9
December 06 Christmas Event
 Woke
up to a great looking Gold Coast day got some gear together,
and the tourist (Legend Jim Bradley) and headed to Currumbin
beach to check the conditions and set up for the day. Huey
had given us a break the wind had gone from the horrid nor
easter to a gentle southerly with nice little waves on tap.
The
well-oiled DSA volunteers rolled into action, set up was
done in no time and then it was down to business. A total
of 45 participants and 75 volunteers and carers rolled up
keen to surf. With a good mix off new and old faces we hit
the waves with the regular hooting hollering laughing smiling
faces, there were some great rides and wipeouts. Adam Hamilton
(the legend surfer who’s face graces the new DSA national
flyers) was up on his feet showing how it’s done with style.
 Then
we had a new comer Steve from Brisbane who had an accident
April 05 and is now a C5 quadriplegic. Being a surfer before
the accident he was keen to taste the salt again, so that’s
what he did, after his set of waves he purposely rolled
of the board went under water and swallowed a gut full then
put his head up stoked to be back amongst it again. Good
onya mate. There were just to many good rides happening
to single any one out as wave off the day. What a blast,
after two hours in the surf it was back to the clubhouse
for a feed and more bragging.
Then
after a few speeches were made the big jolly bloke Santa
arrived with his two little helpers to hand out some pressies
and lollies. So the end of another great DSA day was done.
Congratulations to all our disabled surfers for your inspiring
rides there’s some real talent amongst you. And I can’t
thank the fantastic volunteers enough; you guys turn up
and work your butts off, your all legends. Last but not
least thanks go to Billabong and Australian surfing life
magazine for their continued support, Gold Coast City Council,
Currumbin Nippers Club, Tasty Temptations, Magic Apple,
Bakers Delight, Rocky Creek Candy Co, Saville Butchers,
QLD Fruit
Processors,
and the Christian Surfers who turn up to every event and
work and cook their hearts out thanks guys. Sorry if I missed
anyone.
So
from every one on the Gold Coast Committee have a safe and
happy Xmas and we will see you back in the surf in 2007.
Cheers.
Craig
Castles
Pressie
on the Goldy.
The
DSA Hunter Region
held their First Ever….
Fundraiser night,
which was held at
Swansea Belmont Surf Life Saving Club
on Saturday
4th November 2006.
The night was a roaring success, with everyone getting in
to the swing of it and enjoying themselves 'immensely'.
Major Supporters of the evening were: The Framing Game,
O'Carrollyns - One Mile
Beach, Board Crazy Kite Surfing, Tirana Thai, Al Johns Surfboards,
Simon Law Tsu-nami Surf, Bunning Warehouse-Kotare, Surfing
Life and many more…
Gary began the night with a few words of wisdom about DSA.
Gary had to be asked to 'rap it up' as we all know he likes
the sound of his own voice.
Our Comedian Jim Chapman kept us laughing. .
Then, we held a speech on Ricky Whitehead and the benefits
he gets from his involvement in DSA. His story really touched
a lot of people and the bidding in our Auction exceeded
all financial expectation….
All proceeds from the night going towards the Hunter Regions
purchase of a new marquee to be utilized on the beach at
each event to protect our surfers from the sun.
Then we rocked into the night with a sensational musician
Aaron Hood of ROCK CAVE MU-SIC.
At the end of the night we had heaps of people coming up
to us letting us know that they had a great night and that
we did a great job and asking us when the next one was on.
Yours
faithfully
Jason
Parkinson
Branch President - DSA Hunter Region
Arriving
on mass at Mainbeach
For
the 1st Cocky Classic.
Sunday
10th December ’06.
NOTE:
Click on Pictures to Enlarge
Everyone
was in a very festive mood for the last surf of the year which
was held at Kingscliff Mainbeach.
 The
weather for the day (morning at least) couldn’t Could not have
been better- Beautiful nearly cloudless skies with some cloud
banks on the horizon. A slight breeze was coming from the South-East,
eventually blowing the bad weather off the ocean & onto the
beach. But that was well after the meet.
The
event was put on by John “Cocky” Stannard and the Tweed Old Mal
Club which was a great thing, thanks people. Waves were really
forming well on the day making for truly blissful conditions.
People came not only from the Kingscliffe area but also from Mullumbimby
and surrounds.
There
were even people there from the Gold Coast. Officially there were
15 participants at the event; and a whopping 45 volunteers (including
our regular group of core volunteers). Around midday people began
gathering back around the barbeques for a much welcomed sausage
sandwich or a rissole sandwich and Drinks were provided as were
teas and coffees.
 After
everyone had finished a terrific lunch a few impromptu speeches
were given. John “cocky” Stannard representing the Tweed
Old Mal Club spoke first saying how happy he was with the day
and how he’d like to turn the day into a yearly event, something
that us Far North Coasters would be very happy with. We had some
inspiring words from the National Secretary- Jim Bradley.
Followed by one of the participants mother’s thanking everyone
for coming out. 
It’s a pretty big thing for people to give up their Sundays &
Thank you to all the volunteers who did to make others happy!
Merry
Christmas & Happy Surfing,
Adam
Cazalet
Joint
Secretary D.S.A Far North Coast N.S.W
South
Australian
"Have
A Go Day"
Saturday 9th December, 2006
What
a week !!!!! After a fairly quiet “off-season”, it didn’t take
us long to get back into “event mode”. Our new trailer was almost
finished, the invitations had gone out, the extra rashies were
printed, the goody bags were filled and we were ready. The R.S.V.P.’s
were coming thick and fast, well over 150 positive replies. We
were facing our biggest event yet and we were feeling really good
about it. Then the weather forecast said Saturday between 38 &
40 degrees and the phone started ringing again – “is it going
to be cancelled?”
We decided to go ahead with our event. We organised more tents,
more water and more sunscreen. By 9.00am it was already about
34 degrees but sure enough, the volunteers started arriving for
their registration followed by the participants later. We still
ended up with 35 participants and 52 volunteers which we were
stoked about considering the forecast.
Everyone got to have a go in the surf and all had a really great
time. We didn’t do the beach games in the end, keeping everyone
either in the water or under the shade. By 12 midday everyone
was tucking into the sausage sizzle.
Just as we got started on the presentation, Santa arrived on his
skateboard and handed out candy canes to all the kids. Then on
to the awards, 5 lucky surfers get a specially made trophy and
then all the rest of the participants got a purpose made medallion.
This events lucky winners were : Best Surfer went to Alfie Capuano,
Best Wave to Katie Davis, Best Wipe-out to Tyra McGorm, Best Smile
to Lachlan Aistrope and Best Helper to Rebecca Bennett.
All in all, considering the weather and the smaller numbers, we
still had a really good event. Now we’re really looking forward
to our next one in March.
Greetings
from Beautiful Sunny
Western
Australia
Saturday 9th December, 2006
Our
"Let's Go Surfing Day" on Saturday 9th December was
another brilliant
success
with loads of people getting down to Leighton Beach in Perth for
our first event for the 06/07 season- we had over 40 very keen
participants and 120 wonderful and enthusiastic vollies and carers
who generously gave their time and energy to make the day the
roaring success it was.
Some
special awards were handed out on the day with first time DSA
surfer Sebastian Anthony being awarded Wave of the Day- Sebastian
really stole some hearts down at the beach with his cheeky little
personality. Helper of the Day went to Billy Mayne who was
a team leader on the day- Billy has been with DSAWA since the
very first photo shoot for the West Australian Newspaper back
in August 2005. Billy has never missed an event and is always
enthusiastically running around like mad, getting things done-
Billy is worth his weight in gold!
This
is WA's second season and we are cruising along rather nicely
now- we
have
an excellent gear trailer and all the boards and gear necessary
to hold
our events independently from other organisations, surf
clubs
and DSA branches (well, almost)
Our
committee is working as hard as ever with "Loose Bruce"
Peel at the steering wheel
of his trike as our President, myself, Bek Colston, as Secretary
(and one
of the long suffering only females on the committee) and Harry
Schaeche as our
ever trusty Treasurer. We also have a stack of support in our
committee-
Dan Eastgate, who we've affectionately titled our "Director
of Internal
Affairs"!!! is the man when it comes to getting things organised-
he's also particularly good at keeping the peace when things get
a bit rowdy
at meetings, Ron Dobrich is our vice-pres (his job is to keep
Brucey in line-
this is a full-time job so we try not to demand too
much else from Ron!) and
then we have a full compliment of talented sorts who keep things
ticking over.
Rocky Jardine is our gear-steward, Belinda Devenish is our social
person (very
important job- she organises all the food and partying... bless
your cotton socks Beez!), Gordy Macleod is our "Gopher"-
he can get ANYTHING either half-price or free- just ask him!-
he has the absolute gift of the gab! and Gary Jackson is our sometimes
PR man and all round good guy!
A
special mention also needs to go to Cindy Evans- Cindy has been
instrumental in getting a sub-branch of DSAWA started up in our
lovely south-west- where this woman gets her energy from no-one
knows, but she is amazing! Thanks Cindy- your hard work is appreciated
by many.
Down-south
events are being held at Quay West Resort Bunker Bay in Dunsborough,
just up the road from Margaret River- an amazing venue with a
superb beach at it's door step- the resort has generously allowed
us to use their premises for a "Train the Helper Day"
on Saturday 16th December and a "Let's Go Surfing Day"
on Sunday the 14th of January. There is a very strong surf
culture within the community and the locals are embracing disabled
surfing with great passion and enthusiasm which is wonderful to
see.
Pro-surfer
Taj Burrows is expected to be coming along to our January event.
Taj has an important connection with DSA. In 2000 Taj helped
to rescue DSA surfer Grant Boxall when Grant broke his neck surfing
Yallingup main break. This will be the first time the two
of them will have surfed together since the accident- we think
this will be a pretty special moment for both of them and for
those watching.
Check
out the website for upcoming dates for events- we have 5 events
on this season- it's going to be another big one! Merry
Christmas to all of the DSA family from the crew here in WA and
thankyou for making us feel so welcome in our first year!
Take care over the holiday period and see you all in the surf!
xo
from Bek and the DSAWA crew
Bek
Colston
Disabled
Surfers WA
PO Box
2168
CARLISE
NORTH WA 6101
‘South Coast Disabled
Surfers’
Swedish Interlude! 2nd
Dec 06’
Saturday’s
14TH annual Illawarra region DSA
‘Have A Go Day’,
held at Thirroul, its traditional home, was a great success despite
the foreboding weather.
The DSA’s protective deity, Huey, held off the approaching
southerly until just after the participants had finished for the
day and were under cover enjoying the 4 course meal at the Thirroul
SLSC.
The 27 of the 29 participants came
from as far as Bowral and Sydney but the last 2 came from NZ and
Sweden. “Despite the overcast skies and onshore breeze, Sweden’s
Sebastian Forzsea, could not believe us Aussies were all decked
out in wetsuits”, said DSASC president Ian Picton.
Sebastian, a paraplegic, had never been surfing before
and said it was a “brilliant sensation” and asked when the DSA
was setting up a branch in Sweden.
NZ’s Curtis Palmer, himself a partial quad, was out here
as the on air reporter for a TV production covering some of the
DSA members before and during the event. Like Sebastian this was
his first surfing experience and the smile on his face said it
all.
After the pool work was finalised, for familiarisation
with surfboards and amphibious wheelchairs, the whole group were
off to the surf.
With small surf and low tide working favourably in conjunction,
and with Huey holding back the maelstrom, ‘smiles on dials’ were
order of the day.
A solid 2
hours surfing finished on a high note with the legendary Kelly
McCann from Sydney (Tracks Surfing magazine calls her
“the bravest surfer on the planet”)
surfing 8 waves with her retinue of 30 helpers, constantly being
respirated with a hand held resuscitator.
 At
the closing awards ceremony the major prize winners were:
Most courageous effort of the day: Sean Loves (Wombarra)
Wave of the day: Louise Kitching (Bowral)
Wipeout of the day: Curtis
Palmer and Marty Reed (Bulli)
Most Inspirational of the day: Kelly
(perpetual award) and Louise (Sydney)
Best tube of the day: Towradgi’s
John Soloman
Surfer of
the day:
first time surfer Koby O’Neill shared the award with Sydney Sarah
Walsh who consistently rode the waves to the beach wearing out
her prosthetic right leg (she gets a new one next week).
The conclusion came with Ian thanking the Thirroul SLSC,
the local surf industry, the Royal Order of the Amaranth (for
their donation of 2 boards and a shade tent), Mrs Mae Smith, Mrs
Sue Ollis and Mick Van Opstal from the Southern Collieries Surf
Competition who all made substantial monetary donations to the
branch, and the many local schools who had helpers at the event.
And then it pissed down rain.
Seasons greetings everyone - Jim.
Keeping
‘em coming at Clarks Beach
International Day for People with a Disability.
Sunday
3rd of December ’06.
Clarks Beach, Byron Bay was the venue for the first International
Day for People with a Disability- surfing day. The day itself was
pretty overcast early on with the rain and the wind staying away
which was nice. After turn ups at Clarks being pretty average for
our last couple of events held there. The organisers of the event
would have been very pleased with the great turnout of volunteers
and participants a like. Beginning slowly, then really building
by 11:30!
Our regular group of volunteers who often give of their time was
10 ; with another 20 first time volunteers; and about 20 participants.
Due to the ever changing Clarks Beach waves had to be caught when
they are forming instead of the normal white water runs as the white
water was too inconsistent. However, as at Turner’s Beach, Yamba,
once you were truly on a wave you were guaranteed a good ride into
the beach.
As always after a good surf the appetite is building, it was a brilliant
job by Ted in organizing the Hog’s Breath Café once again to provide
fresh steakburgers which were then put together by helpers. Thanks
Ted for publicizing the event in the local papers and thanks to
Scott Kenney for doing a great interview on ABC FM promoting the
event as well as wheelchair dancing and lawn bowls for the visually
impaired- held at Brunswick Bowls Club.
Thanks also to Jim for providing a pretty constant ferrying service
for wheelchair bound people from up at the enrollment area down
to the surf and back up again. Thanks to Ralph for being the Beach
Marshall. The local mayor- Jan Barnham was even a welcome volunteer
as well as one of her councilors and a prominent member of the state
Green party, thanks Ian and thank you to all the other volunteers
who gave up part of their Sunday to give others a terrific day!
And have a few smiles of their own in the process.
Happy
Surfing,
Adam Cazalet,
Secretary D.S.A Far North Coast N.S.W
‘Broulee
Rips!’
NOTE:
Click on Pictures to Enlarge & Double Click to Reduce
Saturday
25th November, 2006
Inaugural
Bateman’s Bay region’s DSA
‘Have A Go Day’
held at North
Broulee Beach
was simply brilliant.
 Over
100 participants, carers and helpers were treated to perfect conditions,
as the accompanying photo(s) confirm, at a venue that is ideal for
Disabled Surfing events with it’s gentle rolling waves over a slightly
sloping sand bank.
The
26 participants, most from the Bay area, but many from as far away
as northern Sydney, covered most of the spectrum of disabilities.
But
as president Pico said
“who cares what is the name of the individual disability - as Cindy
Lauper almost said, ‘disabled surfers just want to have fun’”.
And
fun they had. With the help of the 3 Northcott amphibious wheelchairs
there on the day, helped by a small army of helpers and carers,
each participant had the opportunity to go surfing several sessions
during the event.
After
a couple of hours of surfing, wipe-outs with much yelling and whooping
the whole group had lunch back up near the viewing platform – sausage
sangas, drink, cake and water-melon hitting the spot.
The
finale of the day came with the award presentation for especially
good efforts.
Wipe-out
of the day
was wetly contested with the co-winners being Narooma’s Jordan Willis
and the Bay’s Ross Newman.
Longest
ride of the day
was Andrew Rodford (Batemans Bay)
Most
Inspirational of the day
went to western Sydney’s Iris and Rebecca Fann
Most
Courageous of the day
had to go to
Sydney's Tannia Smith who surfed lying on her back propped up by
especially designed wedges
Surfer
of the day
went to West Hocton’s Adrian Delarmi who unbelievably stood up on
his very first wave and rode it to the beach in front of his tandem
rider.
Most
Excited surfer of the day
went to Sydney’s Krystal Keller who, although she could not see
the waves, let everyone know she was out there ripping.
The
conclusion came with everyone being thanked including the Batemans
Bay SLSC, in particular Steve Innes, Beryl Wehner and the Broulee
Women’s Boardriders Club, Father Chris Riley’s team, Caz George
who travelled down from the ACT to help, the general community and
local surf shops that supported the event. But especially the DSASC
members (Pico, Tom, Tricia, Cec, Bethany, Len, Carol, Sue, Nerissa,
Jim and adoptees, Gary, Graeme, Ramona) whose hard working team
travelled 400km+ return to run the event. Well done, team!
 PS:
the new world record for loudest snoring, briefly set by Ian
on Friday night, surpassing world champ el Cid Gary’s mark of 131db,
came in at an astounding 134db (do the math – that’s twice as loud!),
only to be disqualified by the official
secret certification committee, on the basis it was adjudged to
be a whistle - not a genuine snore. So Gary still holds the title.
Great effort though, Ian.
**
Special thanks to Broulee’s John Hicks to took all of these
photos
and presented us with prints and a CD at day’s end – magic! **
Jim
Secretary
DSAA
Turning
It Up At Turner’s Beach
Saturday, 18th
November, 2006.
For
the Far North Coast N.S.W second annual Keenan Classic. Instead
of using Yamba Mainbeach like the previous year, this year Turner’s
beach was chosen. A master stroke by Daffy, Ted and the P.T.B as
the venue could not have been better!
After
unpleasant weather earlier in the week the turn out by both participants
and helpers alike was great, about 25 participants; 28 first time
volunteers from the Clarence area; and 8 regular volunteers. It
was a spectacular day as far as the weather went, beautiful nearly
cloudless skies, with just a slight North- Westerly breeze made
for near perfect conditions in that department. The waves were probably
2-3 footers. Deceivingly powerful though as once you were on them
they would carry you all the way to the beach making for a terrific
ride!
I
overheard one girl bragging to her friend how she stood up for the
first time out there. Hearing stories like this you can’t help but
smile. A terrific lunch was provided after the meet too. Thank you
to all those participants and helpers a like, great job by
Rob in assessing how many helpers would be needed per participant
and great jobs by Diana and Daffy in publicizing & organizing
the event.
Happy
Surfing,
Adam
Cazalet,
Secretary
D.S.A Far North Coast N.S.W
News
from Western Australia
November, 2006.
Well
here I go, 1st report. Now that we are one year old we have found
it necessary
to expand into the South West. A few months ago with the help
of local Cindy Evans, we started canvassing the Southwest around
Dunsborough, Margaret River & Yallingup regions.
We chose Bunker
Bay
as the location of our first event. With the
help of Cindy we managed to secure the use of the function room
at 'Quay West Resort' Bunker
Bay
for our 'Show of Hands' & 'Train the Helper' events.
The 'Show of hands' attracted 60 people keen to know all about DSA.
I was a bit nervous doing my first talk, but with the great
support of Cindy, Bek and a talk from Grant Boxall, (a surfer who
broke his neck in the area) WE had a successful day. We even
put on a small beach demo with the help of committee member Ron,
Cindy plus Mike & Kim Shaw and Jools all from
Margaret River helped me catch
half a dozen or so waves, just a small practice run for the 16th
of December. Looking forward to the guys coming to run the
'Train the Helper' day. Our season is already underway with an event
called Celebrating Ability Expo on the 3 of December, followed by
'Lets Go Surfing' on the 9th of December at Leighton Beach, 'Train
the Helper' on the 16th of December, 'Lets go Surfing' in the South
West on 14th of January '07 and 'Lets go Surfing' at Leighton Beach
on the 3rd of February & 17th of March. I also intend on putting
Collaroy the 24th of February on my calendar.
NOTE:
Click on Pictures to Enlarge & Double Click to Reduce
Loose
Bruce DSAWA
What
the Disabled Surfers Association means to our Family.
NOTE:
Click on Sarah's Pictures to Enlarge & Double Click to Reduce
 Late
last year we received an invitation to bring our then 7 year old
daughter Sarah (a below knee amputee) to a DSA ‘hands on’ day at
Thirroul
Beach
. Initially we were somewhat apprehensive
about the idea of Sarah attempting to surf but following a conversation
with a DSA member we were assured that there was nothing to worry
about so we decided to give it a go.
It
was one of the best decisions we made not just for Sarah but for
all our family. On that day we were immediately accepted into the
DSA family.
Initially Sarah was lacking water confidence but within a few events
thanks to the dedicated volunteers Sarah stood up on a surfboard
a rode a wave all the way to the beach. As you can imagine that
was a day none of us will ever forget. Since that special day in
April, Sarah has been to Ireland
to visit her grandparents where she showed them
her surfing abilities spending a week surfing on
Ireland
’s west coast.
Not
only has the DSA improved Sarah’s water confidence her confidence
in public speaking has improved. She now likes nothing better than
grabbing a microphone and standing up in front of her fellow students
and discussing her surfing experiences.
We are so grateful for what the DSA has done for our family and
in particular Sarah. The committee and all the volunteers have changed
a girl who was scared of the surf to riding a surfboard in the space
of 5 months. The DSA family is dedicated to helping all disabled
people without any hesitation. The severity of the disability does
not deter the DSA from helping. Their help support and encouragement
to people with a disability is second to none.
When Sarah was
asked what the DSA meant to her, she replied that she “enjoyed meeting
other people with disabilities and having fun in the surf with them”.
Thanks
to the DSA Sarah has been introduced to a sport that many able bodied
people can only dream of.
Walsh
Family.
Tuggerah
Lakes Memorial Club
315
The Entrance Road, The Entrance NSW 2261
"20
YEARS OF THE DSA"
Saturday
25th February, 2006
"MAJOR
FUNDRAISING EVENT"
DSA
Display Stand/Fundraising Raffle
CANCELED
by SURFEST
2006 Organisers
"Not
Impressed"
as we have been attending this venue for the past 9years
(Start
of surfest)
- Editors Comment
Membership
Fees Overdue
As
the DSA grows around Australia, the need for memberships to be
paid or updated becomes essential, as the cost of insurance, printing
and postage is becoming a major issue.
All
Membership fees are due at the time of our Annual General Meeting,
which is held generally in October of each year.
If
you are one of those who have not recently paid your fees, please
do so, so we can continually support the events.
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