THE HEAD LOCAL BY SHAYNE NIENABER

SURFER: PETER HARRIS

LOCATION: BURLEIGH POINT

DATE: 2020

Arguably no one has threaded more Burleigh barrels than longtime local Peter Harris.

The Harris family are synonymous with Burleigh. Peter was working as a postman in 1980 when he got a start in the Stubbies Classic, one of the world’s most prestigious surf contests, after it kicked off the professional era in 1977. To the astonishment of everyone but an adoring local crowd, Peter surfed his way through an international field of big-name pro surfers into the final. There he met fearsome Hawaiian Dane Kealoha and, in a close tussle, Harris just took the points on his Sky twin fin and cemented a firm friendship with Kealoha in the process. Harris was a non-smoking, non-drinking Christian in the midst of the Stubbies debauchery and put his win down to the power of prayer. He later evolved into an enforcer of localism and then matured into a surfing statesman, embracing the Hawaiian concept of Aloha. Along the way, his timeless tube threading provided an unbroken continuum in the Burleigh lineup.

While the boards beneath his feet may have changed, this shot shows Harris continues to expand on his barrel riding credentials.