Byron Bay, a land of unfettered surf dreams and where “murfers” squabble over who has the best Blanc Marble countertops in their pretty haven of narcissism and clandestine infighting.
Rip Curl co-founder Brian Singer ain’t a man to die wondering.
Last October, after taking a dozen years to find a buyer they could live with and that and with the necessary bankroll, he and the brand’s other founder, Dougie Warbrick, sold the company they’d founded in Torquay in 1969 to camping retailer Kathmandu for $A350.
Brian’s 35.5 percent of Rip Curl got him $58 million.
And ain’t no better way to allocate a little of the spoils than with the best house in Byron Bay aka Far North Bondi, a land of unfettered surf dreams and where “murfers” squabble over who has the best Blanc Marble countertops in their pretty haven of narcissism and clandestine infighting.
Surf-wise, still real good, howevs.
Brian, who is seventy-six, has bought the new joint in a company name, sharing ownership with his four kids, Samala, Naomi, Anthony and Jade, outbidding it’s rumoured, Zac Efron and Matt Damon for the keys.
It’s the first time the house, which squats on a hillside overlooking the soft rollers of Wategos and under the watchful eye of the Byron Bay lighthouse, has been sold since 1994 when it was sold for a then record of $1.24 mill.
Been a good month for Brian.
He has a share in the syndicate that owns Melbourne Cup-winning nag Twilight Payment, which won $4.4 million in prizemoney a few weeks back.
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About 15 or 20 years ago Captain Daly conned Quicksilver to pay him to charter his boat and map out almost every surf spot in the Pacific. With a few pros on board at the better locations.
He then said he was going to put the map in his safe and keep it there.
Quicksilver used the “Crossing” as a marketing tool.
Surfers didn’t want all these islands and spots mapped out, we wanted to know there was still some mystery out there, some places to be discovered.
Whether named or not, he and Quiksilver exploited these waves for their own personal gain.
And I’m sure many spots got leaked also, after a few cold ones.
What Would Frodo Buy?
No, it was very satisfying watching them go up in smoke , never to be worn again.
In other news I was reading in the Fin Review that Kathmandu has been saved from oblivion through the purchase of RC (and the subsequent record sales of wetties) – so on behalf of the Kathmandu board, thanks surf bums!
In a town full of Sharks , is in not strange that a Crocodile Tale , lead to its demise from sleepy hippy village ( after Norco and Walkers and Whaling ) to LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS….. A place in the 60s where Mctavish and a mate …. were literally pulled by the hair by the local cops , forced to get a hair cut , and had there arses kicked out of town …. not long before he was sending boards to RipCurl for Wayne Lynch etc 50 years ago… The circle is now complete ?
My goal in life was
Have fun, die poor and sadly
I’m reaching my goal
What’s in the middle?
Us …. ?
So the money went into Search-Destroy, and the world’s funnest surfer gouging foam and fibreglass.
It didn’t go into tax. Less than 1% paid in 2017-2018 financial year.
Direct your Search for RIP in this:
https://www.abc.net.au/news…
Or Search “ATO data reveals one third of large companies pay no tax”
The ABC has never paid tax.
They just throw a billion in the bin every year
You’re just chippy because they found out that those Lis can’t keep it in their pants.
I think it great
Why else would you do that job
Canberra the sex capitol of the nation
I was thinking Derek, instead of buyin Coolangatta and mowing the town down to build a surf pool, why not just fucking retire in Byron? So many fewer hassles, breaurocracy, construction delays, etc.
I’ll just pick up a turn key house to surf in front and maybe pick up on girls on the beach…. and this place looks like a good place to do just that (it used to be).
So I plugged into the Mortgage Calculator and if I put 200K down, it appears my monthly payment will be about 104, 000. a month not counting utilities, taxes, insurances, etc.
So I’m asking the BG community to fund the Hippy’s Byron retirement compound. There I said it.
CrowdFund to Hippy generously during this holiday season and I will pray to the sky fairy for you and your family as I surf the secret spot in front of my new home.
Thank you in advance and bless you and your family during this holiday season, amen.
Haha, I find it hilarious, (not really) that this dude from Rip, the company who exploited waves with their ‘Search and Destroy’ missions, and all the people who bought their surf industry paraphilia, retires with 58 mil.
After the Quicksilver Crossing scam, about 15 years ago or so, I took all my surf tees, put them in my front yard, put some gas on them and burnt them (true story).
If only it was Vans ….. You could have lit the Bonfire of the Vans ( it) Ts ?
Quicksilver Crossing scam- please enlighten me about this
Dunno what planet you live on, but I’d like to read your explanation of how exactly Rip Curl “exploited waves with their ‘Search and Destroy’ missions”???
Seriously, they’ve never named a location, let alone a country, on any of their mag ads or in their series of Search vids/dvds…
Were you a wannabe pro who was turned down for sponsorship by RC & just can’t get over your bitterness?
Haha, before 2006, Barra De La Cruz was basically unknown. It was made famous in 2006 by the Rip Curl Search world tour event which is now touted as having had some of the best waves a professional contest has ever seen.
Barra De la Cruz is basically a surf ghetto now, packed at the first hint of a swell, thanks to Rip Curl
And who knows how many others wave locations have been ‘leaked’ underground.
Surfers, photographers, support personnel, all on these Search missions–and no one has ever drawn a map, or spilled the beans after having a few cold ones?
I don’t think so.
Not in this universe.
First, nobody from RC ever publicly identified the location of the 2006 Search Pro more specifically than “Mexico”, which I know to be fact since I was a senior manager with RC at the time.
And with Google Maps having gone online a year before, I also know you should point the finger at others from outside RC for identifying the location online when the ’06 Search Pro was on; a few of those others having various petty axes to grind against RC.
Also fyi, having organised & gone on dozens of Search missions during 17 years with RC, I can tell you the very clearly spelt-out arrangements with all the surfers, photographers, filmers, support personnel & surf media that provided coverage in mags was always “NO identifying of locations”, any more specifically than referring to the oceans on which the trips occurred.
The strictly applied mission from the day RC launched the Search in the early ’90s was to NEVER direct others where to go, only to inspire others to pursue their own exploration. And whether it was a Bells Pro, a Search Pro or a Search mission, RC’s practice included (& continues to include) “ONLY leave footprints behind”.
Samwaters, you show either (or both) youth & naivety when you accuse RC of exploiting waves, as if they have ruined surfing or places. Many others did that in far more direct & shameless ways long before RC started calling their explorations the Search – for example, US Surfer magazine’s The Surf Report, among many others.
And yes, I’m engaging in this conversation with you because I was directly involved for a long time (but have not been for a decade now) & know how it really worked. I’m over people like you with your straight up bullshit ‘commentary’, based on nothing more than simple, spurious & petty gripes…
Ok, point taken. I’ll have to ponder and research that, that the search didn’t exploit Barra De La Cruz.
Just like The Crossing didn’t exploit surf spots (ya right).
Surfer Mag also printed a picture of a secret spot I thought I had in Mexico.
I rag on them also.
And look where they are at now–out of business.
Between the Crossing, the Search, Billabong had a friggin plane for awhile, and Surfer mag. It made me sick.
It was still surf exploitation to me as a way to make a profit, even if spots weren’t named.
It just all sickened me.
So I honestly took all my surf Tees, put them in my front yard, poured some gas on them and burnt them, (true story), it was very satisfying.
And never looked back.
I guess this quote by L. S. sums up my views, feelings today.
“The surf industry is not surfing– my brief forays into the dark sickly heart of the matter–have reminded me of that.”
Samwaters – appreciate your open mind and thoughtful response.
Surf industry, like everything, has good, bad and inoffensive/neutral elements.
I’m somewhat biased, having worked for RC for so long, but I’d rate them as by far the most conscious & respectful of core surfers in more ways than any of their rivals. A long way from perfect for sure, but what isn’t?
It’s real easy to fall into seeing things as simple dichotomies but almost 6 decades of life have taught me that the vast majority of things are multi-shaded. Keeping that in mind would avoid plenty of conflict…
Imagine how many of his North Korean slave laborers could comfortably live in that joint. Surely he plans to house them there as some form of reparations.
Wetsuits will be free in the new world reset.
Humans will not be.
Slavery 2.0
Medium Tall …. 543 with hood …. thanks Santa Bex or should I say Father BeXmas ?
Surfed Wategos one day. Couldn’t work out why no one else was in the water. Heard on the radio while driving home that “thousands of sharks were schooling” between the point and those islands you can see in the photo.
Herd immunity
I saw a shark at Tallows in a free surf during the Byron Bay Easter Classic …..just decided to drop in on me while I was surfing along and knowing Byron’s Shark rep at the time I thought it somehow normal and surfed the wave to the beach . Was more worried about the Sharks in the Comp .
About a year after Marty Ford was killed there, had the same thing happen to me. Caught a wave and saw it about 10m away swimming parallel with the beach away from the lighthouse. Watched it as I kept surfing through towards the shorey. Figured it was, swimming slowly, and away, so paddled back out. Although I did tend to sit in between punters a bit more…
Yes I was very brave with half the known universe surrounding me at Tallows during the Easter Weekend in the 80s ….. I was more worried about the local Sharks , at the Presso Night , the year my girlfriend won best looking bird on the beach . I had a shocker in the 4th round at Broken Head ( such a beautiful wave ) with only 4 guys out , and was very jealous of everyone who won something , my ex girlfriend included ….
The last time I was in Byron was in 1988 and it’s doubtful there were many marble countertops in what was still quite a sleepy area then.
If only Dr. Emmet Brown was real…
For me it was ’89…. sleepy town and the pass was firing and empty.
Don’t think I want to see what it has become… just keep my memories.
Especially at 22M$
Bloody ridiculous…
Your island is pretty ridiculous too.
There is a peninsula on the Coro that has a good bar and vacation homes… I was shocked how much they were selling for and the inventory was expansive. Pretty sure you could make an offer on any house and they would listen.
Shocked as in expensive? When did you last look
Problem Hip is all the Boomers from cities retiring with cash and want to die on the beach and will give the house to their kids. Locals being priced out everywhere. Ironically all these million dollar homes have a shelf life of 20 yrs and will not be insurable by 2035. Boomer generation fucked us all while also having the easiest life of any human generation.
Boomers and their kids…the sine wave of shit generations.
That’s it, I’m getting into the slave trade too
Was RC the last big one to be sold off? And more importantly, which men’s care product market will they enter in a couple years time, now that the bear softener and wipes market is cornered by )( ?
Goddam.. What a fucken pad. Straight to google maps a location only dreams will allow me.
I bet he still wakes up grumpy like every other cunt
Some nerve. Just waking up to that view would surely alleviate the any case of grouchies.
And a thick line
But he’s Probly too old to enjoy that.
Haha never! If you have the cash, age is no barrier surely?
Bex is this a crack in the Neo Liberalist Wall we are seeing ?
No no
I’d rather him there than us both been shot at the re-education camp
2+2 =5 …… Trickle Down Economics ……Kolohe will win a world title …… the moon is made of cheese ….. the earth is flat ……. ?