Page "Mark Richards (surfer)" Paragraph 4

So when Mark was born in 1957 he was always around surfboards, growing up with surf-o-planes and pint-sized longboards.

He learnt to surf in gentle waves at Blacksmiths Beach, about 15 minutes south of Newcastle, a beach partly sheltered by the breakwater on the northern side of the entrance to Lake Macquarie.

The family also went to Rainbow Bay on Queensland's Gold Coast for holidays, where he surfed Snapper Rocks.

He was also very keen on cricket when young.