Books by Tim Baker

All surfers dream of shedding responsibilities and answering the siren song of the ocean swells. For most, it is an ideal that recedes as age advances - as family, career and provider commitments overwhelm the wanderlust of youth. But what if you could defy the slow march of age?... Shelve all your worldly pressures, pack up the family and a few trusty surfboards and hit the open road for the Great Australian surfing road trip? Best-selling surf writer Tim Baker is doing just that. Inspired by the dreams of his youth, and in the face of looming middle-age, Baker is embarking on the Big Lap, with his wife Kirsten and two children, Vivi, 8, and Alex, 4. Starting in late January 2011, the family will set out from their home in Currumbin, Queensland, heading south down the east coast. Over the next six to eight months, they will circumnavigate the country, as Baker documents the state of surf culture and our coastline, and the array of colourful characters encountered along the way. Surfari Highway will evoke all the magic and charm, the challenges and perils of the Australian coastline and the curious variety of human sub-species who inhabit it. The result will be a lively, colourful handbook on how to trade your life for another variety, the delights and dangers that lay in wait for those who dare to chase their dreams, and how a family of four survive six months on the road in the close quarters of a four-wheel drive and a caravan. It is a story for anyone who has ever dreamed of an alternative to the busy, micro-scheduled existence of work, school, shopping and housework. It offers vindication for all those Sea Changers and Baby Boomers, mature age longboarders and carefree beachcombers who have heeded the surf's call. And it will provide an inspirational text for every bored office worker, desperate housewife or unfulfilled suburban dad who senses there has to be another way.
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The Rip Curl Story is the remarkable tale of two young surfers who pursued an audacious dream to make a living in pursuit of the ultimate ride. The brand they built, Rip Curl, not only satisfied their own surf- and wanderlust, but also inspired countless others, both fuelling and... riding the wave of the global youth revolution of the late '60s.Rip Curl's mantra became 'the Search' - the chasing of new waves on distant shores - as they embraced new thrills such as skiing, snowboarding, windsurfing and aimed always to make better equipment to elevate the experience. Along the way, they supported the careers of many of the world's great surfers- from Midget Farrelly and Nat Young to Michael Peterson, Tom Curren to Damien Hardman, Pam Burridge to Stephanie Gilmore, and of course Tyler Wright and the legendary Mick Fanning.From the late-'60s era of peace, drugs and country soul to the birth of professionalism in the '70s; from the decadence and excess of the '80s to the new nomadic free-surfing trail of the '90s, and the bold new frontiers of surfing in the 2000s - wave pools, webcasts, Olympic acceptance - The Rip Curl Story explores both the evolution of a world-leading surf brand and an entire social revolution.Bestselling surf writer Tim Baker tells this implausible story in an irresistible series of ripping yarns, offering rich life lessons, a maverick business primer and a wild ride of adventure, good times and outlandish ambitions spectacularly realised. The Rip Curl Story will make you want to surf more, travel further, follow through on that great business idea and pursue your own Search.
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What do novelist Tim Winton, classical violinist Richard Tognetti, and celebrity chef Steve Snow have in common. In a word, surfing. Profiles the surfing world's most intriguing characters.

A hilarious story of self-belief, hardship and struggle, as Wayne Rabbit Bartholomew sets off from Australia's Gold Coast, surfboard under his arm, to conquer the surfing world. This memoir recalls adventures with surfing's most famous figures.

Child surfing star Mark Occhilupo looked set to sweep all before him with a radical spontaneous, irresistible brand of surfing. Yet spiralling descent into drug abuse and depression snuffed his flame out prematurely when he quit the pro tour at just 22. Falterd combacks, bursts o...f free-surfing and breakdowns followed.
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