From the Newsroom

Local News

Angourie surfing icon, the late David ‘Baddy’ Treloar, surfing the point in 2007. Image: Geoff Helisma

COVID a blessing for surf industry

While many businesses have struggled or are still struggling to survive as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the surf industry is enjoying one of its most profitable times around the globe.

Local surfboard manufacturer, Rod Dahlberg, whose boards are renowned around the world, has been making boards in Yamba since 1972.

He said, for him, the upswing in orders “almost compares with the backlog I had in 1999/2000 when I was making boards for Occy [world champion Mark Occhilupo]”.

“I was super busy then,” he said.

“The last few years I’ve been semi retired, taking it easy – but it’s hard now that demand is almost exceeding supply.”

Mr Dahlberg said the main beneficiaries of the boom were wetsuit and surfboard manufacturers.

“Most of the small manufacturers up and down the coast are busy,” he said.

“My ding repairer mate next door, he’s flat out, too.

“There has been a lot of surf lately and a lot of people surfing, so they’ve been more accidents.

“My theory is that a lot of people who usually play sport on weekend were not able to, so recreational surfers are surfing a lot more.

“There are a lot of people not working who are on Jobkeeper and Jobseeker.

“Scomo’s surf team is looking a lot healthier than Bob Hawke’s … there are a lot of ‘professional’ surfers in the water.

“From what I can gather from talking with friends, every break along the coast has been as busy as they have ever been.”

Proprietor of Yamba Surf and Country Style surf shops, Barry Jones, said his businesses encountered “problems win April, missing out on Easter and school holidays trade, which was down considerably at that time”.

“After that we had a good time with Jobseeker and Jobkeeper,” he said.

“We’re still not quite balanced [with previous years over the same time period], but things are getting better – we’ve been lucky compared to a lot of retail outlets, because surfing was still allowed.

“Surfboard sales and [related] hardware and particularly wetsuits have been selling ridiculous amounts nationwide.”