JC “What better way to kick start the new year than with a full power weekend at the Lancelin Ocean Classic! I have been religiously repeating my annual sojourn to Western Australia for over 25 years now and long may it continue. A lot of people ask me how my career in windsurfing photography kicked off and to be honest I can’t really remember. But I do vaguely recall that way back in 1987 I headed out to Perth with two friends, Nigel Howell and Piers Ballard and we ended up spending three months in windy Geraldton about four hours drive north. The following year, already addicted to the allure of Australia, somehow Nigel managed to convince Roger Tushingham that I was some kind of hot shot surf photographer and they paid my ticket to follow Nigel on his travels to Australia and Hawaii. As they say, ‘the rest is history!’
It was on my second visit to Western Australia that I was first introduced to the sleepy fishing village of Lancelin and the infamous Ledge to ‘Lano’ race. Back in the 80s it was a much rawer affair than today’s slick run operation but to this day the basic format is still the same. A mass beach start at Ledge Point followed by a gruelling downwind marathon covering approximately 26 kilometres using Cray fishing boats as the various marks along the way. As memory serves me the winner that year was none other than Svein Rasmussen when he was a young and ambitious Norwegian racer way before the birth of Starboard. Each year the trophy donated by the Endeavour Tavern receives a plaque etched with the new winner’s name. The very first race in 1986 was won by an Aussie wavesailing legend Dave Sheen followed by Phil McGain in 87, Svein in 88 and shortly after Anders Bringdal and Scotty McKercher also raced their way into the ‘Lano’ history books. In its latter years, sadly deceased Peter Volwater dominated the race while the likes of Finian Maynard, Steve Allen, Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Jesper Orth and Cyril Moussilmani all shared the spoils.