Tony Phillips
By Keri Algar
Tony has lived and breathed Gold Coast surf since he left the shores of Miami High School to walk across the road and land a job with Hohensee Surfboards. As a keen surfer Tony began an apprenticeship at the shop fixing dings, gluing up blanks, sanding boards, finish coating boards, shaping boards and making fins. Having sussed out the manufacturing side of the industry and looking for something new, Tony was led into the retail sector.
Tony managed a shop in Kirra for seven years under the ownership of Adlers, Connection Surfboards and later, Hohensee Surfboards. If you were to drive past the store sometime in the 70’s you’d likely find a sign on the door “out to lunch”, and you’d find Tony in the water (picture perfect Kirra, mind). But he must have spent enough time in the store to cement his experience in the retail sector, as the entrepreneur eventually took over the shop and formed Harmony Designs in partnership with, at the time, well known international surfer Keith Paul. Together they were also involved in manufacturing boardshorts with a company called Zig-Zag Wear.
With the support of longtime friend and well-known surfing journalist Andrew McKinnon, in 1998 Tony launched his career in publishing by selling advertisements for Locals Only Magazine. From here he worked with Pacific Longboarder, Surf Adventures and Groundswell Magazine.
The latter publication fell over however, leaving Tony with the publishing industry know-how and wondering what next; without a job but with a massive opportunity. He figured that if he could register the name ‘Gold Coast Surf’ he’d grit his teeth and go for it. It was a done deal. He singlehandedly kicked off the edition in the summer of 03-04 and since then the quarterly publication has evolved from a 16 page newspaper copy to a 32 page full glossy magazine.
Its strength lies in Tony’s multifaceted history within the local surfing industry. Now, six years down the track Tony is aware of the need to keep abreast of the times, thus the launch of GC Surf’s new website.
BASED ON A LIFETIME OF SURFING RELATED EXPERIENCE.
McKinnon sums up Tony’s story by saying, “We were sparring partners when we were just young kids at Mermaid beach. He was an incredible surfer and incredibly flexible; a really good tube rider too, out at Burleigh and Kirra point. He’s done really well; he’s a deceptive sort of character Tony, doesn’t miss much and has a good eye for detail, for business and quality stuff. He’s one of my best friends and it’s good to see the magazine is really well received”.
Tony has approached life in the surfing world with the relaxed grace befitting of his easy going nature. When I asked Tony what he enjoyed most about his work he simply said that it was because he deals with an industry he knows, and is comfortable dealing with the people in it, “we speak the same language…and they [contributing writers, photographers, advertisers, surfers] are all a great bunch of people to deal with. Without them there is no magazine”. Having come on board recently I’ve been struck by the cruisy and encouraging working relationship, it’s great to have a chance to be a part of the team.
So the rest is history. Nah, it’s his story and this grass roots mag is yours to read. As Tony says, tag it and enjoy the ride.
check out http://www.goldcoastsurf.com.au/index.php?/2009022580/Latest/tony-phillips.html
Keriruri's Point 