About Us

ABOUT THE SCHOOL

I was inspired to build this school because of my daughter Lunna. My wife Rozane and I couldn’t find a local swim school that offered the standard of teaching that I wanted. I realised that no schools offer lessons in both the pool and the ocean, which I realised was something I could do after all my experience in the ocean for the last 25 years.

I finished my professional surfing career, had some time off to consider what to do next, and during that time came up with the idea of opening my own swim school.

I designed and built the pools with several friends; it took a month and half of hard labour but when it was finished I was impressed with what we had created! With this design, parents are able to watch their kids at eye level and be warm indoors in winter.

ABOUT THE POOLS

We have two pools, a small pool suitable for small groups or private lessons, and a larger pool for larger groups and older kids. Both pools are heated to between 29°and 32° depending on the weather. We have solar heating boosted by gas in cloudy weather. They are both salt water pools.

ABOUT KONG

My background is that I started surfing in 1977, and entered my first contest 1979. From then I won open and junior Sunshine Coast titles 4 years in a row. I also won 4 QLD titles in a row. I then won every pro junior contest in the early 1980’s in Australia, and by 19881 became officially sponsored and then turned professional in 1985. I entered into the top 16 in the world in first year of pro surfing. I then spent 19 years on the pro tour circuit, and was in the world top 5 for 10 years, 3 times number 2 world (87, 90 & 92), won 2 Triple Crowns (87, 90), and am still the only Australian surfer to hold 2 triple crowns. I was the first non-Hawaiian to win that contest. Against the same people to whom I lost the three world titles, (Curran, Carroll, Lynch, Hardman, Potter and Occy) I then won 3 consecutive world masters titles in France, Ireland and Hawaii. In 2009 I was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame. This is a great honour and one of the biggest accomplishments of my career as it shows the dedication that I have to the sport of surfing.

Currently I am training the Number 2 on the Association of Surfing Professionals world tour (Bede Durbidge). You can contact me directly for more information about professional training and mentoring.

I am enjoying applying my expertise to the teaching of kids. We as Australians spend a huge amount of time on the beach and we have a responsibility to teach our kids how to read the ocean and to swim safely. I would like to be doing a lot more in this arena of beach awareness and surf safety.

The statistics of drowning in Australia are alarmingly high; I would like to support Surf Livesaving Australia in lowering the number of drownings through educating our families and young ones in beach awareness and safe swimming.