Golden Daze

GOLDEN DAZE is a compelling memoir of Australian surfing through a year in the life of Australia's top surfers.

Starting in 1963, renowned surfing journalist Sean Doherty charts the history of surfing through the stories of Surfing Australia's Hall of Fame inductees. Taking a year and a surfer at a time, he will reveal what they did, where they surfed and their life events in fascinating depth and detail. Illustrated with unpublished images from the surfers' private collections, these stories also give a vivid sense of the shifting world around them, particularly in the ever-changing realm of surfing.

GOLDEN DAZE opens in 1963 with Peter Troy jumping ship in Melbourne with a surfboard under his arm, embarking on his fabled surfing odyssey that saw him introducing surfing to Brazil, being crowned European champion, hitching alone across the Kalahari Desert and watching an unknown band from Liverpool called the Beatles. 1964 is Midget Farrelly's story of winning the first world title on home sand at Manly Beach. In 1969 Wayne Lynch goes down the coast, avoiding the Vietnam draft. And in 1971, Alby Falzon stumbles upon the island of Bali while shooting his humble surf movie MORNING OF THE EARTH.

The book brings to life the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and noughties through the eyes of the Australian surfers who defined them best, ending today with stories of potential Hall of Famers, contemporary stars like Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Tyler Wright.

Part journal, part biography, part surf culture memoir, GOLDEN DAZE gives a fascinating insight into Australian surfing and what makes it so unique.

“date tbc - WA [Print]-- The West Australian”

date tbc - NSW [Print]--The Daily Telegraph
date tbc - WA [Print]--The West Australian
ACT [Print]--Canberra Weekly

Sean Doherty began his career with surf journalism in 1997 with Tracks magazine and became editor in 2000. His 2004 biography on surf legend Michael Peterson was the basis for an upcoming feature film and he has written for the Sydney Morning Herald, Surfer and Surfing magazines in the US, as well surfing magazines in other parts of the world.

Golden Daze tells the story of Australian surfing one year at a time through the lives of our greatest surfers. The book takes a deep dive into a significant year of their surfing lives. Years when they won, years when they lost. Years where their surfing and their surfboards changed the game. Grommet years when the days never ended. Years where they surfed up the coast, down the coast and globetrotted into the great unknown.Years when both surfing and society changed. Years when they made high art, experienced spiritual awakenings or were just tubed out of their minds. Even years where they survived the embrace of a great white shark. Part journal, part biography, part surf culture memoir, in Golden Daze, world renowned surf writer and bestselling author Sean Doherty gives a fascinating insight into what makes Australian surfing tick. Surfing Australia's Hall of Fame recognises the nation's most influential and iconic surfers. Every year the current members of the Hall of Fame vote to induct a new surfer. You will find all of these surfers, from Peter Troy to Tyler Wright in Golden Daze .

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