Early History of the Club
Est.1970. Caloundra. QLD
The original WindanSea Surf club was first founded in 1962 in San Diego, California. The club set out to be the best in the world and membership was initially by invitation only. An invite into the club was considered an extremely prestigious honour.
The Californian Windansea Surf Club made plans to expand globally, and Its expansion invariably found a hungry home in Australia’s thriving surf scene of the 60’s and 70’s with three clubs being formed in Sydney, Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
WindanSea Caloundra was formed by two local surfers, Bruce McKean and Greg Minert in 1970. The club followed in the footsteps of the Moffateers and the Caloundra Boardriders Club.
The Moffateers were active around 1966 until they disbanded in 1968. The 60’s introduced a culture of sex, drugs and rock n roll, and young Caloundra surfers were invited to join the Moffateers by ‘Pa’ Bendall based on their behaviour in a bid to clean up the sports image. Members had to be well behaved and had to contribute to the sport.
The Caloundra Boardriders Club was formed in 1969 and quickly grew to a significant membership by 1970. The club was in its infancy and membership grew quickly which started to create divisions within the club between the less focussed surfers and the competitive surfers.
In 1970, Bruce McKean invited the top Caloundra Boardriders and other top surfers to form a North Coast branch of the South Coast WindanSea Surf Club. The North Coast version of Windansea Surf Club was formed true to the initial Windansea Surf Club vision as an invitation only competitive surf club, focussed on developing emerging local talent and to contribute to the sport of surfing.
WindanSea quickly asserted itself as a dominant force in the surfing arena and the club showcased its competitive edge when they won the Presidents Cup against the very talented and successful southern counterparts on the Gold Coast. By 1975 the Gold Coast and Sydney clubs had largely faded and given way to other clubs, but the Caloundra Windansea Surf Club continues today true to the initial vision created many years ago.
The Club Today
The Caloundra chapter of the boardriders club today has over 170 members plus a social and life member group. Over 50% of the club’s membership is juniors with women and girls representing more than 20% of total membership. We have a young membership base and actively encourage youth and females to be more active and this new club house will stimulate a range of activities for current and future members.
Windansea Boardriders run monthly surfing competitions throghout the year as well as a single fin competition annually. The club runs a surf fitness and surf training program aimed at developing our juniors. Many of the juniors are competing in regional, state and national competitions. The club supports various community groups and fundraisers with members regularly encouraged to participate in community activities.
The club also Hosts the Annual Pa & Ma Bendall Memorial Surfing Contest which has seen Surfers such as Gerry Lopez, Terry Fitzgerald, Richard Harvey, Michael Peterson, Peter Drouyn and Nat Young have all compete in this event. Past Windansea members competing in the contest include professional surfers such as Joel Parkinson, Serena Brooke, Wade Goodall, Reef Heazlewood, all from the Caloundra area. The event is not for profit and the club regularly makes donations to community charities from the proceeds.
The WindanSea Boardriders have also been actively pursuing a clubhouse to create a home base. The clubhouse will be a shared community space, run by a committee of surfers and community members representing diverse groups to provide a general meeting place. The groups include Windansea Boardriders, the Disabled Surfers Association, the Indigenous Surfers Chapter, Women on Water, The Moffateers and the Caloundra Malibu Club just to name a few. It is an opportunity for the surfing community of Caloundra to become custodians of their own space to advance the sport of surfing. Once in operation the clubhouse will be a hub for the Caloundra community offering a place to facilitate club meetings, presentations, events & competitions, run training workshops and activities, engage with local schools, hold community workshops as well as uniting our surfing community. The clubhouse will support the teaching of surfing culture and history to a younger generation. It will promote physical activity, family activity, outdoor lifestyle and recreation as well as promote environmental awareness and care for the environment.
Club Mission
To promote the sport of surfing and actively being involved with the local community, encouraging and attracting young surfers on the Sunshine Coast to become new members while promoting the integrity and sportsmanship in the sport of surfing.