BK AT BURLEIGH BY JOHN WITZIG

SURFER: BARRY KANAIAUPUNI

LOCATION: BURLEIGH POINT

DATE: March 1977

The 1977 Stubbies marked the first major influx of international pro surfers to the Gold Coast and it’s hard to know who was more delighted by this development. The international surfers fell in love with the Gold Coast, the warm water, sand bottom points, the pumping waves, the enthusiastic crowds and rowdy night life. Local surfers flocked to witness the best in the world go up against home grown talents like Rabbit Bartholomew, Michael Peterson and Peter Townend.

Hawaiian Barry Kanaiaupuni was already a universally admired and respected elder of the fledgling pro surfing scene by 1977 and all eyes turned seawards whenever he took off, whether in free surfs or competition. While BK was known as Mr Sunset, for his cool aplomb in the huge waves of Sunset Beach, Hawaii, he took to Burleigh with an easy poise in the more user-friendly conditions.

Photographer John Witzig is best known for his artful documentation of the so-called Transition Era or Country Soul period of surfing in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s on the North Coast of NSW. Witzig’s artistic sensibilities were ill-suited to the crowds and commercialism of the pro era, but when he did shoot the pro events, he managed to find moments of quiet grace within the madness.