This morning, just as dawn broke in Manly, with a clean 3-5ft southeast swell running, Australia lost one of the icons of surfing and the surf industry. Barry Bennett passed away aged 91.
Bob McTavish and Barry Bennett in front of the moulds - May, 2003
If the USA had Hobie Alter that shaped its surfboard industry, it wouldn’t be a far stretch to say Barry Bennett shaped the industry in Australia.
In a world of surf media that put the icons in lights, and many of those icons moving to the left or right to capture that light, Bennett pirouetted to the shadows almost ten out of ten times. He recognised his place in history but did his best to avoid the light.
Bennett Surfboards on Harboard Road Brookvale is almost a pilgrimage. Not much has changed in 60 years. And, up until recent, Barry could still be found there most days, avoiding the light, keeping an eye on the foam, the moulds and leaving the public relations to his eldest son, Greg.
Born in Waverly in 1931, at the height of the Depression, Bennett came from a family that scraped and saved and didn’t ‘waste’. It was a trait, despite all he achieved, never left him.
Bennett was notorious for milking every inch of the sandpaper and that last drop that could be poured before the glass would go off. He hated waste and didn’t take kindly to those who did. He valued hard work and didn’t take to excuses. This said, his patience and support of others were legendary and, for many, kept them in business when otherwise they may have gone to the wall.
Barry allowed his customers to ride credit much longer than many would have been given the opportunity to. He allowed credit to run from days to weeks and months. The booming independent surfboard shapers of the 1970s and 80s have Bennett to thank for keeping them going.
In the early 1950’s Barry started putting together plywood toothpicks and surf skis in Waverly as a part-time business, Bennett being an electrician by trade. Then comes 1956, and the 25yr old from Bronte sees the opportunity when the Californians visit Sydney with their 10’6” ‘Malibu’s’ under their arm (of course, they weren’t from Malibu, but the moniker stuck). Bennett leaves the traditional trade behind and becomes a ‘surfboard builder’ moving to Harbord (Freshwater) in 1958 and, with business booming, into Harbord Road, Brookvale, in 1960.
There’s no way to learn other than hard yards & experience. Barry shaped with plywood and later balsa for years before the whiff of polyurethane that would come to change the world was inhaled immediately, bringing with it an immediate realisation – it’s a heck of a lot quicker than wood.
Bennett took himself to California in 1962/63 with the intent of understanding what it took to build size working with Hobie Alter & later Don Hansen before returning to Australia, armed and ready for the opportunities that arose. He made the moulds for blanks that, at one point, captured 80% of the market in Australia. He also developed the fibreglass and resin to slap on that blank. Like Hobie, he ensured he could meet every part of the production. Dion Chemicals (Dion’s) would go on to power the Australian surfboard industry for years, decades. Bennett was still blowing foam in 2020, only 18 months ago.
Barry Bennett, along with Gordon Woods, Bill Wallace, Greg McDonagh & Danny Keogh, Scotty Dillon, went on to become what we now refer to today as the ‘Brookvale Six’ courtesy of Phil Jarratt’s excellent biopic, ‘Men of Foam & Wood’. As the Malibu boom of the 1960s powered on, Bennett, along with his cohorts in Brookvale, made eight in ten boards on a wave on the east coast.
Who shaped at Bennett’s? It’s a roll call of shaping in Australia. Bob McTavish, Nat Young, Geoff McCoy, Wayne Burton, Kevin Platt, Russell Head, Mick McMahon, and Steve O’Donnell to name a few.
Once the longboard boom started to wain in the late 1960’s Bennett, saw the opportunity in Surf Life Saving in the early 1970’s and repeated his success within the surf clubs, the very club’s whose membership lost out to the surfboard a decade earlier. Barry didn’t miss a beat. Same materials, just a different board. The surfers’ sons and then daughters often started their journey into the surf through Nippers, and Bennett was there with a nipper board for them.
By now, he had two sons in the business. John Bennett went on to win State & National medals on the racing mal, while Greg Bennett went on to win countless medals on the surf ski for Manly in the clubby world (as well as Greg (aka ‘The Tank’) becoming an icon in Hawaii for his multiple podiums in the 52-kilometre Molokai Ski Race). In all this Bennett Surfboards remained true to his customer base producing high quality surfboards made without shortcuts a trait that never left him in life.
Barry was a consummate businessman who enjoyed great success in a broad area of life, including innovation & design, licensing (Golden Breed & Lightning Bolt) and property development. However, his great joy was his family and family life that he treasured and protected throughout his life.
Barry met his wife, Margaret, in 1956 and married two years later in 1958. The two of them working side by side to steer the ship through sixty-four years of marriage. Yes, Barry was successful and Margaret played a significant, albeit quiet, role in that success.
Barry’s two sons, Greg & John, went on to run the surfboard, blank & chemical side of the business. Barry leaves behind three children and six grandchildren, including his eldest grandson, Tom Bennett, who remains one of Manly’s more stylish surfers.
Vale Barry. Industry pioneer. Icon.
A name never to be forgotten …
Icon of Australian Surfboard industry RIP.
Thanks for being a legend BB.
Someone to look up to.
Imagine living to 91at a game where in the first 20 or 30 years Workplace health and safety psychosis didn’t exist … and the ripped T shirt … Legend!!!
RIP BB , helped me out in small ways ,and a pure gentleman every time .
Excellently written. I used to look at the old surf mags a friends dads still had in a dusty corner in his shed. I would study them for hours. I was always drawn to the Barry Bennett surfing ads for some reason. Must have been the history or the guru. Few skaties still out there too.
Vale Barry. What a legacy and history, a huge part of the Australian surfing landscape.
Vale BB one of the great’s of the silent generation
A founding father and owed a debt of gratitude from all surfers today, RIP BB
Vale Barry Bennett, an extraordinary human. Bought my first custom made from BB in 1969 with savings from the brookie newsagent paper run that took me past most of the board makers of the day. He encouraged me for a year to work hard and save for a 6' 8" double ended pintail that cost $98
My first board in 1980 was a second hand 7' BB rounded square tail singlefin with that iconic logo which burnt in to my soul. Ignited the love and passion I still have now. Vale Barry Bennett and deepest condolences to your family and friends.
RIP BB. My first board was a 2nd hand Simon Anderson/Energy bought at BB Brooky back in late 80s. The years that followed I would be down there frequently buying resin to fix all my dings and fins etc.
My first board was an old Bennett found under the house. Widow-maker 1 + 2 set-up, probably about 7'6". I loved that thing to death but had no idea of the significance of the Bennett brand at the time. RIP BB
Amazing achievements in life. RIP Never had one of his boards but did and do still have ones by those mentioned in the article who learned their trade at BB's.
Riding the endless wave. My first board was a Bennett purple twin fin.. Thanks to a great man.
A true legend of surfing . RIP B.B. All Australian surfers owe him for the foresight & ingeunity he showed in the surfboard industry.
A good life/work lesson for all of us. You can still be humble, polite and kind as well as a successful business person by taking pride in your work and the work of others, no cutting corners. I really loved the fact that BB hated waste, so do I and didn’t tolerate those who didn’t consistently put in on the shop floor. I reckon one in ten garages on our coast would still have a dusty old BB in the corner, i know, because I have scored a couple, past clients of mine had know idea of their worth or the notoriety of the name and would simply ask me to get rid of them, at my pleasure i must say.
Heads Up - Funeral Details.
The funeral of Barry Bennett will be held on Wednesday 27 July, 10am, at St. Matthews Church, The Corso. Manly. https://www.stmattsmanly.org.au/
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