making their way
in and Throller just got bigger and bigger and bigger,
and by the time all the boats were in the
swell at Coyle of I don't know how big it
was Broe fifteen foot. Anyway, there were some of the
boats we couldn't get in, and so one of the girls.
(09:49):
Crews couldn't get in, so one of the race directors
back then, Bert Hunt, decided that he'd bring the boat
in himself with no crew. So he's jumped in his
sweep and then one of the support boats just nuged
him into the wave zone and he swept this boating
by himself and it was huge and he had off
to him that was a pretty awesome day.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
That sounds like the stuff of legends.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Oh yeah, that was good. I just can't believe in
this day and age now on videotor but e when
you get locked to the finish and you know the
cruise that are coming in last I've seen some of
the bigger crews have come in the boats hit the
beach and they've just picked them up with the crew
siwing the boat and walked them up the beach. You know,
stuff like that. It's just hard to describe, but it's
a real community and then you just need to be
(10:31):
part of it to understand how good it is.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Teams come from across the country and as you told
me previously, even from across the globe sometimes to take
part in the George Bass. You said there's around twenty
six teams expected this year. Do you have any standout
competitors or returning champions to keep an eye on.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well, we've got it. We've got two New Zealand crewis
coming over, a men's crew and the women's crew. So
traditionally they've always been strong, so there will be a
bit of cross has Mi rabalry or spurs. I know
the Maria Crue. Why it's going to be good?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Is there a favorite who's I guess in the box
seed or and are there any leading events that can
give you any indication to that.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
We've had rarely had a fairly griffin nice team, a
club the pub. I think the guys from wander and
North Caronola they might be up there. They've been doing
pretty well in the vet's division. The Tartar Boys they
won't last year. I think if they can have another
crack at it. I think North Carnoa have got a
veterans crew.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
What's your message for locals and visitors? Where's the best
vantage points if they want to go and check it out.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, so you can get to the start line. We're
starting at Corrigan Speech this year, so you'll be able
to watch them row out through the river at Batman's
Day and then if you can get to all the
different headlands, you'll see the crews on their way down.
The case at Brawley on the first day, we've got
to row in around a boy at rare Ley, so
if you can get out on the rocks of Brawley
you'll get an advantage point. Yeah, and then try and
(11:58):
get to every finish line. You're better to watch all
the coming it's here. It's a pretty awesome event. And
even just with all the port boats and everything, so
Pitchure you've got twenty six serve boats, so you're can
have twenty six support boats, so you can have over
fifty vessels on the on the water ahead and their
way down, plus all the surfkemes.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah, it's fantastic. And is the event going to be
live streamed or will there be live tracking so you
can monitor online?
Speaker 2 (12:19):
We do have light trackers. Originally we brought them in
as a safety device, but you'll be able to log on.
If you get on the website, there'll be a link
and you'll be able to log on the live trackers
to see where all the where all the clue like
the Sydney Dehovardis and.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
That's Georgebassmarathon dot com dot au. Events like these rely
on a lot of community support. Can you just tell
us a bit about the volunteers who make the George
Bass possible.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah. So we've got a George Bass Committee. I've got
some good helpers who have been helping me over the
last few years. I've got Seu Hunt from Marua and
Wendy Law from browlea Lean Constable from Naruma, a branch
President Toney Ricky Dobo and Yangi from Naruma. Andrew ad
Means has been to be part of it, Polly and
Bert Hunt, they've been to be part of it over
the years. And there's been hapes of helpers. I can't
(13:06):
know them all, but yeah, so we work together probably
twelve months out from the Bass, and then we've got
to get permits. Yeah, there's a lot of the approvals
we've got to get before we can actually hold the race.
And then during the race, we have all the local
life savers, you know, they're manning ivs and jet skis,
and we've got all the volunteers at surf clubs that
help pack up and set up PUSS, all the support crews.
(13:27):
There's a lot of people that have to volunteer to
make the event happen.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Looking ahead, Andrew, what are your hopes and plans for
the future of the George Bass Surfboat Marathon.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Well, the future is looking really good. Actually, when the
events that have got a bit rocky, We've had a
mob called Capital Chemists who are directly involved with the
Annabel family and Curly Annabel's son Bruce, him and Capital
Chemists have been able to sponsor us every year for
probably the last twelve or six years, and then now
this year we've been able to get a new sponsored
jump on board that's staff at Hardware and there really
(13:59):
came to be involved in the future. So I think
the future looks good.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Just lastly, George Bass, who the race is named after.
Can you give us any insight into George?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Well, I think what happened is when Curly went to
the tourism seminar back in nineteen seventy two or whatever
it was, they bear area is now called the Cephali Coast.
Back then they were going to call it the George
Bass Strip, obviously named after George Bass, who the explorer
that wanted down the coast. So yeah, so that's where
that connection came from, so yeah, we were Now he
(14:31):
called the George Bass Strip, not the Cephali Coast. There
you go. I did not know that, I know that
until they're three hours ago.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Well I'm glad you've shared it with this, Andrew mate.
Thank you so much for giving us some of your
time today and sharing some of the history and the
highs and lows of the George Bass Surfboat Marathon. I'm
sure it'll be a cracker this year for the fiftieth
running of the event, and we we wish you all
the best for it. The George Bass Surfboat Marathon fiftieth
(15:01):
Anniversary edition starts in Bateman's Bay on December twenty nine
and finishes in Eden on January fourth. That's all for now.
When I heart Far South Coast, proudly supported by the
New South Wales Government, I'm James Fantasy. Catch you next time.
I Heart Far South Coast.
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