Coal Coast Clarrie

The name Clarrie Bouma rolls off the tongue sounding like an unusual, high-brow name from eras past. You could be forgiven for conjuring up visions of a greying Dutch explorer or English prep school teacher rather than a Thirroul (north Wollongong) based surf photographer.

 

An amazing capture of an ENE swell lining up, looking towards the Royal National Park. Photo Clarrie Bouma.

Clarrie, the personable, down to earth and highly approachable individual, however, defies such stereotypes. Whilst Clarrie’s well-educated, his vernacular is more colloquial than campus, his threads more flanno than formal. The age-old adage that you are a product of your environment most certainly applies. Clarrie is renowned for calling it as he sees it, yet at the same time he is hard-working, up for a chat and has both feet firmly planted in the ground – like most of his contemporaries from The Gong.

 

A content, chilled and happy looking Clarrie.

“Standing on the beach or headland shooting surfing is a fantastic way to spend my time, ” says the 70-year-old snapper, who still has as much passion for the surf at The Point and nearby Coal Coast breaks as ever before.

“I started surfing in 1962 on a second hand 9’2″ Jackson and Cansdell. I’ve been in bands: played music professionally, studied, taught, and nowadays nothing gives me more job satisfaction than shooting surfing in my local area.”

 

Clarrie’s Coast, off-shore and perfect.

Educated in Wollongong, Clarrie then spent a year in the Australian Army as a conscript at the tail end of the Vietnam War. After the war, he found himself heading overseas on an extended overland journey through Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North Africa for two years.

When Clarrie eventually returned to The Gong from his rite of passage tour, he nailed down a real job teaching PE, becoming Sports Master at Edmund Rice college for six years, while at the same time started a career in music in an exotically titled band Ersatz Kitsch. He has played music professionally, both in bands and as a solo musician, since.

 

Clarrie on guitar

“Aim to enjoy yourself, not to make a living from it.” Clarrie talking about surf photography.

Another epic Coal Coast set up as captured by Clarrie.

Ever busy, Clarrie returned to Wollongong University completing a Bachelor of arts degree majoring in Geography. He scored six distinctions and six high distinctions, before becoming a tutor in the Geography department at Wollongong University whilst majoring in Coastal Geomorphology, so it should come as no surprise that these days Clarrie literally spends much of his time exploring northern Wollongong coastal geography, camera in hand, documenting all the action whenever there are waves.

The Point or “Jetty” as the locals call it.

Clarrie’s Coal Coast exploration is an almost daily ritual. He rises early, scoping his favourite surf forecasting websites and cams. If there’s swell, he drives around surveying the surf, before settling on a suitable location to shoot. If a mate or local legend texts or rings through a tip off, he may ponder a short drive up or down the coast to shoot wherever it is pumping, but most days it’s a case of heading straight down to his beloved local – The “Jetty” or The Point, barely 800 metres from the family home.

 

An older shot of  “The Jetty.”

For the benefit of interstate or international readers or those unfamiliar with “The Jetty,” it is one of, if not the most consistent, right point break on the east coast of Australia. Despite “The Point’s” revered status as a class wave, in the seventies, eighties and nineties travelling surfers were always hesitant to visit. It was virtually a visitors no-go zone. The Point crew maintained a fierce reputation as being the most proud, protective locals on the coast.

 

One more of “The Point” for good measure, this time a close-up.

Clarrie’s caper – standing on the rock platform or headland taking photos and video footage of all and sundry – is a sign of the changed times. It’s unimaginable at the old “Jetty”, but attitudes change, so too does technology and coastal real estate prices and inhabitants.

 

Another set up just up the road from Clarrie’s place.

Clarrie’s work is based on the premise that every surfer who paddles out into the line up would love to see an image or footage of themselves surfing. Documenting this love, he has released dozens of local DVD’s and catalogued thousands upon thousands of still images.

Clarrie says: “I figure I am a pretty normal person in the sense that I have always appreciated all the images I have of myself participating in a variety of activities.”

The success and continued growth of Clarries website www.sandonpointphotos.com
and social media channels vindicated his hunch. To give you some idea of sandonpointphotos.com popularity site traffic peaks during high swell months with over 1.5 million hits a month and well over 20,000 unique views.

Clarrie rarely misses a swell. If it’s on, Clarrie will capture it.

“Surfers come up to me on a daily basis and ask me who am I shooting? ” he says with a smile. “I take great pleasure telling them I shoot anyone who takes off on a good wave.”

 

The author (Ben Horvath) captured by Clarrie on a wave in Clarrie’s hood.

Clarrie’s photos can also be found occasionally on The Perfect Wave’s website or on Swellnet. “I did a memorable boat trip to Indonesia with local boys for The Perfect Wave which was fantastic,” he said. ” I just sat on a boat for two weeks and took photos and wrote a travel article. It was a dream job.

“Actually I have accumulated a lot of photos,” he says. “When I die, I think I’ll write in my will that my hard drives should be connected to a computer at somewhere local like Finbox so people can go through and download what they want. I have around 40TB of photos taken over the last 10 years, so it might take a while…”

 

A memorable swell event

Finally, what are Clarrie’s surf travel tips? “For me, the most enjoyable place I have ever surfed is Sri Lanka,” he says. “The atmosphere is relaxed, you can stay close to the waves and the water is warm. During the 80’s, when we visited a few times, crowds weren’t a problem.

“But Indonesia is the surf capital of the world for consistently hollow waves. The winter storms in the Indian Ocean are a great swell-generator and Indonesia is right in the firing line for these swells and full of epic reefs. There are still a load of infrequently surfed breaks. There’s no better way to surf there than to jump on a boat to the Islands, The Mentawai, The Banyaks. The Telos Islands etc. It’s unrivalled.”

An example of a line up photo Clarrie took on an Indo adventure for The Perfect Wave a few years back

Not a bad part of the world, hey?

OMG!

Footnote

This piece was compiled during August 2020. It was a reworked piece that Clarrie and the author Ben had worked together on years back.

Just before the feature was scheduled to publish, sadly the author learnt of Clarrie’s passing on Tuesday, September 1, 2020.

We know Clarrie would have loved to showcase some of his photography of the area he loved so passionately.

He also would love that any visitors to his beloved coal coast enjoy and treat the environment and locals with the utmost respect.

Vale Clarrie Bouma a true down to earth character of The Gong and “Jetty.” May your photography and spirit live on for may years to come. RIP buddy. Note there is a paddle out for Clarrie at his beloved Sandon Point scheduled for 8.00am Sat, Sept 5, 2020, for all his beloved friends and associates if you can make it.